Travel Advisory: Avoid Non-Essential Trips to Argentina for Safety Reasons

I just returned from Argentina and wanted to share a friendly heads-up: unless it’s absolutely necessary, it might be best to hold off on visiting right now. The costs are incredibly high, so waiting until the peso stabilizes would be a smarter move.

Take a look at the first two images, which illustrate the dramatic increase in ticket prices. Back in 2018, a bus ride in both countries was just 6 pesos, but now it’s a whopping 30 pesos!

The third and fourth images showcase the 2-day ticket prices for the glacier park. The fourth image specifically highlights the ticket price for Ushuaia Park, which is only free for children under three; everyone else has to pay the full adult price.
The fifth image provides a glimpse into the prices inside the glacier itself.

The sixth image shows the one-day quote for the glacier cruise. However, when it came time to pay, an extra 120,000 pesos were tacked on, either as a tax or fee (a helpful netizen clarified that this was actually the round-trip bus fare). Initially, the cruise cost 600,000 pesos, but it skyrocketed to nearly 800,000.

I decided against the glacier hike because of the steep price—880,000/400,000 pesos. When I checked availability at 6:30 PM the day before, there were still spots open for both, indicating that these activities weren’t exactly in high demand. It was simply too expensive, and this was just the base price; I can only imagine what additional fees might have been added at checkout, similar to the cruise.

My overall impressions: Buenos Aires is pricey but still manageable, and the locals there are neutral towards Chinese visitors. El Calafate feels like a tourist trap, with some noticeable hostility towards Chinese tourists, though they seem friendlier to Koreans. Ushuaia, on the other hand, has a more developed tourism market, offering a decent experience with many options and discounts for cash payments.

However, the food there is genuinely expensive. Iguazu, being close to Brazil, has a Brazilian influence, making the locals quite warm and welcoming, but it’s also very costly. One thing that stood out was the monotonous cuisine across Argentina. After half a month, when I finally returned to Brazil, I immediately whipped up a bucket of Kang Shi Fu noodles and rushed to a hot pot restaurant for lunch.

The food in Argentina was truly not up to par.