Our trip to Argentina from Buenos Aires food and Pampas gaucho life to Ushuaia at the end of the world; this is a recap of our itinerary and top Argentinian experiences.
For years I had wanted to travel South America.
Argentina Vacation: Buenos Aires, Pampas, and Ushuaia
I love Chilean wines, the Pampas has intrigued me since learning about it in 3rd grade, and I semi wanted to see the Amazon.
Hubby wanted NOTHING to do with Brazil. “No way, no how, were we ever going Brazil was out, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t visit South America, I just had to figure it out without Brazil. We had already been to Colombia several times.
When I saw a cruise that began in Buenos Aries, went around Cape Horn, and up the west coast of South America, eventually ending in Ft Lauderdale, I showed Hubby. The cruise was with Holland America – a line we had never sailed before, but the itinerary was simply too good to pass up.
We booked this cruise when it first came out. We were able to get an aft, end cabin (the back of the ship) which we love, albeit on a lower level than we normally book. This cruise was booked over 2.5 years before we sailed. The country stops on this itinerary were Argentina, Uruguay, Falkland Islands, Chile, Peru, Equator, Panama, Grand Cayman, and the the USA (Ft Lauderdale disembarkation). We had only been to Panama and Grand Cayman before (I don’t get off the ship in Grand Cayman anymore), so a lot was new to us.
We flew from Pensacola to Miami, Miami to Buenos Aries. We landed in a few days before our cruise departed to acclimate and to see something of the city of Buenos Aires.
After landing, we went through customs. I travel with a cane, and once again we were pulled from the general line (which I swear was a mile long!) to the handicapped lane where we got through customs in about 5 minutes. Biometrics was a picture + thumbprints and then a passport scan. Alas, no passport stamp.
Hubby had pre-booked a car and driver (about $60 US) who picked us up at the airport, helped us with our luggage and then dropped us off at our boutique hotel.
When we were planning our stay in Buenos Aires there were three recommended “safe” areas for tourists: Recoleta, Palermo Soho, San Telmo. I wanted Recoleta but hotel pickings were slim in that area at the time we were making our reservations. We ended up in a small, nice, boutique hotel with a helpful English speaking staff. The room came with free breakfast in their small restaurant, had a fridge and kitchen area + small seating area.
Since our room would not be ready until 3pm and we arrived before noon, we walked down a few blocks for a leisurely lunch.
We ended up getting a ribeye steak with egg on top! that came with fries (excellent), salad, bread & butter and a bottle of Argentinian Malbec. Hubby grabbed a local beer that was too bitter for him.
The exchange rate when we were in Argentina was approximately 1400 pesos to one US dollar.
In hindsight, that meal was a fantastic value. We were mostly among locals, the cost was VERY reasonable (about $13 US), and the food was very good.
After our meal we took a turn around the local mall – nice stores, but no one was shopping (it was a Wednesday). Hubby got a cheap ice cream cone at McDonald’s and then it was time to check in to our hotel room. We had gained three hours in time . 11 am Buenos Aires time was 8 am Central. Hubby and I were exhausted though, so we slept like logs.
Buenos Aries has a LOT of ice cream and gelato shops. In Buenos Aries the language is Spanish, the food is Italian, and the architecture is a mix of French – Italian – and US. Buenos Aries is a reminded me of a European city though.
Our hotel provided breakfast, so we ate there. It was fine. The coffee was very good.
We then met our guide for a driving trip around the city. Since it was a private tour, we nixed getting out for a 5 minute photo opp and decided we wanted an overview of the city.
We wanted to see other sections of the city – should we stay there if we visit again? Was there something to see? And Sonny-boy was going to Buenos Aires in two months, so we were supposed to report back (they stayed in SoHo). Hubby scoped out the market, and I said, “Oh how lovely,” where appropriate.
The tour was supposed to start at the Recoleta Cemetery, but we skipped that as we knew we wanted to spend some time there, and decided to go there by ourselves when the tour was over. Our hotel room overlooked the backside of the cemetery, and the tour buses parked on the street where our hotel was located.
We did get out at El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore, a converted theater! Very unique what was done to it to convert it into a bookstore.
When we finished the tour Hubby and I went for a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant (as I said, heavy Italian influence in Buenos Aires). Then, it was off to the cemetery.
The Recoleta cemetery was interesting, but the tombs in New Orleans and the tour and mausoleums Forest Lawn in Buffalo are much more impressive.
The cost was about $17 per person (US), there was no guide, no head set for purchase, and you had to request a map. The cemetery itself needed a lot of work.
We did see the a few important people’s tombs, including Eva Perón. We took a lot of photos so we could look up the history of the people buried there (this is where a headset walking guide would have really come in handy!)
As I said, it cost us $34 to go in and I have no idea where they were spending the money collected. There were a LOT of tickets being sold the day we were there.
Many of the tombs were in disrepair, there were loose ground tiles, no app to self guide and the map is rudimentary.
It is a shame because at some point the cemetery must have been very beautiful. The rich and famous of Buenos Aires were buried there. I will say that Sonny-boy and his wife found it very interesting when they went a few weeks later.
The following day we headed over to the Palermo neighborhood. Today was all about food and wine. We did a food tour and a wine experience.
Our food tour was first, and it was very good. We had a young guide and he was very talkative and informative.
We first stopped for a piece of pizza – the Buenos Aires style pizza is thin crust, no sauce, lots of cheese, onion and a (pitted) olive on top. It was quite good.
I love doing small group tours because I learn so much from our fellow participants, and this group was no exception. Many people were departing on cruises or had just returned, so we listened to some interesting stories.
After the pizza, we went for some mate – which is a plant that is chopped up. You place several scoops into a cup until it is ¾ full. You then tip the cup the cup to the side to form a well, insert a straw, add hot water, and drink.
The traditional Argentinian way is that everyone drinks from the same straw as the cup gets passed around. Gross. The server pours the water as needed.
We didn’t have to share (thank goodness) . The mate is bitter for most people. Since I like bitter, I found it very pleasant until the plant fully steeped. That is when I could taste the harsh bitterness that everyone else in the group complained of immediately.
Our next stop was for a churro. Blech. It was hard and supposedly de leche. I tossed it after a bite.
Our final stop was a good steakhouse (Argentina is all about beef) where we had steak, rolls, and an excellent empanada.
When we were finished, Hubby and I walked the mile to where our next tour was to begin.
We found a little café, Hubby got some rice pudding (the dots on the side are blue cheese! And the dark top is some sort of brittle). I got some wine.
Then it was off to our wine experience. This was a sit down tasting that highlighted some of the local grapes (Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot) and paired them with local cheese, jellied quince, and an empanada.
It was a nice two hours. We learned that Malbec is the national wine of Argentina, all the wines are made in the French style (smooth, drinkable, no backbone), and wine is cheap, cheap, cheap in Argentina. Nothing really aged well. We had several “reserves” that were three years old.
On our third day in Buenos Aires we had another food tour. This one had over 7K reviews and a 5 star rating! That is crazy. People complain about everything and anything, so a rating that high? I was looking forward to the tour.
We got to the meeting spot and they were a bit discombobulated. There were so many people there, we were divided into two groups. I gave Hubby the stink-eye as we do not book group tours over 12 people. This was going to be “interesting.”
Our first food was the same type of pizza that we had the day prior, but not nearly as good. If our guide had not told us what it was, I would never have guessed it was the same onion + olive pizza. The empanada was BAD.
While there, we spoke to two groups of young women (I’d guess late 20s, early 30s). One group had just been to Antarctica – and one of the girls camped out overnight! Talk about a bucket list item. The other group were originally from Poland, now living in NYC and they had just come from Patagonia and let us know what we had in store!
Our next stop was an up-and-coming restaurant owned by the same people that own Don Julio. We were served a white wine, a divided bread (that was excellent), chorizo, baba ganoush, a piece of potato tart, and a piece of chickpea bread.
The food was unimpressive, and when the waitress dumped two plates of food down my back, I was even less impressed.
The next stop was for steak, chorizo and wine. The waitress at this restaurant dumped wine on me. Sigh. This was just not my day.
They also served baked provolone which was excellent.
We then went for chocolate (Hubby liked it and bought a few bars, it was very expensive) and gelato at our final stop. I gave Hubby my gelato and he bought me a very good cup of coffee at the ice cream shop.
Obviously some things were out of the hands of the tour, but let’s just say I was underwhelmed with this experience.
Hubby and I wanted to go out for dinner. I had eaten so little on the food tour (it really was not good) that I was hungry.
We basically fell out of the door of our hotel into the restaurant next door. Hubby had spaghetti carbonara (delicious).
I had the grilled provolone (different from earlier in the day – this one tasted like pizza!), and them for dessert Hubby had flan and we each had a coffee de leche (that was not sweet!).
For just walking up to a tourist trap next door to a hotel, dinner was very, very good.
While we still had more time in Argentina, this was the end of our time in Buenos Aires. The city was very nice, the people were very nice. We NEVER felt unsafe. The city itself is really a mix of French, Italian, and USA. The food was heavily Italian with a tiny smidge of Spanish thrown in for flavor. The language was Spanish with some Italian influence. Many people spoke English.
Uber was super cheap and easy to use, so public transportation (buses) was not something we used. We did not take out much cash from the ATM – about $375. Everyone wanted a credit card. Tourist area restaurants were very willing to take American dollars (exact change, no change was given).
We boarded the ship the following day. This was our first time on Holland America, so everything was new to us.
Check out time at our hotel was 10am. We sat in the hotel lobby with others going on cruises as we all awaited taxis to take us to the port. Since we had never departed Buenos Aires before, we did not realize that the port is drive right up, no security for a vehicle to get through. We could have taken an Uber.
Personal security to get through – our bags were taken as soon as we walked through the door and rolled over to a scanner and the next time we saw them was on the ship. Once again my cane came in handy for bypassing lines. Also, due to my pacemaker, I was walked around security. Hubby took the carry-on bags through.
We then went to another lane to have our passports scanned for the ship with a photo, then another line for customs to scan our passports, another picture taken, as well as a thumbprint.
We loaded onto a long, three-part tram to be taken through a very industrial port to the ship. Here, my cane did not come in handy as the only person offering me a seat was a gentleman who himself had a cane! (I declined his kind offer.)
Due to the tide, boarding the gangway was STEEP. Also, we had to wait in a long line on the dock to board. It was sunny and pleasant, but oh my goodness if it was 95° out or pouring rain, that could grow quickly uncomfortable.
Since we were allowed on before noon our room was not ready. We went up to the cafeteria where I had a tea and Hubby had a lemonade.
At around 11:50 am there was an announcement that our room was ready. Like Celebrity, the room keys were waiting at the door.
Inside our aft, corner room was interesting. The room needed to be about two feet larger to comfortably accommodate all the furniture with walking lanes. All-in-all the room was not bad. Plenty of storage space and places to hang clothes! A good number of plugs!
The balcony was FABULOUS! It wrapped around, had loungers, side tables, lounge chairs, and table and four chairs (which came in handy starting in Chile when our SIL joined us). We could have had a party out there!
The bathroom – ugh. It desperately needed a gut job. They had a shower/tub combo and next to it, a small standalone shower. Both the tub combo and the single shower had shower curtains, but between the two was a glass separator. There was ONE drawer and zero shelving for toiletries, but a double sink!
The outside of the bathroom had a small vanity with a few shallow drawers, and a small closet. They also left flowers in there… because there was so much room for flowers. This was the worst bathroom we have had on a cruise ship in years. It looked good, was very clean, but was functionally obsolete.
Once we watched the safety video and had our cards scanned for muster, we were free to explore the ship.
The following day we had a tour of the pampas. The ride out to the family owned ranch was uneventful except for seeing the pampas grass. It was in full bloom (Argentina’s fall) and very lovely.
We arrived at the ranch and were greeted with wine (quite decent) and empanadas. I gave Hubby my empanada, and drank my wine.
The family started with dancing (they were very good), then separated and pulled up members of the audience to partner them for a few rounds.
We then went to the horse ring to watch the gauchos try and grab the ring. They were slow-ish, fast, and faster horses (and riders). The only one successful in gathering all the rings was the slow-ish horse and rider. Once a ring was obtained, it was gifted to a lady in the audience.
The family ranch also offered buggy rides and horseback riding to those that wanted to partake.
There were peacocks, peahens, and little peachicks roaming freely as well as dogs, goats, chickens, and cows. Very atmospheric.
We then had lunch.
The meat was cooked outside, and the air smelled heavenly
We ate.
And ate.
And ate.
And it was all delicious. There was tomato and onion, lettuces, carrots, and egg, so I made a salad. Bread, wine, pop, water, coffee was offered. There was a LOT of meat: chorizo, beef, beef ribs, chicken.
Did I mention there was a lot of food?
After lunch, we drove back to the ship. This was an excellent ship’s tour.
There is a bit of a split in our itinerary now… the next port was in Uruguay. I got to see the port. Hubby was sick, so we did not take our tour.
After that, we went to the Falkland Islands. That is a separate post that I will link to after published. PENGUINS!!!
Then, we went around the horn (Cape Horn is in Chile) and then up to the Beagle Channel. One thing Holland America did that was VERY nice is gave us a colored map that outlined in red the path of our journey. They also gave us printed sheets to tell us where we were what day. And, we did receive an Order of the Mossback certificate. lol
Once I write up the countries, I am going to circle back to the sea days on this trip. They were worth the price of admission from Buenos Aires to Santiago. Our trip around the horn was amazing… hurricane force winds (the ship was on a slant! And that was with stabilizers!) the waves were incredible, and all I could think of was men doing it in wooden boats 200 years ago. How courageous they were! Top five travel experience of my life.
After we rounded the horn, we scooted up to Ushuaia, Argentina!
Welcome to the bottom of the world!
This was a very short port stop. As such, we took a boat tour with the ship that was about three hours long in the Beagle Channel on a catamaran.
We saw a lot of cormorants – tons and tons! They were everywhere. Grouped on small islands, flying, diving for food, they were everywhere.
A few whales were swimming nearby. I got to see a tail. No idea what type of whales they were.
No penguins.
LOTS of sea lions!
Barking, swimming, posturing, diving, and relaxing on rocks Sea Lion Island is the home of the South American sea lion.
I screwed up the video (again) but did take photos of these big guys.
We also saw the Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse, called the lighthouse at the end of the world.
It started to rain heavily on our way back to the ship, the winds picked up and it got very cold. We were VERY fortunate to have decent, if overcast and cool, weather for this tour.
Once we docked, Hubby and I stopped at a few shops and bought some penguins made from stone found in Argentina (hand made in Argentina).
We departed Argentina in fog and rain.
Would I go back to Argentina? Buenos Aires was just a European city. It was fine, but not anywhere I would head back to to visit by itself. I’d like to have seen even more of Patagonia. Absolutely beautiful. Many people take a day trip to Iguazu Falls and say it is worthwhile. If Hubby wanted to go back to Chile (we really liked Chile), I would not be adverse to taking another trip around the horn. The cruising and the countryside of Argentina? Go! Go! Go!
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