Buenos Aires Tourist Traps

Me and my family wanted to to some sightseeing in Buenos Aires and after som hesitation we paid and entered the OPEN BUS CITY TOUR. Actually it was 2 tours and you had to pay for both even if you just wanted 1 tour! And it was expensive: 130 pesos per person. So our expectations were high.

But the multilangual intercom system did not work and has obviously not been working for years! The bus make stops here and there and you are left to do your own sightseeing without any guidance. Everybody on the tour become angry and wanted their money back. However i vain.

We warned newcoming passengers for the next tour so I suppose i was cancelled.

The OPEN BUS CITY TOUR is truly a disgrace for the Buenos Aires tourist industry. Truly a Torurist Trap of the worst kind! Spread the word...

// Torsten

Me and my family wanted to to some sightseeing in Buenos Aires and after som hesitation we paid and entered the OPEN BUS CITY TOUR. Actually it was 2 tours and you had to pay for both even if you just wanted 1 tour! And it was expensive: 130 pesos per person. So our expectations were high.

But the multilangual intercom system did not work and has obviously not been working for years! The bus make stops here and there and you are left to do your own sightseeing without any guidance. Everybody on the tour become angry and wanted their money back. However i vain.

We warned newcoming passengers for the next tour so I suppose i was cancelled.

The OPEN BUS CITY TOUR is truly a disgrace for the Buenos Aires tourist industry. Truly a Torurist Trap of the worst kind! Spread the word...

// Torsten

1 more image

I thought I had done my homework before travelling to Argentina for three months: consult the internet, talk to Argentinian friends, buy a tourist guide, then making explicit contact with agencies renting out apartments on a temporary basis. I thoroughly described what I would need the apartment chosen for, e.g. sleeping at nighttime and work on a book during daytime, or recover from a milonga during some of daytime as well. I was assured by the agency (Stay in Buenos Aires) that the apartment was very quiet as well as the neighbourhood would be.

When I arrived in Fitz Roy 2000 in Palermo Hollywood (currently under: http://www.alternativarent.com.ar/popup-apartments.php?id_produ=19) , to my surprise, upon inspecting the apartment after a 13-hours travel after arrival in the morning, I noticed a construction site just next door and a couple of meters from the apartment's balcony. The estate agent had a look outside and thought "the worst is over", and, so, considering the homework done before arrival, I actually signed a contract, took a shower, and started to become comfortable in Buenos Aires.

Classic. Some further building's work next door, and the workers of the construction site showed up six days a week most diligently, and basically from 7 h 45 a.m. to 17 h 00 p.m. I was exposed to hammering, metal saws etc. in a variable and unpredictable manner. Nerve-wrecking, and making the apartment basically unusable during daytime, plus starting to manage my overall behaviours (when going out, when being back...).

After six days, I informed the agent that I would like to quit the apartment and get my money back. And only, after two Argentinian friends had inspected independently the apartment to find out if it is just me - not accustomed to Argentinian noise levels - or a real impediment of the quality of life in the apartment. I learned from the agent, then from the owner, that I had signed a contract, in Spanish, and that according to the contract, the owner is not responsible for third party noise.

Of course, but hadn't we exchanged a number of explicit e-mails on the topic, and specifying the contract? At this stage, the owner did not want to hear about the e-mails exchanged but keep the money I had paid in advance, in cash.... and so on... and so forth....

What can we learn from this? First and foremost, if you come for three months or longer to Buenos Aires, and this is your very first time here, and you do not have fully reliable information about the place you are going to stay in, consider taking a hotel (internet deals may be quite reasonable, e.g. the Claridge charges roughly 100 $ + taxes for weekend check-in for a quiet room with a garden and pool view, and they have a good breakfast option; an HRS long-term rate with Urbanica Suites in Belgrano, room 'contrafrente' might turn around 72 $ all inclusive), and then check out areas and agents on the spot. Be prepared to find that many estate agents do not wish to view the apartment with you before taking it up, this is a business where tourists are not always dealt with fairly but considered, on average, cash-cows, and they ought to book directly on the internet, and on the basis of pictures of the apartment which might not tell you what you are interested in knowing.

There are, of course, agents around which provide very good services. I personally found that it is actually the smaller agents which offer best service.

Then, make sure you rent an apartment 'contrafrente', not 'frente' - a courtyard or garden view usually will be quieter than a street view; cars and buses in Buenos Aires are not so recent as they would be in Europe and thus are on a relatively higher noise level.

In general, do understand that there is currently very much construction and renovation occuring in all areas of Buenos Aires, and particularly in Palermo and Palermo Hollywood (when opening the window, the only fresh air I had was building dust, and which I also found on the pathway to my apartment in Fitz Roy allowing me to see if anybody had come to see me...). Fitz Roy may be a good area again in a year or two, but, personally, I would not recommend to take up an apartment in Palermo Hollywood right now; there are too many areas which might make your life difficult.

If you have to take an apartment 'frente', make sure you are on a high floor, say 15+; there are a number of towers around in Alto Palermo, close to Subway and shopping centres, and they may be quite interesting.

I eventually found through my colleagues from work a very good - clean, and quiet day and night - place, at a reasonable price for Buenos Aires, in Recoleta, 'contrafrentre', in one of the streets around Juncal, and the area works fine for me.

Also, I eventually got some of the finances right with the owner of Fitz Roy 2000 when threatening him and the agency with a lawyer, but that is something we should not have to be obliged to start when going for a dream trip to Buenos Aires and Argentina. Hope you find this helpful, most importantly that this kind of experience does not happen to you. Good luck for your own trip.

Hi!
Yes I know GIC… and I had a very bad experience with them this summer! This company offers Spanish classes and internship programs. I am a medical student and I applied for a Medical Internship which offered me the chance to work directly with doctors in Argentina’s public hospital and make arrangements for my accommodation in Buenos Aires. From the first day I arrived in Buenos Aires I noticed that the company was very disorganized. They were supposed to meet me in the apartment I was going to be staying in to give me information about the program, but no one showed up. I had to go to their office to find out when it was that I was going to start working. Then the day we arrived at the hospital they told us that we would be working on an investigation project and going for rounds with the residents in the hospital as well. What really happened was that they left us in the volunteer program office discussing a campaign the hospital wanted to implement for the medical staff about the importance of washing your hands. As the days went by we started talking to the other students who were in the internship program and they all felt that they had been cheated. After two weeks had gone by we went to their office and asked for a breakdown of the program price since we felt that we were entitled to a refund because they didn’t offer us what we paid for. But nothing happened, they said that they weren’t obligated to provide us that (and actually by law they were). So we asked other people in the program how much they were paying and we called the company that rented the apartment what the rent price was. Turns out that not only did they not do their jobs, they also charged us $450 dollars extra for the apartment just because they didn’t think we could get information on how much the apartment rent was. When we confronted them the guy in charge said, with a smile on his face, that he didn’t know what the extra $450 they charged were for and he threw us out of the office because they didn’t want the other students to find out. These people take complete advantage of the fact that we are foreigners and that many don’t speak well Spanish to rob us with a smile on their face. So I would definitely recommend that you apply directly to UBA and find accommodations by yourself online since you will be saving hundreds of dollars that GIC robs you so that they can have a nice office, and then don’t even provide the service you pay them for. You can get information for accommodations at www.4rentargentina.com or just google temporary rentals in Buenos Aires. Hope this message helps since I know that when you search for this company nothing ever comes up about people that have had experience with them...

Fun Alternatives: Search for other Spanish schools or Internship programs!!!!

When you are staying in your hotel you will always be mentioned to do this or that according to the staff. They get a commission when a service is sold, that is very common, no problem, as long as it leads to a good service.

For Tango nights you are not always send to the best, so check thoroughly before you book.

Unique Suggestions: Just enjoy the show.

Usually it is like this: or the food is relatively good and the show is so so, or the show is good, and the food, mmm, could have been better.

Fun Alternatives: My advice would be to surf a little bit on Internet and ask yourself what you want: the regular tourist excursion, which is a Tango show with dinner, or really something more local and less luxurious most probably. Good touroperators advise you as well a local thing when they are more after being at service, if this is your interest, then only after your money.

Or if you are a Tango lover & dancer, and you have already contacts in Buenos Aires, then it is very easy and just ask your teacher or local students where to go.

The best Dinner Tango show (among the known ones) I have seen until now is in center Carlos Gardel, near Abasto shopping center.

A tip to find dance teachers (from Tango, Salsa to contact dance) or any kind of bodyworker in Buenos Aires, out of the commercial track of the hotels and for common prices:
http://www.luciernaga-clap.com.ar/guia.htm
We are also noted in this virtual guide with some activities (see external homepage).
http://home.kpn.nl/breed126/aquahealing.html

Ok, argentinian people are not the nicest in the world. Especially if you are from the united states. We went to a pelugueria called NEW STATION. ITS BAD! DONT GO THERE! IF YOU WANT TO BE HUMILIATED, THIS IS THE PERFECT PLACE!!!

Make sure you shop around for Tango show tickets. In the hotels, they told us the price would be just under or just over 200 pesos depending on whether you had dinner or not for the tango show Senor Tango. We went to a tourist office called Patua Viajes y Turismo (nr Recoleta Cementary - Tel 5411-57776102) and they had a special for 91 pesos each including transportation and a drink... half the price than elsewhere. The girl there - Daniele - was very helpful. They had brochures on every Tango show and were really helpful. Their prices with dinner were about the same as in the hotel but they had lots of specials too. It is the only agency we found that had complete info and brochures for every tango show. They are 2 minutes walk from Recoleta Cementary in the Buenos Aires Design Center (on the way to Hard Rock Cafe).

Unique Suggestions: Shop around for prices and don't just buy in the hotel.

Last satuday may 5th i took a taxi after two passeners went out of it and when i paid 8.5 pesos and the driver told me that one of my bills was fake and so i gave him a 50 pesos bill that i had and he gave me two 20 pesos fake bills!!!! and they didn t look fake!!! because the number was shiny and the "second" face was ok! so they know how to get money from tourists!!

Fun Alternatives: GIVE NO NORE THAN A 20 PESOS BILL TO A TAXI DRIVER!!