Our focus would mainly be Mendoza. Resorts? Wineries? Restaurants?
I really donât know Mendoza so canât recommend too much. A few for you:
I donât know what kind of wine you prefer so only going to rec a few.
Riccitelli- one of my faves. Old world style. They have a nice restaurant too.
Casa Tano- Good wines. Sangiovese might be my pick of the lot but they do a nice range of fairly small production. They buy all their grapes but they are connected with very good growers. Pretty arty if you are into that.
Susana Balbo- I suggest more for the nice hotel but the wines are good. Pretty mainstream wines, but done nicely.
Zuccardi- Itâs huge now and I suspect a tour would be somewhat impersonal and the new building makes Napa look humble, but they make good wine.
Something leaning more towards the natural, but still mostly stable, and very much a favorite of mine, Matias Michelini.
Restos:
Casa del Visitante
Angélica Cocina Maestra (in Catena Zapata)
Casa Vigil Palmares - aka El Enemigo.
The Park Hyatt is great in Mendoza. (Avoid the casino)
Nice pizza in Mendoza for about $15 and 15% off of that if you pay in cash.
I havenât been to Mendoza in ?4? years, so with the turmoil this could be out of date.
I have to assume the Park Hyatt is still there and not a crazy price.
Diplomatic Hotel was also totally acceptable.
@Sarah_Kirschbaum thread on planning and reserving reminded me of my favorite Japanese place in BA. I may have intentionally left this out of any previous mentions in this thread trying to avoid letting the cat out of the bag but itâs safe to say at this point the cat is not only out but had multiple litter. ie, a too well known entity that has had about a yearlong wait for dinner reservations for more than a year or two. Although not so much as Peru or Brazil, there is a small Japanese population in BA. Dinner is sushi and while I am sure it is good, BA just doesnât get great ingredients for sushi and, especially at current prices, no way am I planning a dinner a year out. But!, they donât accept lunch reservations and as long as you get there about 15 minutes before opening, youâll be in to the 8-10 seat place. While not the best Japanese I have had after living in NY and SF, it was a godsend in BA.
Lunch is fixed menu bento which rotates more or less weekly. I lived within about a 5 min walk so went often. It used to be a dry cleaners. The ownerâs children turned it into a resto. Until 2024 this lovely little meal, including dessert, drink, and tip would be just over US $7. Maybe itâs around $20 now but I suspect itâs only a matter of time before the peso tanks again. There is an election today which will indicate how much support there is for Milei. If we see his support wane, itâs almost certain that the USD will regain some strength in the months or two years ahead.
Across the street you will find a local place that does pretty decent quality local food such as milanesa. Not all places do it well. This is solid and unpretentious.
Even more old school is the lovely Varela Varelita right on the edge of trendy and touristy Palermo Soho. Food and coffee are barely acceptable but itâs a very cool unpretentious arty/bohemian hang that will get writers in the day and jazz musicians coming around at night.
BA has a lot of domes! This just down the street from Varela Varelita.
Speaking of jazz, the wonderful art deco Viraoro Bar is a pretty low key hang with some very good acts. Just a short 2-min walk from Varela Varelita. During the pandedmic they put the band in the front window facing the street and then put tables on the sidewalk and street. Not my pic but I love the art deco.
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Well, so much for that. Election showed strong support for Milei. Blue dollar whacked 7.5% today. Looks like Argentina will remain a very poor value for the foreseeable future. However, considering itâs Argentina, which ripped through five presidents in 12 days back in 2001, history has proven predicting ARs future is a risky game.
In another forum I saw someone with a layover in Buenos Aires asking if there are any day-use hotels so he/she could relax in a private a/c environment instead of the airport or committing to an overnight hotel rate.
Helloooo, Argentina is the land of the telo. Telo is to hotel in lunfardo (local slang) as meuf is to femme in French verlan. Somewhat discreet, telos are for rent by the hour to have sex. They are everywhere, in nice residential neighborhoods as well as in commercial zones. I think the concept of not having something like this is very foreign to most Argentines.
Hi, Iâve seen it mentioned but can you give advice on how to pay? Should i bring USD, Peso or both? How accepted are cards, what about Amex?
Thanks
Things have changed quite a bit over the last 2-3 years when it was a huge advantage to pay with "blue dollarsâ aka grey market exchange. The blue dollar currently trades at the official rate so there is no advantage to using it, however, cash, in pesos, will often get you a 10-15% discount and sometimes you need to ask about said discount or you may not get it. Credit cards now give the same rate as cash, except when the cash discount is offered. Used to be horrible rate on CCâs so this really helps to avoid carrying stacks of bills around. Amex isnât as widely accepted as V/MC but it works at most of the nicer places. USD are not really accepted for payment as they are in other Latam countries like Mex. Donât get pesos from ATMs because almost all of them have huge transaction fees and the withdrawal maximums are very low so youâll need to go again and again. Best to bring some crisp US$100 bills and exchange them at a place like Western Union although there are many legit exchange places. They wonât take crummy torn or marked bills so bring clean ones and just go with 100s. Smaller bills may or may not be accepted and even if they are, theyâll get a lower rate.
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I havenât mentioned much Asian food in this thread because I assume visitors would prefer to eat something a little more local but I am going to throw out two that may be of interest to anyone looking for more spice and flavor, which is often lacking in typical Argentine dishes.
Also keep in mind that if youâre used to Asian food in US cities like SF, LA, Seattle, NY, etc, BA is not on the same level. Both keep the heat pretty mellow because most Argies donât like spicy. Both also kind of have some Argie influence so donât expect super trad Asian.
Gran Dabbang. Itâs really pretty good. Well known and in trendy Palermo so it gets crowded but i think if you go early (8:00 haha) youâll be OK.
Santa Inés. Not as much in the tourist zone but still known and popular with the food crowd. More homey. Nice spot.
Iâd love the airbnb info!
I can hook you up with a few different Airbnb options if you like. Depends how many beds you need. This one is in Almagro very close to Palermo and Villa Crespo. 2br, 3 beds. View of sunrise and sunset and has a nice balcony. I know of others in Palermo, Villa Crespo, and Colegiales. Also maybe my favorite in Barrio Norte but I think the owners moved back in.
Sunrise and sunset from Almagro.
Thanks will dm
I was just in BA. Used my Visa card for most everything. I did exchange some dollars for pesos and now will need to spend those at the airport when we leave.
We stayed in Recoleta for 2 nights and it was great. Here is the view we had from the hotel
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Parrilla Pena is incredible. In the old days you could get a ribeye for two with all the trimmings, desert and a half bottle of wine for under $30US. Probably no longer. Helps if you speak Spanish here however.