Budget vacation ideas

hepdoll

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Hi everyone! My boyfriend and I are taking the first week of April off for vacation and we're trying to find a good out-of-town destination on a pretty tight budget without a car. I thought that with all the collective experience on this board, it'd be the best place to ask for advice!

We're sort of interested in touristy stuff, but more than anything we want to get away from the pace of the city, enjoy nature, and just take it easy and relax, maybe do some hiking or something.

I've already been to Calafate and Iguazu, which would be too pricey for us anyway, but I'd love to hear any other ideas you can think of. What would you recommend?

Thanks in advance. :)
 
What's the budget?
I had a look for week deals a short while ago and trips to the main destinations (Salta, Mendoza, Patagonia, etc) were all pretty similar...and pretty expensive.
I did, however, just get back from a weekend at a friend's farm in Entre rios and was pleasantly surprised. The night sky out there is amazing! I'm not sure how much there is to do there for an entire week but Colon and the surrounding area is good for a weekend.
Salto, Uruguay is worth checking out for a lazy few days in the thermal baths. The atlantic coast in uruguay is also nice off-season. I'm not sure what the costs are like this year though.
 
Thanks Ashley! Pretty tight because we both earn pesos and don't have a lot of extra to toss around - so I think estancias or resorts will be a definite no-go. I'm expecting us to find lodging in a hostel or something like a week-long apartment rental, if we get lucky. We may consider couch surfing, too, but that may be too lacking in privacy to be as relaxing as we'd like.

If anyone has any specific suggestions or even knows some resources we could check out, I'd love to hear them. thanks! :)
 
A friend of mine took the train to Provincia de Tucuman, which took one day long each way. The trip was extremely cheap, like $50 each way in just refurnished trains. The provincia de Tucuman is beautiful as is has mountains, hills and valleys to enjoy. Tucuman is aprox 1500 km nort from BA. Salta is further north, some 1900 km north, and beautiful as well. Both provinces are located at the NOA (Nor Oeste Argentino).

You can go to the north of Cuyo, visiting Catamarca and La Rioja. The buses going there take some 20 hours each way, in comfortable buses.

For info regarding buses, and buy tickets on-line, visit www.plataforma10.com

For info regarding traveling, distances, acommodations, attractions, visit www.ruta0.com and www.welcomeargentina.com.

Argentinians in the old style way of do tourism, contact the Casa de la Provinicia. Each provinicia of this country has a representation in Capital Federal. Some decades ago, we used to visit the casa de la provincia to look for information, now you can do it online, or give a try and go to talk with the staff for specific questions.

I think it is interesting to find for seasonal activities, like festivals or fairs to happen at your destination
 
Do you enjoy architecture tours? Those are a good budget vacation activity, since it costs nearly nothing to walk around taking photos of old buildings :) We recently spent a long weekend in Rosario doing just that, but 3 days were more than enough. There are many destinations in South America that are doable if you travel by bus and stay in hostels, but if your budget is that tight, you might want to consider trading length of stay for comfort (for example, we stayed at the beautiful Savoy Grand for $57 USD a night. That was the only big expense -- meals and entertainment were pretty cheap -- and to me, 3 nights in a king-size bed with a pool, gym, sauna, great breakfast, cable and Internet, maid service, etc, is way more worth it than 7 nights in a hostel.)
 
I was looking at cabin complexes in Rosario, Gualeguaychu (outside of carnival time), Chascomus isn´t far and has some nice options too with fairly reasonable prices for a peso budget. http://www.cabanias.com/subregiones/llbsas.asp is a good page for looking at options all over Argentina.

In the end, we ended up going to mar de Ajó because I just needed to be by the sea.
 
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