Is Buenos Aires Still Cheap With Usd?

[FrumLAtoBA]

Hello everyone,


Many years ago (2011) I lived and worked in Buenos Aires. At the time I was interning at an economic firm with the main purpose of predicting the "collapse" of the peso and timing of the recession. When I lived in Argentina it was difficult to see if it was cheap, as I wasn't getting paid in US dollars.

I may be headed back next week for a couple weeks of vacation and I'm trying to make sense of Macri's decree from last year and the blue dollar. Does it still exist? Would you recommend I bring cash and get it exchanged in a casa de cambio or is that no longer necessary?

Also is Buenos Aires still "cheap" for vacationers or is it a wash since the abolishment of a black market rate? To put into perspective I traveled to Spain a year ago and I definitely did not find it cheap.....at all. Anyway it feels good to be back on the board.


Thanks in advance.

 

[UK Man]

I'm no financial expert but as your post has yet to be answered I'll have a guess.

If you found Spain to be expensive I think you may well be in for a shock when you come back here. Personally speaking, I don't find Spain that expensive considering the quality you get whereas here I've noticed a drop in quality over the years.

 

[fifs2]

I'm no financial expert but as your post has yet to be answered I'll have a guess.

If you found Spain to be expensive I think you may well be in for a shock when you come back here. Personally speaking, I don't find Spain that expensive considering the quality you get whereas here I've noticed a drop in quality over the years.

I´m, also surprised you found Spain expensive but I´m sure I would too if I went to other parts like Madrid, Barcelona, Marbella etc. To me life continues to be surprisingly cheap in this part of Spain - Andalucia - for things like food, rent, clothes, books. A big mac and fries costs €5.80 here today. Nearly had a heart attack 2 weeks ago ordering one in Belfast for 11 pounds and the burger was genuinely the same size as that the little one normally eats in a happy meal....

 

[Girino]

I think here can be still cheap if you adopt a certain lifestyle (i.e. shop for veggies, cook your own meals, eat lots of cereals). Eating out is not cheap, I'd say it costs as much as in Europe with the falling quality of a recession time (i.e. the prices increases but the portions decreases, the ice creams are watered down, they start adding "cubierto", "trapitos" are popping up like flowers in the desert). At the end of the night, you're out of 100 ARS and haven't yet started eating.

People who moved here so that they could have a mucama, eat out every day, have food and items delivered to their door, going on holidays every now and then, will find BA a less attractive destination than it was 5 years ago.

However, should the dollar rise again, it would be a whole different story.

 

[jeff1234]

The two white containers have plain ice cream and sherbert, nothing fancy. Cost yesterday $20usd.

 

[glasgowjohn]

Spain , even Madrid and Barcelona, is cheaper than Argentina

Argentina has changed a lot since you were last here.

The informal dollar still exists but the gap is much smaller - today the official rate is 15,82 and the informal rate is 16.49

 

[Ries]

I just a couple of friends of mine, who spent a few days here last week, tell me that they figured it was about 30% cheaper than their home, Seattle.
Seattle, of course, is not a cheap city, as US cities go.
They were being tourists, not residents, so they were talking about taxis, restaurants, wine, and that sort of thing.

 

[EJLarson]

I just a couple of friends of mine, who spent a few days here last week, tell me that they figured it was about 30% cheaper than their home, Seattle.
Seattle, of course, is not a cheap city, as US cities go.
They were being tourists, not residents, so they were talking about taxis, restaurants, wine, and that sort of thing.

Wine (the kind you find in supermarkets/chinos) is still relatively cheap. At least it was in December, when I left. Taxis, too, are still a comparative bargain. Not that they're so cheap in BsAs, but they're astronomical everywhere else.

 

[Churchill]

I´m, also surprised you found Spain expensive but I´m sure I would too if I went to other parts like Madrid, Barcelona, Marbella etc. To me life continues to be surprisingly cheap in this part of Spain - Andalucia - for things like food, rent, clothes, books. A big mac and fries costs €5.80 here today. Nearly had a heart attack 2 weeks ago ordering one in Belfast for 11 pounds and the burger was genuinely the same size as that the little one normally eats in a happy meal....

Whoa back up....11 pounds for ONE big Mac meal in Belfast? That can't be right.

 

[glasgowjohn]

Whoa back up....11 pounds for ONE big Mac meal in Belfast? That can't be right.

DID IT INCLUDE A PINT OF GUINNESS?