My wife and I were thinking about visiting Argentina or Chile.
We don’t have a huge travel budget, so I was wondering if anyone has traveled there recently to give me a good sense of relative costs. Is Chile a lot more expensive than Argentina?
I know Argentina has been undergoing a lot of inflation recently. Is that a good or a bad thing for a prices perspective for me?
Inflation will work in your favour, because it devalues the currency relative to the dollar. Sure, nominal prices in pesos will also go up, but usually not as fast as the exchange rate goes down. I visited Argentina in 2005, when the effects of the big depression could still be felt and the peso had been unpegged off the dollar; it was a pleasantly cheap destination.
I haven’t been to Chile, but it is by far the wealthiest country in South America, so I’d expect a noticable price differential.
I’ve been to Chilean Patagonia and am going again in February. I found it pretty affordable. There is an amazing network of national parks in Argentina and Chile and it’s easy to go between the two countries.
I think that you could travel safely and economically there by finding things off the beaten path.
I visited Patagonia last December. Chile was great and modern and beautiful, as well as inexpensive. Argentina blew me away as well, and the food was cheap and even better than in Chile (no offense to any Chilenos).
The main difference between the two was the money situation. We could use ATMs in Chile, or banks, but in Argentina we were advised to bring a wad of US dollars (hundreds) and not to use ATMs or banks or the official currency exchanges, but instead use “unofficial” exchanges. Our trip leader arranged for us to exchange money with trusted restaurants and at our hotel. Western Union ran out of money. The black market exchanges gave us about 2x the official exchange rate. Since the recent election I think US dollars are even more in demand so maybe even better rates. A shame, as Argentina has so much potential but is hobbled by it’s finance woes.
At any rate, I found both countries safe and beautiful and full of welcoming people. Practice the Spanish, tho, as you cannot rely on English in those parts.
My daughter and son-in-law just came back from a month in Buenos Aires, and were amazed at how cheap everything was. Plus lots of great parks for the kids.
Thank you for all the responses!
I found Chileans to be unbelievably friendly. When we arrived, we were waiting for the shuttle from our hotel and several people asked if we were okay, or needed information. One elderly couple offered us a ride.
And the wine is amazing.