Argentina is 3,700 kilometres long. Book the right days.
Which glacier day puts you on the ice and which only shows it to you. What a Mendoza winery run really costs. Whether the tango dinner earns the extra. Every bookable day in the country, read before you pay for it.
La Boca on foot, or a day roped onto Perito Moreno.
Argentina prices its tours in dollars for visitors, and the spread is enormous. Every review on the site sorted by what the day actually costs, with the most-booked pick in each band.
Barrio walks, a museum ticket, a seat at the back of a tango hall, the boat out to the Tigre delta.
The standard half-day: three wineries out of Mendoza, the Salinas Grandes run from Salta, a city tour with hotel pickup.
Full days with lunch and transfers — Perito Moreno from El Calafate, the Tierra del Fuego park and train, an afternoon at an estancia.
Long distances and private cars: Península Valdés with the boat out, both sides of Iguazú, a driver of your own for the Quebrada.
Crampons on the glacier, multi-day Patagonia runs, and the private guide you keep for a whole day.
You will not see Iguazú and Ushuaia in the same week.
Argentina is a two-flight country in most directions. Pick the bases you can actually reach in the time you have, then build the days around each one.
In Buenos Aires the tango halls fill after the parrillas empty.
Dinner-and-show at nine, milonga at one in the morning, and a gulf between them in price and in atmosphere. The show halls are polished and easy to book; the neighbourhood milongas expect you to sit and watch for a while first.
What everyone books between Buenos Aires and the Beagle Channel.
Every review →Ranked by how many travellers have actually taken them, not by what we would pick. Read the top one first — it got there on numbers, and it is rarely the most expensive thing on the list.
1
Local Foodie Adventure in Buenos Aires with Sherpa Food Tours
3.5-hour Palermo food tour with Argentine tastings and drinks across 4 to 6 venues, including vegetarian and gluten-free options.
From · $90
Read our review →
2
Buenos Aires City Private Tour with Local Guide
from $126
3
Perito Moreno Glacier & Optional Boat Cruise
from $80
4
Buenos Aires Small-Group City Tour
from $38
5
Buenos Aires Hop-On Hop-Off Bus, Free Walking Tours & Discounts
from $39
6
Piazzolla Tango Show with Optional Dinner
from $48
7
City Highlights Guided Tour with Transfer
from $38
8
Hop-On Hop-Off City Bus Tour
from $35
Iguazú is loud, and you will get wet.
The Argentine side puts you on catwalks over the water and takes most of a day; the Brazilian side gives you the wide photograph in about three hours. The boat under the falls is a soaking rather than a splash — bring a dry shirt and a bag that closes.
The glacier, the gauchos and the whales of Península Valdés.
Plenty of countries sell a city walk and a wine tasting. These three are the days people fly to Argentina specifically for, and each one runs on rules the listing does not mention.
Walking on Perito Moreno
Perito Moreno is one of the few big glaciers still holding its ground, and you can be strapped into crampons and walked across it. Two versions run: a short mini-trek of an hour or so on the ice, and Big Ice, which is most of a day and goes much further out. Both carry age limits and a fixed daily headcount, and in January both sell out before anything else in Patagonia.
- 1Beagle Channel Navigation with Minitrekking★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 642 reviews
- 2Perito Moreno Glacier Minitrekking Excursion★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 239 reviews
- 3Ice Trekking Vinciguerra Glacier and Laguna de los Témpanos Premium★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 236 reviews
Right whales off Puerto Madryn
Southern right whales come into the gulfs either side of Península Valdés to calve, and for part of the year the boats out of Puerto Pirámides go out among them. Off season the peninsula still repays the drive for the elephant seals and the sea lion colonies, but the whale boats simply do not run. Check the month before you pay for the trip.
- 1The Best of Peninsula Valdés in one day★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 232 reviews
- 2Cruise Shore Excursion Peninsula Valdes – Pto Madryn – Patagonia – Argentina★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 111 reviews
- 3Valdes Peninsula: Full Day with Whale Watching★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 98 reviews
A day out on an estancia
The estancia day is lunch, horses and a riding demonstration, usually an hour or two out of Buenos Aires and back by evening. The gauchos running it do the job for a living the rest of the week. Ask what the riding actually involves before you book — some days put you in the saddle for an hour, others walk you round a paddock for ten minutes.
- 1Gaucho Day Tour Ranch at an Estancia from Buenos Aires★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,025 reviews
- 2Gaucho Small-Group Full Day at a Farm in Buenos Aires★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 937 reviews
- 3Gaucho and Ranch Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 809 reviews
Mendoza pours before noon and nobody minds.
Three regions, one city to sleep in. Maipú is the close one and the easiest on a bike; Luján de Cuyo holds the old Malbec vines; the Uco Valley is an hour further out with the Andes filling the window. A driver costs more than the bus and saves the day.
- 1All Day, Small Group, Luxury Wine Tour with Gourmet Lunchfrom $240
- 23 Wineries, Olive Oil Factory Tour & Tastingfrom $34
- 3High Andes Aconcagua Mountain Tourfrom $63
Four Argentine days that will not wait for you.
Most of Argentina can be arranged from your hotel the night before. These four cannot: they run on daily quotas, fixture lists, narrow timetables and animals that leave when they leave.
- 01Perito Moreno Glacier Big Ice Tour from El CalafateOnly a fixed number of people are allowed onto the ice each day, and there are age limits at both ends. In January the slots go weeks ahead.
- 02Shore Tours Punta Tombo Cruise Ship Passengers Puerto MadrynThe penguins are only at the colony for part of the year. Outside those months it is a long drive to an empty beach, and most operators stop running the trip.
- 03Tickets to Boca Juniors Museum & StadiumStadium tours close on match days, and the fixture list is published well in advance. Pick the date around the football, not the other way round.
- 04National Park & Train of the End of the World TourA handful of departures a day on a narrow-gauge line with fixed seat numbers. It is the one Ushuaia booking that regularly sells out before people arrive.
By base — where you sleep decides what you see
Buenos Aires649 tours
Mendoza158 tours
Bariloche96 tours
Ushuaia155 tours
El Calafate115 tours
Salta88 tours
Puerto Iguazú75 tours
Puerto Madryn68 tours
Córdoba15 tours
Jujuy15 tours- Every base →
By day — what kind of day is it?
In Patagonia the season closes; in Iguazú it never does.
Everything below the fortieth parallel runs on a southern-hemisphere calendar, and half of it shuts for the winter. El Calafate and Ushuaia are busiest from late spring to early autumn and quiet or closed either side. The whales and the penguins keep their own months. Iguazú, Buenos Aires and the northwest work all year — the north is simply hotter and wetter over Christmas.
Buenos Aires, the falls, the north, the wine, then the ice.
What we reviewed this week in Argentina.
All recent →
Private Tour: Tierra del Fuego National Park Trekking & Canoeing in Lapataia Bay
Read our review →
Meet Locals: Language Exchange Café in Buenos Aires
Read our review →
Trekking and Roasting in the Precordillera at Family Ranch
Read our review →
Direct Private Transfer: El Calafate Airport to El Chaltén
Read our review →
Canoeing Adventure on the Beagle Channel and Penguin Colony
Read our review →
Full Day Gourmet Glacier Tour: Upsala and Spegazzini
Read our review →
Tango, Wine and Dine Night Experience in Mendoza
Read our review →
Madero Tango Show Including Executive Dinner In Buenos Aires
Read our review →
Esquina Homero Manzi Tango Show Ticket Including Optional Dinner in Buenos Aires
Read our review →
Private City Tour & Transfer to the International Airport
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Iguazu Falls FullMoon Trekking under the Moonlight
Read our review →