Argentina: Securing the Best Exchange Rates by a Local
04/01/2024
Exchange rates explained.
Today (date on top) Argentina has 6 different exchange rates from US dollars to Argentinian pesos. You can find all the rates here:
As you can see, we have the dólar oficial (official dollar), dólar bolsa, contado con liqui, dólar cripto, dólar tarjeta, and dólar blue (blue dollar).
When you travel to Argentina, what matters to you is the official dollar and the blue dollar. The official dollar is the exchange that you will get if you use your debit/credit card, the blue dollar is what you will get if you exchange your money in Argentina with the blue market.
Today there is a 200 pesos difference between the official and the blue dollars (so you will get 200 pesos more for every dollar if you exchange your money in Argentina instead of using your card and that will make everything almost 20% cheaper for you). Last month it was a 600 pesos difference between both dollars. The market fluctuates a lot so it's important to keep checking the webpage (dolarhoy) before travelling and before exchanging money.
The highest bill available today is 2000 pesos which is 2 dollars. So think on bringing a purse, bag or something to put the cash if you are thinking of exchanging a big amount since pockets might not do.
Taking US dollars with you.
One of the best way of exchanging money in Argentina is by taking US dollars in cash with you.
!! But there is a catch: they will only give you the best exchange rate for 100 USD notes that are not old and that aren't written or broken. For 20/50 notes they can give you up to 20% less.
You can find a local willing to exchange pesos for dollars or there are places where you can go:
- If you are near Plaza Serrano in Palermo, Buenos Aires, you can go to this place to exchange money:
I've been here on November 2023 and they had a good exchange rate.
- Peatonal Florida: where you can find people literally screaming 'Cambio, cambio' = 'Exchange, exchange'. Be careful here, everyone will know you are exchanging money, so that means you have money on you. Try not to stay too long and get a taxi/cabify home (better safe than sorry).
You can always ask you hotel manager or airbnb host to give you some recommendations, but remember to check the exchange rate before exchanging money.
Western Union Exchange.
It's hard to know the exact amount of money you will need for your trip, so instead of taking a lot of cash I prefer to get some pesos as well from Western Union (WU).
This is a safe option and there are a lot of WU offices around Argentina. You don't get the highest exchange rate but is better than the official one and you can pay on the WU website by card and get the pesos in one of their offices.
Try to find an office that is an official WU office, there are some that are small and they are not allowed to give a high amount of pesos (which is easy to get to when you consider the exchange rate).
I would recommend this one in Palermo, Buenos Aires:
It might have a queue but they always have money since they are an official WU office.
You need to take your passport to the WU office to get the money and the email with the transfer confirmation and they will give you the cash, is pretty simple.
Extra tip:
If you are not booking all your hotels in advance, you should ask in the hotel reception when you are booking if there is a discount paying by cash. There are a lot of hotels that give up to 10% discount if you pay by cash. Also if you are paying with a foreign card ask if there are discount for foreigns, sometimes some taxes are reduced from foreigners that are paying by card.
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