Argentina Travel Review: Buenos Aires, Iguazu, Salta

Take more cash, which we ran out of. I'm used to using credit cards, but there were huge percentage surcharges for using a credit card and the exchange rate was not nearly as good as exchanging cash. When we tried to use our ATM card we were limited as to how much we could withdraw, were surcharged by the local bank in addition to our own bank, and the exchange rate was also poor compared to the exchange rate for cash. For cash, hotels were giving 10 pesos per one U.S. dollar, but it was only about 7 to 8 pesos when using a credit card or ATM card, and then there were all the surcharges. The local percentage surcharge on using a credit card was as high as 30%, which is ridiculous. In other words, you could easily pay almost twice as much for just using a credit card. Until things change, I would let travelers know that they should take way more cash than they think they will need and then only exchange and use cash on the trip.