Argentina in May with 4 and 8yo

[beallrightdahlin]

Anyone been to Argentina with children recently? Would so thank you for your advice, as have never been before.

We are going in May for 2.5 weeks and have already got BA flights from/to London but are a bit overwhelmed at the vastness of the country and hope not to miss out / make too many wrong decisions.

A friend of ours was attacked at gunpoint at Iguazu falls, so am suddenly a bit worried about whether it's quite safe to go there with children - how have you found it, if you've been? Where did you stay there?

No long distance trains, so did you ever try - with children - the coaches they have instead that have beds etc...

Did you go to Salta? Any experiences or recomm. on "estancias" to stay in around the area for one night (3 other nights planned to stay in Salta itself).

Also, in Buenos Aires, what did you do, and would you advise staying in an appartment - there seem to be so so many on offer - I wonder if it's the done thing?

Gracias in advance!!!

Hola?

Anyone?

You could try asking on the forums on fodors.com? Sounds like it'll be an amazing trip!

Thank you, Laquila, I had never heard of fodors.com, that is so useful!

look on tripadvisor. type in argentina forum and then click on the forum link. personally we looked at Argentina and went to Belize instead as we, like you, had a number of concerns about safety and the political situation there. think you are very brave to book a holiday flight to somewhere without finding all this out first. hope it all works out. good luck.

Thanks, Mummymeister - I know!

I found some Buenos Aires long lost relatives through internet and we have wanted to go and meet them for years. We spoke to them on Skype a few times and decided to go for it and got flights. All of this was before hearing about the gunpoint attack…

Aaaargh. Don't think I've been brave. Think I've been thick. V thick.

Fodor's is amazing, isn't it?! The forums are fairly American-dominated, but they can be very useful. I've seen some cracking debates on there about whether it's inappropriate to wear polycotton-blend shorts on Capri after 6pm at night or the like.

beall you have 2 choices. either you have to work hard now to get the info to make this a great safe holiday. or you bail and cancel the tickets. no other options really. have you thought about jabs for your little ones? think you need to have a look at the dot gov website to see what they recommend. is it a malarial area that you are going to?

Tx, mummymeister. Yeap, working really hard to plan it well.

Now planning to skip Salta cause it's a malaria zone, for example.

Still not sure whether I will go ahead, though!

Hi, firstly great choice! I am a bit bias as I am from A, but have lived here 13 years. go there every year with hubby and ds (5) and we never had problems, and they look very english. Some tips we always implement, may sound over cautious really but we never had any problems in the 5 years I have taken my hubby and ds:

• we never wear jewellery or watches
• only bring small camera, that can fit in DH pockets
• we bring an old looking bag where we have stuff for DS, toy cars, snacks, etc
• in buenos aires we stayed in AWWA suites and spa, may be a bit pricey but location is great near parks and in good area Palermo. we had the top suite that is its own mini flat with all you want. Otherwise palermo has lots of apartments.
• The buses are comfortable, and give you snacks, sits are like business class equivalent, though if you are planning to go to the north of the country I would try to do an internal flight... specially as you are not a long time there (bus ride to salta is aprox 15 hs...)
• We never had vaccinations, as I said hubby and ds very english and we have been to Tucuman, Iguazu, Salta and Jujuy.
• Risk of malaria is in the jungle side of the country, Salta is VERY big, I assume you plan to go to the "andes" side, or what they call Quebrada, e.g. Cafayate, or Jujuy, Humahuaca, Purmamarca, that area is non-mosquitoes as it is the beginning of top mountains, landscape colourful with cactus, not really malaria breeding zone! I know I am from there but really I never heard anybody getting malaria there.

You may be at very slight risk in the other side of salta near the jungle (last bit of amazonian jungle goes to the top of argentina), but as I said that is quite far away. the other side is that is not the summer, may is nice and cool so no mosquitoes (still bring insect repellent).

• water, etc is safe, but just due to fact that is a change of environment I give my ds bottle water, although he has drank tap water several times and no issues.
• Staying at a estancia in salta is probably a great choice, never done it myself but took them to one near buenos aires and they loved it.

People will be very friendly and unlikely you will have any problems. Enjoy!!

I am off to Cuba tomorrow with family so will not check the post again for a few days but hope the above helps!

just saw this, in this nhs scotland website they say malaria tablets are not recommended to A.
www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/destinations/south-america--antarctica/argentina/argentina-malaria-map.aspx

Carminia, I only just read this! Thank you SO much, all that info is so useful.

How was Cuba? I found it fascinating, if a bit sad. Being Spanish, the locals kept confiding in me cause I spoke the language and I heard some terrible stories (maybe that happened to you too!). But other than that it was great.

Back to Argentina, then (well done for going there every year. Lucky DH and DS you have).

Since Iguazu seems to be pretty much in the jungle, is there any accommodation that's decent and not one of the jungle lodges - guess best to play it safe around there, esp. with my DD who is so blonde and pale and always seems to get bitten by anything that can bite :-(. Do love the look of the jungle lodges, but feel I must give them a pass…

I haven't been recently but had a 4 week trip around Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil when dd was 11 months old. We didn't have any problems with safety or health issues.

My only bad memory of Iguazu Falls is of dd crying and crying because she got very wet on the boat trip (despite being on my lap and wrapped up in a giant mac'). A few hours later and she was warm and dry, and had - presumably - forgotten all about it, while I was still full of guilt and feeling like the worst mummy in the world.

try the Thorntree travel forum on the Lonely Planet website for more up to date help and advice.