ARGENTINA -bring your own spoon to the restaurant or pay 10% !!!!

Hello fellow travellers,

I have travelled to Argentina with high hopes of an great trip, but I must say from my perspective that it was in many ways quite a disappointment .. why .. ?

1. hotel prices in Argentina : I still can not believe that a country allow hotels to charge you in dollars .. secondly not only that but the prices are shown on booking websites without a 20% tax ... which I learned in a very hard way .. as I booked one hotel in Bariloche for few days and than when I arrived they already charged my credit card ..
   It is also the way how they do business and things has disappointed me I have booked in my job hotels all over the planet, most serious hotels the only need as we all know the card to guarantee the booking in case you don't show up or cancel and you pay either when arrive or the best one at the end with all other services you use during stay ..
   Than the hotels are absolutely overpriced .. I have in the most expensive capitals of this planet for the same money they ask in such a underdeveloped country such as argentina with very low salaries ..

2. car rental in Argentina prices:
   
   My plan was to rent a car in bariloche, to drive ruta 40 and than back through chile ruta 7 or carretera austral .. I understand it was december and prices go up .. but can you believe that most car companies
   asked me to pay between 2500 of course again in dollars for a 2 week rent even without permission to go to chile .. with border crossing was over 300 dollars ..
   and when I asked an honest manager at one of the largest car rental companies, why is this price so extreme .. he said something unbelievable, if it is true I can not know, the government has a limit I believe he said to us of only 5000 cars to rent in whole country to and the reason is strange to him as well, but effect is that is makes prices going through the roof and they have been begging to change this policy for years he said to us ..
   We had no other choice but to go to Chile .. where we found our luck and can only suggest to do it as well.. we rented there for total of three weeks at company west in Puerto Montt a the biggest nissan 4X4 (similar or bigger than hilux) 1300 dollars .. with 100% insurance coverage as well. It was amazing than to drive to the carretera austral and back again ..

3. Restaurant prices in Argentina:

This was the most ridiculous thing I ever seen in my life after travelling close to half of the world countries .. I only can say .. I have seen strange things in italy where me and couple of friends went once before the euro and were charged close to 100 Deutsche Mark for a pizza and some table water and 2 cola and after complaining this gua sad water in italy is not free and expensive and came to a fight with my friends, which was hard to stop .. and I I have seen greeks giving you extra expensive tourist menu and so on and we all know the so called tourist tax.. but I have never been charged for eating with a spoon .. which later a local man explained and I researched it, so we are really charged for the spoon. 10 %... it is even official + another 10 % so called propina or tips ..(I found some websites that government allows the restaurants to do that but it has to come for many services such as bread and olive oil and ketchup and other things, the reality is most of it was not served .. that`s why the one local told me they joke about it the spoon tax for tourist .. and we paid almost double the price of that showing in the manu ..
I did not understand first what means the cubierto .. but after talking to honest people in Argentina and observing I only can say that most locals are not charged the same prices.. i mean the cubierto and propina .. I was in couple of cities and while i drank my beer at a park next to a restaurant in Mendoza, Santa Fee and so on .. you leave like we know in europe at the end what you like .. and that's it .. this is very dissopointing indeed ...

4.
Security and general situation or hospitality in Argentina:
We did not research a lot this topic because we believed that it is save to travel there .. we were mistaken..
After we arrived we discovered that you can not really use without fear even a taxi .. many of tourists have been robbed of all the things in taxis .. blogs ar full with them .. read before you travel ..
Furthermore there wer every day demonstrations in the city center that you literally could not walk free around it .. even the buses for tourist, which were more expensive than in europe by the way .. were totally disrupted ..

And last thing which brought me even to call the polic is this and made me really writing this here was that in Mendoza we were checking for our bus to go to Santa Fee and than Brasil for ouer flight back ..
The person, who puts our luggage into the bus asked only me bu the way me for propina .. I said sorry don't have .. i really did not have .. only for some water .. cos we were going out and did not want to go to pay high fee for money I don´t need .. this person than throws our two luggages with such a force that it damages a bit my luggages on the metal corners inside the bus .. Every time we entered a bus we wer asked for so called propina again and again, none of the locals was asked and only very few sometimes gave them something ..

and last point I need to make I feel sorry and sad to see so many argentinien people in such sadness and struggle .. there was in every city so much homelessness and begging that was impossible walking around bus stations or even in front of the congress where we stayed at Ibis .. full was the park with homeless and
beggars ..this gave us just a feeling of going really to a country in deep crisis .. from the so called Paris of the South we have not seen anything really .. and also a feeling of insecurity .. we did not go out any night in a 3. nights stay ... cos the hotel lady said she does not recommend it ..

My conclusion is that in such a troubled country, sadly most people have lost the sense of hospitality ..
even the famous steaks were always a disappointment, more a entrecote with bones.. only once after talking in last night to the receptionist and ha send us to his family restaurant and wrote a note to him ..we got a good steak in more than two weeks ..

I must admit that the taxi driver in brasil retiring these days was right he said to us this:
quote: we sadly instead of helping and guiding tourists to explore our wonderful countries and give them an adventure, we are only have one goal, to get out from the tourist all the money as fast as possible .. "
this was exactly my subjective impression of Argentina .. and I only can say we went after that to Chile and yeas there were few times, when we had same impression such as in a fish market in Santiago, but that was the exception .. ( I will write also a long one about CHile as well)..

And finally before I go one more a personal note to the fellow readers and comments will come for sure:
I have been as you a big fan of the community almost since the beginning ... I only started to write recently and help others with my experience, because I could not really understand, why so many argue around us about what others write ..and it stopped me from doing so .. lets not forget that everyone has a unique experience and it is als a bit of subjective view on each country we visit .. secondly everybody goes with different goals into another country .. mine has always been not just to see landscape or hike, but genuinely to discover what this country makes different, what are the unique traditions, but also their troubles and struggles in everyday life .. and furthermore I believe that some of us have more to say than some others, because of their amount of travel and comparison they have made or seen and their job experiences as well. I myself have been for over 26 years travelling as part of my business and extensively through my conference organiser job for 7. years worldwide ... for this reasons, I will not comment any one of you .. if you disagree .. I understand .. if you think I exaggerate, please go and check yourself..
I spoke to many fellow travellers and took many in my car in carretera, there was not a single one who does not agree with this view .. sadly though ..
Cheers and happy travelling

The cubierto in BsAs restaurants has become a common extra expense, but it's not just for tourists; everyone pays it. Not every eatery charges it, but it's just one more thing you have to factor into a meal out, then decide if it is worth it.

But in general, visiting is not cheap anymore. Living and traveling in Argentina presents many unique challenges, but also a lot of rewards.

Cubiertos are cutlery: knives, forks, spoons. A cubierto charge in a restaurant is a cover charge. You are not being charged for using a spoon but paying a cover charge. A lot of BA restaurants charge this, as do other restaurants in various parts of the world. It is more like an entrance fee than a service charge.

It sounds like you did minimum research and are complaining about the costs and differences of a foreign country? Argentina is a beautiful country with it's own rules, importation issues, culture and oddities just like other countries. I respectfully disagree with your opinion.

VAT tax on hotels is refunded to foreigners:
http://www.thebubble.com/foreign-visitors-to-argentina-will-no-longer-pay-vat-on-accommodation/

...but if you are price sensitive why not rent an apartment or an Air BNB?

You went to Bariloche, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Argentina for both Argentinians and foreigners alike in one of their two peak seasons. It's either skiing in June/July or hiking in Dec/Jan. Markets dictate price, supply and demand. Also, both Chile and Argentina do not like their rental cars crossing the country borders. There is paper work to fill out in advance and they will charge a premium for doing this last minute.

Trucks are very expensive in Argentina due to importation hence their rental costs will also be pricey. I rented a 4 door simple car in Bariloche just a few months ago for $40 USD per day.

Servicio de mesa or Cubierto is a table cover charge used at probably 70% of restaurants in all of Argentina. Quite common.

November and December are when salaries are adjusted so many protests take place. Inflation is an issue in Argentina with 40% being tallied for 2016. It is a tough place to live right now with the economic future uncertain and people demonstrate that. This is their right and I would rather see the people exercise that right which delays my trip than see a population suffer under an iron-fisted government.

Argentina has a long history of informal work being generated because of its economic instability, and the guy that helps load the baggage below the bus and requesting a tip is a good example. Every bus trip I have taken in Argentina there has been one of those guys. Telling him "no" was a cultural faux pa, likely frowned upon by all the Argentinians that were on that bus and nearby. Clearly he made his opinion known by throwing your luggage inside. Giving the guy $5-10 pesos (less than 45-60 cents USD) was what was expected. Simply telling him "Oh, sorry, I only have a credit card. Pardon me" and showing him some form of respect would have avoided the entire misunderstanding. Even gesturing that you had no small change and saying "disculpa me" if you don't speak Spanish would have likely elicited a very different response.

Homelessness happens in almost every country in the world. The Retiro bus station is located right next door to a shanty town so I imagine you saw a lot of impoverished people. The Congreso area is also not a great area of the city especially at night time. Every city has meh or bad areas so I am not sure why you chose to stay there? I am not surprised the hotel clerk told you the surrounding area was not great for night time exploring. But did you go to Recoleta, Palermo Soho, Palermo Hollywood, Belgrano, San Telmo, Puerto Madero....? Did you try the young, developing microbrewery industry, the cutting edge underground cocktail bars, the traditional steak houses, the crazy clubs, the nocturnal tango scene and milongas...night life in Buenos Aires is renowned for being incredible.

I am surprised to read such remarks when you stated "...genuinely to discover what this country makes different, what are the unique traditions, but also their troubles and struggles in everyday life." This is exactly what you saw, yet you are warning others to not travel to Argentina due to the experiences you had. Might I suggest using this forum to research rather than criticize, learn rather than ward off others because an inexpensive, trouble free trip to Argentina did not fall into your lap. I really do not mean to offend you and hope you approach travel with a more open mind and more profound investigation beforehand.

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