Customer Reviews

The Rough Guide to Argentina 2 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a frequent RG and LP user, I purchased both for my October 2008 18-day trip to Argentina, which included 1 week in Buenos Aires, 3-4 days in the Cordoba area, and a week in Mendoza area. I went with my wife, so figured the 2 guides would keep us both busy, as I am an active tourist.

I used both guides extensively, since there was downtime and overnight buses. My comments are based on my 3 regional destinations and thorough review of the history/culture/things to do sections. I read both guides for all the areas we visited. In fairness, we didn't visit Patagonia, which one might assume would be stronger for RG in general.

Best quality: Activities. Not surprisingly, the RG is geared for active travelers, who spend less time in a hotel room and get out to explore. The recent update was up on some of the still trendy Buenos Aires and Mendoza restaurants and clubs. I bought a Time Out guide for BsAs, knowing how rapidly places flow in and out of favor (recommended) and the RG was spot on with recommendations.

Biggest fault: Maps and photos. As usual for RG (my opinion), this guide is poor and stingy with maps. The national map is poor, and regional maps rely on limited black and white overview maps. This is my biggest fault with RG guides in general.

1. History: both guides were good - nearly identical, actually. Given the economic fluctuations over the past 7 years, both were full of caveats about how uncertain any year's economy can be.

2. Culture: I actually found the LP better on this level. I found more insights into the "why" questions: e.g., Why Portenos (BsAs residents) do/say certain things, Why the gaucho mystique holds such allure in the culture, Why the labor sector has so much influence, etc. To me, other than the maps, this was the biggest difference between the two.

3. Buenos Aires: I found that I used the LP more than the RG for the capital city - the main reason was because of its better maps. I researched neighborhoods extensively in order to book a rental apartment instead of a hotel (GREAT option if there for a week). Also, we really used the Time Out Guide (in English or Spanish) the most. Recommended: pick up a free city map from any high-end hotel, as it has clearer street-level maps with major landmarks.

4. Cordoba: again, we used the LP more, because of the maps. Glad we didn't spend much time here.

5. Mendoza: RG was a bit better than LP here, for us. The descriptions of wine regions and the Andes-related towns en route were better than LP; again the maps were not as good.

All in all -- of the two, I used the LP more. If I am spending more than a few days anywhere, I tend to bring both RG and LP to my destinations and use them both (what's $20 compared to the thousands of dollars and time to visit?) and do my best to relate the two. Overall, I find myself nearly 50-50 in preference, by location. Hope this is helpful!

The Rough Guide to Argentina (2nd edition published in January of 2005) is the best guide available for the entire country. I phrased it this way because Time Out Buenos Aires (published July 2006) is by far and away the best guide for the city of Buenos Aires.

If you are a little leery of purchasing a guidebook printed almost two years ago I would recommend purchasing Time Out Buenos Aires as well because it seemed that only in Buenos Aires have things changed so rapidly that a newer guide would be necessary.
Having said that you certainly can get away with just having The Rough Guide (just know that prices have gone up - which happens with all guide books).

When comparing The Rough Guide to Argentina to Lonely Planet Argentina (the only real competition since Fodors, Frommers, and Bradt just don't compete) I can easily recommend Rough guide over Lonely Planet. The Rough Guide simply has more information (it has 372 MORE pages than Lonely Planet has). A few times I found that I'd read about a very intriguing and little known attraction in the Rough Guide only to find it missing altogether in Lonely Planet. I know that most guides are striving to also highlight the off the beaten track activities as well as the major ones and The Rough Guide achieves this in a much better way than Lonely Planet.

I don't fault Lonely Planet for this because they produce good travel guides (especially in Europe), but it seems that they made the decision to not go as in depth as The Rough Guide has in South America (since I also found the same to be true with the Chile and Peru guides).

The maps are very easy to use and more intuitive than Lonely Planet's, but it would be nice for Rough Guide to copy LP in printing the elevation and population of cities and towns.

All areas of the country are represented well in the guide. Some are a bit more heavily detailed but it does not come at the expense of others.

The "Basics" section is very detailed in highlighting entry requirements, transportation, health and safety issues, etc. There is also a lengthy discussion on the history of Argentina, it's peoples, culture, political system, food, etc.

You will definitely not be disappointed after purchasing this guidebook.

In the competitive world of Argentia travel guides this guide is one of the most authoritative, up-to-date and practical guides out. Rough Guide's direct competition is Lonely Planet (see my review) and, between the two, well it's almost a toss up - both have strengths and irritations, but the nod goes to Rough Guide.

This guide has very good accommodations recommendations for all of Argentina. You can find everything from a 5 star hotel to well run hostel. Note: for those going to Buenos Aires', hotel prices have skyrocketed over the past two years and most guides have not kept up with this immense price surge. I found hotels that were listed as $75 a night, now $225! Thus, the hotel's webpage is the best place to make sure of the current price. But this Rough Guide provides very few hotel webpages for hotels "outside" of Buenos Aires. Lonely Planet does much better in this area.

Rough Guide's recommendation for restaurants are reliable. Of those restaurants that I tried, about 90% were good to very good. Yet, for some perplexing reason, Rough Guide fails to tell you what you should expect to pay for your meal. So one eatery may be $4 and another $40 - not good. Also, the description of the restaurant is very terse and leaves one wishing for a fuller description. This guide does not give you the time or days when the restaurant is open; so take care and call first, especially on weekends.

Excellent is the information that this guide provides on Argentina's history, politics, wild life, environment, music and recommended books. Rough Guide is the best out in this area. Also, Rough Guide has excellent maps. All of its city maps are excellent, and far easier to use than Lonely Planets. Kudos.

The cumbersome "price code" system for accommodations, i.e. 1 = up to $25, 2 = $25-40, 3 = $40-60, etc., should be changed. It is so much better to use what Lonely Planet, and most other guides use, the cost in dollars. Duh.

If you are interested in the "economic meltdown" of Argentina in 2001/2002 do take with you Paul Blustein's, "And the Money Kept Rolling In", (see review).

Rough Guide is a very reliable guide. However, there is a new release just out you should also consider: "Footprint Argentina - 2006" - it too is a great guide! (See my review). This "Rough Guide" is Strongly Recommended.

I agree with pretty much everything that has been said in the reviews below. The Rough Guide is a better value from the Lonely Planet, if nothing else for the additional number of pages (a third) that allow the authors to get into more detail on the history, politics and minutiae of places to stay and see.

There are a few problems or personal recommendations I would make, or emphasize. The Guide is absolutely on target by recommending not to bring travellers checks. Not only are the banks loth to take them (only a minority actually do, the maximum is $100 per day) but there is an extraordinary amount of paperwork and they charge enormous fees. I brought most of the checks back home. There is a problem with Argentinian ATMs not listed in the Guide. Most ATMs use a 4 letter code and do not recognize 4+ codes from the USA or European debit/credit cards. You will quickly recognize and love the small minority that do (such as the Columbia Bank).

The maps were very helpful to me.

Some of the places described in the book were apparently never visited by the Guide's researchers, who must have relied on second-hand info from tour operators or Information agencies. A case in point is the Baritu National Park and its launching pad, the village Los Toldos, which are described from a standpoint of someone who has never been there.

In general, I would say that the country is best experienced if one avoids organized tours. Argentines are a warm, interesting and interested people. It is one thing to sit in the bus with a bunch of Europeans and gringos and another to sit together with the locals... indigenous ladies returning from the market, old men in old hats, groups of seductive young women... you will see more of the land and experience more of the people. If you visit Iruya (which I thoroughly recommend), don't just stay for a couple of hours before returning to Humahuaca; i suggest renting a room in the village (for ridiculously low proces) and staying for a couple of days.

There is very little about other countries and potential issues involved in crossing the borders. This goes for Brasil, Bolivia and Chile.

Still, this is the guide to get. Enjoy the travels.

I travelled through Argentina for 2 months with this book as my companion. The book is a very good general purpose travel book for Argentina, with good information about national parks but also but also about the cities and everything else.

This new edition was published in late 2004, but after having problems obtaining from Amazon(common with new books from British publishers), I ordered from their UK website instead, and paid the extra cost of airmail shipping. (note: the latest editon has the peaks of Fitz Roy on the cover, not the cactus/Jesuit mission image from the previous edition).

As other reviewers state, this is one of the best guides to Argentina. However, I did immediately notice a couple of disappointing flaws:

1. I got this book within a month after publication, yet found that 1/3 to 1/2 of the websites listed were already dead links.
2. It mentions popular US (United, Delta, etc.) and Latin American airlines (Lan Chile, Aereolinas Argentina, etc.) but does not list what are currently the cheapest carriers out of Miami---as Avianca, Lloyd Aero Boliviano, Lacsa, or 202 Taca International.
3. There are some long-standing tour operators serving this region that are not listed here, and their package prices are below those of the companies that ARE listed. If you are a budget traveler from the U.S., check out the lastest info from Arthur Frommers' Budget Travel, available free online by following the "travel" link on msnbc's website.

My Argentine vacation is still a year away, so I can't yet attest to the accuracy of much of the other info. But like other books from the Rough Guides this one is hard to beat for its comprehensive content.

a comprehensive guide to argentina, very well researched and not overly cumbersome. It fits nicely with the rough guide series as a whole, which tends to be slighly more informative and gives you more background history ect. Not a complete guide to argentina, its a big country, but certainly the best of the lot

This was my first Rough Guide purchase as I have always been a fan of Lonely Planet. I bought the Argentina guide since it was published recently and used it specifically for a trip to Buenos Aires. I thought that the information was relatively good in terms of descriptions of neighborhoods in general, but not detailed enough for my tastes. Pricing is difficult, even for a very recent edition, due to the inflation in Argentina. However, I prefer Lonely Plant for giving more substantive historical backgrounds in their guides as well as telling it as it is in their hotel, restaurant, etc. reviews.

I liked this better than the Frommer's guides, but I think the Lonely Planet guide does a better job. As a traveler on a student's budget, I didn't find this particular guide to be that useful or user-friendly. It IS informative and can be useful (language section, brief culture/history section, health section, etc.) but as I said, it wasn't right for me.

I suggest the Lonely Planet guide to Argentina.

I have many travel books including rough guides and even after travelling around they remain in good condition, i have only read parts of the book and the first 15 pages just fell out - very annoyed as more will probably fall out and this will not wear well on the trip