Buenos Aires Guide - part 3: Exchanging currency in Buenos Aires

So, if ATMs aren't reliable, where do you get cash?

First the question - is cash necessary in Buenos Aires or Argentina/Patagonia? Not really, or at least not much, since credit/debit cards are accepted almost everywhere (even in very remote areas in Patagonia).

However, you'll pay less if you use cash in most restaurants and small shops (sometimes saving up to 20%!). If your trip is less than two weeks, you might pay slightly more to skip the hassle of getting cash. But since our adventure spanned two months, I was glad we often chose the cheaper cash option when reviewing my bank statements later.

What are the options to get Argentina Pesos in Argentina?

First, you can wire yourself money using Western Union. Your first transaction is fee-free, and you can use new emails to avoid fees entirely. This works well in BA, but small towns often run out of cash at WU locations, limit withdrawals to impractically low amounts like 50000 ARP, or require long waits.

Another option is a bit sketchy but worked well for us. Visit Florida Street in BA, where plenty of options exist to exchange Dollars or Euros for Pesos. The men (this job is rarely done by women) are impossible to miss. We asked for rates multiple times, picked the best, and followed the gentleman into a posh building. After a silent elevator ride and awkward chit-chat, we had our exchanged money—2 million pesos, mostly in 1000 ARP bills (yes, a literal brick of cash). It could have gone wrong, with us leaving without 2000 Dollars, but it worked and seems quite normal.

We brought 100 dollar and euro bills in pristine condition. I read smaller bills might be exchanged for less, but didn’t risk it. I also enjoyed the feeling of handling cash that felt like money coming from a very illegal source at least once in my otherwise boring life.

Life Hack for Kindle users: Store cash in the Kindle cover. We kept bills pristine for the shady exchange office this way.

Funny story: We kept 500 Euros in my Kindle cover, which I forgot about after returning from vacation. For weeks, I carried this ridiculous amount of cash, leaving it unattended several times.