Travel to South America

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

Format: Paperback
Author: Danny Aeberhard
ReleaseDate: 03 January, 2005
Publisher: Rough Guides
Rating:

book
Books like that only need padded envelopes. book arrived much earlier than other I'd ordered at same time, great condition, but extra box packaging is not necessary.

good reviews
The Rough Guide is a better value from the Lonely Planet, if nothibng else for the additional number of pages (a third) that allow the authors to get into much mor detail on the history, politics and minutiae of places to stay and see. I agree with pretty much with what has been said in the reviews below.

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 and rather used ATM machines. There is a problem with the ATMs not listed in the Guide, however. Most Argentinian ATMs use a 4 letter code and do not recognize 4+ codes from the USA debit/credit cards. There is a small minority that do (such as the Columbia Bank) and you will quickly recognize them and learn to love'em.

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 probably relied on the words by tour operators or Indormation 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 actually been there.

In general, I would say that it is best to avoid organized tours and hanging out with other tourists. 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 completely 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.

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. .

Best Argentina Country Guide
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. The Rough Guide to Argentina (2nd edition published in January of 2005) is the best guide available for the entire country.

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. .

Related products:
click image or link for details on these South America travel books.

	Lonely Planet Argentina
	The Rough Guide to Chile 3 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
	Time Out Buenos Aires (Time Out Guides)
	Frommer's Argentina & Chile (Frommer's Complete)