I have traveled to many countries around the world. Some accept credit cards. Some only deal in cash. Some accept US Dollars. Some only accept local currency. Nowhere, however, I have dealt with a system as weird as Argentina. There are myriad exchange rates.
Consider this data based on my real experience.
- Official rate: 1 USD = 226 pesos.
This is what one gets in official exchange places. And probably while using the ATM. It is a bad rate though. Do not use the ATM. - Blue Dollar rate/Black-market rate: 1 USD = 466 pesos. I converted a 100 USD bill at the rate of 1 USD = 460 pesos. The rate offered for a 20 USD bill was 1 USD = 453 pesos. 10% of USD bills in circulation in the world are in Argentina!
- MEP rate: 1 USD = 415 pesos.
This is the rate I got when using my Visa credit card.
For my Master card, I was charged 1 USD = 226 pesos. And later, got a refund, making the effective exchange rate to be 1 USD = 395 pesos.
So, the MEP rate is ~10-15% lower than the blue dollar rate. - Hotels/hostels were offering an exchange rate of about 1 USD = 440 or 450 pesos.
- Western Union gives a blue dollar rate except it charges a USD 5 transfer fee. The first transfer, however, is free. I didn’t use Western Union.
- Many businesses, especially, taxis will charge a 10% credit card payment surcharge.
The Argentinian inflation rate is at 100% a year! So, no foreigner wants to end up holding too many pesos.
So what to do?
All of these various issues cause significant consternation. Here’s my recommendation for what to do.
- If you are staying in a big city like Buenos Aires for a few days then just use credit cards. You will lose 10-15% as a price of convenience.
- If you are going to be traveling inside Argentina, for example, Patagonia or Ushuaia then bring 100$ bills. And convert them to pesos in Buenos Aires at the blue dollar rate. How much money should you carry? I would say about 30$ per person per day would suffice. This excludes any airline tickets which are hard to book with cash anyway. So, for a 10-day trip in Argentina, I would recommend converting three 100$ bills.