Getting Here

Buenos Aires is a city oozing with energy and bustling with excitement, and this will hit you as soon as you arrive. Taking a taxi ride from one of the city's two airports (more details below) to downtown will expose you to a multitude of extravagant buildings influenced by 18th and 19th century French architecture, as well as the taxista (taxi driver) ignoring speed limits whilst smoking a 20-pack of cigarettes in 30 minutes!

When you arrive in the centre of the city you will notice a variety of quirky cafés, 24, sometimes 25, hour kioscos (kiosks) to satisfy the Argentine sweet tooth, along with a myriad of grassy parks and countless statues commemorating famous and influential Argentine martyrs. Only then will you understand some of the claims that Buenos Aires is "the Paris of South America"!

Here is some information about how you can get here, and other useful facts about the airports that serve Buenos Aires.

Aeropuerto Internacional Ministro Pisterini - Ezeiza International Airport (EZE)

All international flights fly into Buenos Aires' Ezeiza airport, and the world's major airlines fly here, so it really easy to get here from Europe, North America, Australasia and, of course, other countries in South America. It is a nice modern airport, with all the typical amenities such as ATMs, restaurants, duty free shops and there's a tourist information booth (4480-0024) near the taxi stand. If you need to change money, spend a bit of time looking for the small Banco de la Nación's office, it offers much better rates than other cambio's (bureau de change offices).

The airport is 35km (22 miles) south of the city centre, and transfer time to microcentro (downtown) will take between 30 and 45 minutes in a taxi depending on the time of day. Go to the main desk just in front of the main exit door to book a taxi, and pay the set price of roughly AR$150 there, avoid freestanding men offering taxis, they will only overcharge.

There are shuttle services offered by transfer company Manuel Tienda León (MTL) and cost AR$60 each to their office in Puerto Madero and this includes a taxi service to your final destination. These run every half an hour from 6am to 12midnight and take about 40 minutes.

If you're really looking after the pennies, you can take the public bus 86 from just outside the Aerolíneas Argentinas office at the Ezeiza terminal to Plaza de Mayo. This costs a mere AR$1.25 but takes around 2 hours to get there. However bus drivers who stop at the airport do not allow passengers on the bus who are carrying luggage. Besides, taking the bus is a lot more dangerous, especially if you are carrying a lot of valuable things like cameras, notebooks and mobile phones, a thief could swipe something when you're not looking. I urge tourists to take a booked taxi straight to your hotel, it's the best way to safeguard against robberies.

Aeroparque Jorge Newbery - Jorge Newbery Domestic Airpark (AEP)

Buenos Aires is home to more than a third of the countries' 40million inhabitants, and apart from some of the other major cities like Cordoba, Rosario, Mendoza and La Plata, Argentina is pretty empty. Outside of these bustling cities is another big attraction of Argentina which is sometimes overlooked: the natural world. Little do people know that the movie 'Seven Years in Tibet' staring Brad Pitt was actually filmed in Argentina by the Andes where they border with Chile. This gives you an idea as to what natural beauties are in store.

The coastal Aeroparque Jorge Newbery gives you the opportunity to take a number of domestic flights if you want to see a lot more of Argentina. This is located in Palermo thus is a lot closer to the centre of town and companies Aerolineas Argentinas, Austral Líneas Aéreas and LAN Argentina all provide a variety of flights within Argentina and surrounding countries: Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay and Chile.

If you are arriving at the aeroparque, transfers to microcentro in a taxi will take about 30 minutes and cost AR$40-50. There is also an MTL office providing shuttles to the centre at AR$12. Public busses 33 and 45 also run to various places in the downtown area, costing just AR$1.25.