Argentina Travel Guide

/ / / /

Francis Ford Coppola Could Use a 'Godfather' in Buenos Aires

June 21, 2011 at 1:45 PM | by | Comments (0)

Director/vintner/hotelier Francis Ford Coppoloa is having a tough go with his Jardin Escondido in Buenos Aires. The small boutique hotel got robbed the other night, for the second time. From the Washington Post:

Police say the robbers made off with money and valuables, but more details were unavailable about how or when the robbery occurred. The official news agency Telam quoted a hotel employee as saying nobody was hurt in the incident.

more ›

/ / / / /

Wine Tasting in Mendoza? We Suggest a Post Vino Bath at the Park Hyatt

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Chile 1124, Mendoza, Mendoza, Argentina, 5500
April 7, 2011 at 12:45 PM | by | Comments (0)

Spending long days exploring vineyards and tasting wines can be tiring work. We're serious! Especially under the warm sun at the foot of the Andes in Mendoza, Argentina. But, if you choose your hotel wisely when booking a vinocentric trip, you'll have just what you need for a good post-wine wind-down: a bathtub.

This video and the photo below shows our favorite part of the Park Hyatt Mendoza, where we spent the weekend indulging in the Park Hyatt Masters of Food and Wine tour. Not only is the bathroom huge, well-lit and mirrored up the wazoo, it has a fantastic tub and rainfall shower tucked away in a separate stall, which you can turn into your own personal steam room.

more ›

/ / / / /

Even The Cocktails Are Arty At El Casco Art Hotel

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Av. Bustillo Km 11,5, Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina
October 1, 2010 at 9:24 AM | by | Comments (0)

El Casco's Lobby Bar

Is the WiFi free? Does the gym have good machines? All these things get noticed when checking into a hotel, but what about the atmosphere of the place—specifically the art on the walls or on the floor? All this week, we'll be highlighting properties around the world that do their artwork right, and the specific pieces you should stare long and hard at when next you drop by.

Today: El Casco Art Hotel's's cocktail art.

The entirety of this 33-room hotel in Argentina's Patagonian Lake District is a piece of art. It re-opened in 2007 with a collection of over 475 Argentine paintings and sculptures curated by owner Ignacio Gutiérrez Zaldívar, a noted collector in the Buenos Aires art community.

Suites are named after individual artists whose work decorates the room (you can book rooms such as the Bertani, Quirós or Soldi Suite), but there is also art in the garden, lobby and hotel bar.

more ›

/ / /

Fierro Hotel Buenos Aires Opens in September, From $145 a Night

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Soler 5862, Buenos Aires, Argentina
July 22, 2010 at 8:51 AM | by | Comments (0)

If you're looking for a great deal on a brand new boutique hotel this fall, head south. All the way down to Palermo Hollywood, the stylish nabe in Buenos Aires, where Fierro Hotel opens on September 1.

This spacious Superior Room (438 square feet) will set you back just $145 USD a night with the hotel's special opening rate, and that includes a breakfast buffet and unlimited internet access.

But if you can wait a bit longer, you may want to schedule a BA trip for September 30—that's the night of Fierro's VIP Opening Event, including a cocktail reception and dinner at the hotel's Hernán Gipponi Restaurante paired with Argentine wines.

more ›

/ / /

The Algodon Mansion is Only Open for Private Parties Right Now

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Montevideo 1647, Buenos Aires, Argentina
March 23, 2010 at 1:38 PM | by | Comment (1)

This might be a first on HotelChatter.

We've heard of hotels holding secret pre-opening parties for celebrities and posh events (GPH, Thompson Beverly Hills) a few days or weeks before the hotel's actual opening, but the all-suite luxury hotel, The Algodon Mansion in Buenos Aires, is hosting investors and private parties for a few more months before opening to the general public. Apparently, an Hermes bash was hosted there last week.

The hotel was expected to open in March and now it looks like summer is a more realistic time. Hopefully, the hotel staff will still be hot by then.

/ / / / /

Is This The Hottest Hotel Staff in Buenos Aires?

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Montevideo 1647, Buenos Aires, Argentina
March 17, 2010 at 4:20 PM | by | Comments (0)

The Algodon Mansion Hotel thinks so!

The hotel sent us some snaps of the pre-opening party they hosted for Buenos Aires architect/interior designer/socialite Javier Iturrioz (wow, he certainly has a lot of jobs!) Amongst the snaps of BA socialites and modelizers partying it up at the hotel, we came across this shot of the staff. And we likey. But we thinks they might need a few more good men!

If you're headed to BA soon, you can meet the staff in-person when the hotel opens which should be any day now. And if you've got socialite money, splurge on one of the rooms which are actually suites. Those start at around $775 a night and come with your own personal butler.

Random Argentinian male socialite shots below.

more ›

/ / / /

'Mi Casa es Su Casa' Says Buenos Aires' Fancy New Algodon Mansion

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Montevideo 1647, Buenos Aires, Argentina
January 27, 2010 at 3:15 PM | by | Comments (3)

The Algodon Buenos Aires: your private dancer. Er, we mean mansion.

Joining the long lineage of estate-cum-hotels is Buenos Aires' Algodon Mansion, a 20,000 square foot property whose roots date back to 1912. The hotel, set to open in March of this year, is being described in an all too familiar manner: your home away from home (or "Your Own Private Mansion").

The hotel's "mi casa es su casa" messaging is certainly inviting, but more fantasy than reality, as these things go. Not many people have a personal butler at their beck and call 24/7, let alone a rooftop pool, baby grand pianos, suites with a view of an interior two-story waterfall, or a cognac bar with a selection of "premium handcrafted cigars" at their actual homes. That's in addition to some of the other cushy amenities we reported on last year.

We've since come across more hotel specs, photos which you can see after the jump.

more ›

/ / / /

Not Much Cool at the Five Cool Rooms

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Honduras 4742, Buenos Aires, Argentina
April 15, 2009 at 4:26 PM | by | Comments (0)

Allow us to introduce our newest contributor. J. Jennings Moss has started a new business travel blog over at Portfolio.com which focuses on business travel. Recently, he scoped out the hotel scene in Buenos Aires. Got any questions about biz travel? Send 'em to us and we'll have him answer them for you.

Don't be fooled by the name. There isn't much that's "cool" about the Five Cool Rooms Hotel in Buenos Aires.

A disclosure to begin with: Five Cool Rooms was not our first choice for a boutique hotel. That honor, based on reviews in HotelChatter and word-of-mouth from friends, was Home Hotel. But Home was booked during our trip in early April, and we were swayed by the generally positive write-ups we’d seen of Five Cool Rooms, as well as by its advertising and jazzy website.

more ›

/ / /

Tango Down To Buenos Aires With Hilton

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Macacha Guemes 351, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina, C1106BKG
March 17, 2009 at 10:11 AM | by | Comments (0)

According to our sources, the Hilton Buenos Aires was inspired by “Dancing with the Stars” to offer its "Totally Tango" experience. Guess you never do know when inspiration will strike.

Available from now through December 31, the package starts at $259 a night for a room, and includes a private lesson with a tango instructor, tickets to the Casa de Carlos Gardel Museum, an evening at the Esquina Carlos Gardel dinner and tango show, and “a souvenir CD of techno tango music.” Sounds...interesting. Although it's not really new as the hotel has been promoting this for a few years now. But we thought we'd give it a closer look.

more ›

/ / /

Enjoy Your Own 'Mansion' in Buenos Aires

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: 1647 Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
March 10, 2009 at 10:46 AM | by | Comments (0)

The neighborhood of Recoleta is filled with some of the fanciest houses in Buenos Aires, and now, a New York venture capital and real estate firm called the InvestProperty Group is turning one of them into the city’s newest five-star hotel, the Algodon Mansion.

Set to open in August 2009, the unfinished Algodon — we’re talking a real hard-hat zone of exposed brick and cement, some cracked plaster and excavation lighting — recently played host to the Argentine press, hoping to garner some buzz over the coming months.

more ›

/ / /

Axel Hotel Excels in Buenos Aires

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Venezuela 649, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
March 6, 2009 at 9:55 AM | by | Comments (0)

We keep hearing how Buenos Aires is the gay capital of South America, but we didn’t believe it until the Axel Hotel opened.

Axel properties are geared towards the gay community but make sure to call themselves “heterofriendly.” That philosophy especially makes sense in a city like Buenos Aires where the nightlife is extremely mixed, and you’d be hard pressed to find an exclusively gay or exclusively straight bar or club.

more ›

/ / /

(Very) Southern Hospitality at Los Cauquenes

Go To The Hotel's Web 
  Site Where: Reinamora 3462, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, 9410
February 9, 2009 at 10:31 AM | by | Comments (0)

After twelve days of luxury cruising around the Antarctic Peninsula, during which we had been pampered, petted, watered with champagne and force fed with exotic treats, we were ready for a reality check. After docking in Ushuaia, therefore, we booked ourselves into a simple, spartan hostel run by a religious charity, where guests were asked to pick herbs from the kitchen garden and stir them into the vast cauldron of broth from which lunch and dinner derived.

Just kidding, of course. We went to Los Cauquenes -- the best hotel in Ushuaia, and the southernmost 5-star lodging in the world.

more ›