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Argentina Hotels
Hotel Contests: Win Six Nights in Argentina
April 17, 2008 at 5:20 PM | 0 Comments
We like Argentine hotels enough to pay for our own stays, but maybe you need some more convincing? Upscale resort guide Luxury Latin America would be happy to put you up for free for six nights--as long as you enter their contest.
All you've gotta do is fill out a simple form, and you're entered to win stays at MY ba in Buenos Aires, pictured, Hotel del Casco in San Isidro, Villa Julia in Tigre and Patio de Moreno in San Antonio de Areco. (All the properties are run by N | A Town & Country Hotels.)
Of course, if you're willing to actually pay money for a swanky hotel stay in Buenos Aires, we have plenty of opinions on the best.
Related Stories:
· Luxury Latin America Contest [Official Site]
· Buenos Aires Hotels coverage [HotelChatter]
Park Hyatt Hotels
Eat and Drink Your Way Through Park Hyatts in Argentina
January 30, 2008 at 1:00 PM | 0 Comments
Are you a big fan of Argentinean cooking or of good food and wine in general? Then you should mark February 12 to 17 in your diary and head on down to either the Park Hyatt Buenos Aires or the Park Hyatt Mendoza (pictured) in Argentina. These two Hyatt hotels are holding the Masters of Food & Wine South America event over that week and there will be plenty of input and inspiration for your taste buds and stomach.
The food and wine five-day fest will see the kitchens and vineyards of these two hotels setting out a series of special gourmet lunches and dinners, including tastings of local wines and cooking demonstrations by both Argentinean and international chefs. Some special outings include grape picking at Zuccardi Winery and a visit to the Salentein Winery--these outings are, in keeping with the spirit of the week, followed by a four-course lunch.
It sounds like the kind of vacation you'll need a solid month at the gym to work off afterwards, but foodies who feel like a short stint in Argentina should go for it. After all, you'll be amongst the Masters of Food and Wine and that sounds like something your stomach shouldn't miss.
[Photo: rdiez]
Patagonia Hotel Guide
Staying in Patagonia: Tierra del Fuego & Ushuaia
March 26, 2007 at 2:50 PM | 0 Comments
Travel writer Matt Chesterton who broke down the Buenos Aires hotel scene for us last month, is back to help us crack staying in Patagonia. As Matt told us, Patagonia lodging knowledge is actually more important than knowing BA, in some ways. For instance, in BA if you get stuck in a dodgy hotel you can check out and be checked into a new location within the hour. In Patagonia, you could be 1,000 clicks from the nearest alternative location--so pay attention. If you have a specific question about Patagonia accommodations, hit us on the tipline, or just comment below, and we will do our best to get you some sort of answer. Enjoy.
[Photo: JuliettaDM]
Tierra del Fuego. Land of Fire. The End of the World. (Why not 'the beginning'? Who's in charge of branding around here?) And the end of our whistle-stop tour around Patagonia's accommodation scene, which we hope you haven't hated.
So, Tierra del Fuego and its capital Ushuaia (pronounced oo-SWY-yah). What's it like, this last outpost of humanity, heavy industry and litter before you reach (and you can reach if you're prepared to shell out 10,000 dollars on an Antarctica trip) the still-pristine but probably melting southern ice continent?
(Lame digression on Al Gore: How porky is that guy these days? Is he going to personally volunteer to plug the hole in the ozone layer? Is that the 'big announcement' we're waiting for? Also, on some occasions he looks fatter than on others. Is it the natural flux of water retention, or, with his contacts in Hollywood, has he borrowed William Shatner's girdle, the one which kept Captain Kirk looking relatively trim during the latter Star Trek movies?)
Patagonia Hotel Guide
Staying in Patagonia: El Calafate and The Glaciers
March 22, 2007 at 3:01 PM | 1 Comment
Travel writer Matt Chesterton who broke down the Buenos Aires hotel scene for us last month, is back to help us crack staying in Patagonia. As Matt told us, Patagonia lodging knowledge is actually more important than knowing BA, in some ways. For instance, in BA if you get stuck in a dodgy hotel you can check out and be checked into a new location within the hour. In Patagonia, you could be 1,000 clicks from the nearest alternative location--so pay attention. If you have a specific question about Patagonia accommodations, hit us on the tipline, or just comment below, and we will do our best to get you some sort of answer. Enjoy.
View from Eolo in El Calafate
[Photo: Iankalass]
Imagine the middle of nowhere. Now imagine a city rising there against the odds, built by visionaries driven by a strange blend of greed, chutzpah and sheer bloodymindedness. The city grows and becomes a tourist mecca, drawing visitors from every corner of the globe. Wonderful hotels are built to accommodate them. More people come so the old hotels are torn down and bigger, better ones built in their place. What started as a risky dream has become a lucrative reality. What a place!
But enough about Las Vegas. We're here to talk about El Calafate. Oh dear.
Patagonia Hotel Guide
Staying in Patagonia: Puerto Madryn & Península Valdés
March 19, 2007 at 5:17 PM | 0 Comments
Travel writer Matt Chesterton who broke down the Buenos Aires hotel scene for us last month, is back to help us crack staying in Patagonia. As Matt told us, Patagonia lodging knowledge is actually more important than knowing BA, in some ways. For instance, in BA if you get stuck in a dodgy hotel you can check out and be checked into a new location within the hour. In Patagonia, you could be 1,000 clicks from the nearest alternative location--so pay attention. If you have a specific question about Patagonia accommodations, hit us on the tipline, or just comment below, and we will do our best to get you some sort of answer. Enjoy.
We love watching penguins. We could sit around all day watching penguins. In fact, we often have. What's the attraction? It's just something about the way they go about their business. We enjoyed the new Scorsese movie, but still, we'd have rather spent those two and a half hours watching penguins.
(If you were unlucky enough to catch the previous installments of this series, you may have already deduced that our two favorite Patagonian diversions are penguin watching and attending high profile trunk-chopping competitions. We've been developing a hybrid game which incorporates certain elements of both these pursuits and expect to showcase `Penguin Chop' just as soon as Latin American Inventor is premiered down here.)
[Photo: IgnacioErrico]
Patagonia Hotel Guide
Staying in Patagonia: The Lake District
March 16, 2007 at 1:04 PM | 0 Comments
Travel writer Matt Chesterton who broke down the Buenos Aires hotel scene for us last month, is back to help us crack staying in Patagonia. As Matt told us, Patagonia lodging knowledge is actually more important than knowing BA, in some ways. For instance, in BA if you get stuck in a dodgy hotel you can check out and be checked into a new location within the hour. In Patagonia, you could be 1,000 clicks from the nearest alternative location--so pay attention. If you have a specific question about Patagonia accommodations, hit us on the tipline, or just comment below, and we will do our best to get you some sort of answer. Enjoy.
Estancia Huechahue
There's a Mapuche (the indigenous tribe who populated most of the lakes region of Patagonia before the white guys turned up wielding swords and smallpox) legend that goes something like this. God (for it is he) was wandering about the Earth, deciding where to put this and that mountain, volcano, lake, etc. Upon reaching the Argentine Lake District he tripped over a foothill (it can happen to anyone) and accidentally deposited all of the really beautiful stuff in this one region, where it remains, largely unblemished, to this day. This impressed the Spanish so much they told the Mapuche to go fish and hunt somewhere else.
Patagonia Hotel Guide
Staying in Patagonia: Bariloche and Lake Nahuel Huapi
March 14, 2007 at 3:46 PM | 0 Comments
Travel writer Matt Chesterton who broke down the Buenos Aires hotel scene for us last month, is back to help us crack staying in Patagonia. As Matt told us, Patagonia lodging knowledge is actually more important than knowing BA, in some ways. For instance, in BA if you get stuck in a dodgy hotel you can check out and be checked into a new location within the hour. In Patagonia, you could be 1,000 clicks from the nearest alternative location--so pay attention. If you have a specific question about Patagonia accommodations, hit us on the tipline, or just comment below, and we will do our best to get you some sort of answer. Enjoy.
Llao Llao Hotel off the Argentine Patagona
[Photo: aokettun]
You get on a plane at BA's Aeroparque. You're going to Patagonia. Patagonia, baby!
An hour later and you're cruising over the flattest landscape you've ever seen: no wrinkles, no creases, an endless green shirtfront pressed into perfection by Mother Nature's valet. This isn't how it looked on the Discovery channel. Never mind. Can't be long till those snow-capped peaks hove into view.
Half an hour later and you still haven't seen anything resembling a gradient. Then, quite suddenly, the plane lands, depositing you in an Alpine town that resembles the set of the 1937 adaptation of Heidi. As you push your trolley through arrivals, a stunningly attractive blonde hands you a flyer inviting you to a log-chopping contest where this year's Queen of the Boysenberry will be crowned. You make your way to your hotel, noting en route that every second shop specializes in hand-made chocolates. WTF?
Welcome to Bariloche, Argentina's most popular tourist destination after Buenos Aires. It's a big, busy, fun and freakish city with stuff going on all year round: trekking and sunbathing (it can hit 35 degrees down here) in summer, skiing in winter (mostly by Brazilians, hence the nickname 'Brasiloche'), log chopping smackdowns every Saturday afternoon. You'll notice a lot of teenagers. Argentine kids come here for a week after graduating high school to 'let their hair down', that is to say, to drink cheap whisky and acquire their first STD.
Patagonia Hotel Guide
Staying in Patagonia: Introduction and Overview
March 12, 2007 at 3:17 PM | 1 Comment
Travel writer Matt Chesterton who broke down the Buenos Aires hotel scene for us last month, is back to help us crack staying in Patagonia. As Matt told us, Patagonia lodging knowledge is actually more important than knowing BA, in some ways. For instance, in BA if you get stuck in a dodgy hotel you can check out and be checked into a new location within the hour. In Patagonia, you could be 1,000 clicks from the nearest alternative location--so pay attention. If you have a specific question about Patagonia accommodations, hit us on the tipline, or just comment below, and we will do our best to get you some sort of answer. Enjoy.
[Photo: Macorig Paolo]
Patagonia. Just the word itself is enough to give most travel writers a boner. All those turquoise lakes and snow-capped peaks; that relentless, scudding wind peeling off the topsoil to reveal dinosaur thigh bones and Nazi gold; the eccentric characters (if you don't meet one, just invent one, no one will find out); the equally eccentric fauna, much of which can be shot dead with impunity; Butch, Sundance, Darwin, Chatwin, er, Stallone... for us it's better than a Jenna Jameson compilation. If you want to ruin a dinner party, invite a travel hack and ask them to talk about their voyage to the "End of the World". It's up there with "Grandad, tell us about that time you killed 10 Japs with a single coconut on Guadacanal."
Killer View
Room with a Killer View: Sheraton Iguazu Falls Resort & Spa
December 7, 2006 at 12:24 PM | 0 Comments
Well you are gonna get your fill of killer hotel views today. Here is a second, with one more to come. As you know, we are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
Some hotels, through good connections or just being first, have snagged the prime real estate next to a major attraction. One of those is the Sheraton next to Iguazu Falls in South America, on the Argentina side. This is the view from a guest room at the hotel, on the 3rd floor.
Since this Sheraton hosts practically every tour group who comes to see the falls, usually for one night only, don't expect a lot in the way of personalized service and astounding cuisine. But oh what a view! You can see the falls from most of the public areas and grounds as well, though try to get a room on the top floor for the best view as you rise in the morning.
This pic comes courtesy of travel writers Paul and Lorie Bennett.
Argentina Hotels
Old Money vs. New Money in Buenos Aires
July 24, 2006 at 9:29 AM | 0 Comments
[Ed. Note: Hotel Maven Tim Leffel's last report on Argentina gives us an inside look at two polar opposites serving wealthy visitors to Buenos Aires: Alvear Palace and Faena Hotel & Universe. Enjoy.]
At La Cabaña, the best steakhouse in Buenos Aires (which is really saying something), general manager Mirco Zampieri says he can spot a reservation from Alvear Palace Hotel or Faena Hotel & Universe as soon as the visitors walk in the door. "The ones from Alvear are wearing the best tailored clothes, the most expensive jewelry, and look very refined and sophisticated."
Visitors from Faena, however, tend to be less subtle. "They look like they walked straight out of a fashion magazine. Very stylish and brash, usually young and beautiful," Zampieri says, calling the difference the embodiment of old money and new money. Captains of industry and finance on one hand, the new leaders in fashion, design, and entertainment on the other.
Alvear Palace Hotel is all about grandeur the way it was in the roaring 1920s: acres of marble, crystal chandeliers, gilded mirrors, fine china, and impeccable service from people in formal attire. Classical music and jazz fill the public areas. The full-page celebrity guest list would be the envy of nearly any hotel in the world. Who else has hosted the King of Spain, the Emporer of Japan, Walt Disney, George Soros, Francis Ford Coppola, and Pamela Anderson? This is no fading relic, however. Rooms are luxurious and spacious and are tricked out with plenty of gadgetry, as in phones that control the lighting and music, and flat TVs over the tub in premium rooms.
More on New Money vs. Old Money after the jump.
Celeb Scoop
Robert Duvall's House of Jasmines
July 12, 2006 at 9:45 AM | 0 Comments
[Ed. Note: Hotel Maven Tim Leffel continues his Argentina jaunt and winds up at Robert Duvall's own little inn. Enjoy.]
If you,ve wanted to spend a few nights in the home of a movie star, bunk down on a ranch in the north of Argentina.
Outside of the colonial city of Salta, Argentina, is the House of Jasmines, a small inn of seven rooms set upon 300 acres of ranch land. It's an elegant yet comfortable hotel decorated with rustic colonial furniture, saddles, horse-themed prints, and a giant cowboy-themed photo of Robert Duvall over the fireplace in the lounge living room.
No, this picture is not the result of some fan's obsession with Lonesome Dove. It's Robert's own estancia, an excusive inn on the land of one of his second homes. His wife Luciana is Argentine and the design was handled by his sister-in-law Florencia Pedraza, who manages the property.
It's a boutique hotel with a twist, in the foothills of the Andes mountains, close to canyons, historic settlements, and vineyards. If you're lucky you might see Mr. Duvall in the house when he's not filming, but House of Jasmines is also a favorite stop for celebrity acquaintances.
So with only seven rooms, there,s a good chance you'll be using the same pillow or riding the same horse as Brad Pitt or Richard Gere did (perhaps this is where they got their inspiration to start their own hotels as well?) And at well under $200 a night, a brush with fame won't set you back very much.
Related Stories:
· House of Jasmines review [TripAdvisor]
