Argentina Travel Costs 2025: Surprising Prices for (Motorcycle) Travellers
The reality is that my blog went silent for a bit. Why? Because, truthfully, my keyboard broke, and I was struggling with what to tell you about Argentina and it’s current travel costs in 2025. But here it goes.
Having crossed into Argentina at the Paso Roballos border, our hopes were high and our dreams big. After weeks of meeting only a handful of motorcyclists (strangely, they don’t seem to travel along the Carretera Austral in early spring. Would there be a reason for that?), Ruta 40 was the place to meet fellow riders.
Our first two days riding south in Argentina certainly didn’t disappoint. The first was properly windy, with winds up to 80 km/h sweeping across the vast emptiness of the Argentine interior. Luckily, it gave us the chance to develop a new motorcycling technique: the “sit on the side of your saddle and lean your motorcycle into the wind” technique. Not always the most comfortable, but damn, does it help to reduce shoulder and neck tension.
The second day: the infamous 73 Malditos. We hadn’t thought much of it, but we were thoroughly warned by fellow motorcycle riders the day before. Admittedly, with gusts of side winds slamming into us, it happened more than once that we and our bikes were swept out of our gravel track and into the gravel banks separating the motorcycle-friendly tracks. Good news, though: of the 73 kilometers, I would say that only about 10 kilometers require serious attention. But be warned, this is when the road is dry. From what I’ve seen and heard, this stretch can turn into a whole different kind of nightmare after a proper shower.
Leaving the not-so-doomed-for-us 73 behind, it didn’t take long for the reality of touristy Argentina to hit us.
Do you want to go for a hike at El Chaltén? Sure, but don’t forget to pay $45 per person per day to enter. Let’s take some tasty chocolate along on the hike! That’ll be about $8 for a tiny piece, please. Okay, okay, let’s leave El Chaltén behind and head to El Calafate to visit the Perito Moreno glacier. Another $45 per person, please.
Uhm… What?! Just two weeks ago, we read that the prices were much cheaper. Ah yes, the new president recently decided that people will pay much, much more, significantly increasing prices for both locals and foreigners.
That was it, then. We cheapskates couldn’t accept this reality and decided to race back to Chile, where hikes are free or at least affordable, and a piece of chocolate can actually fit our budget once in a while. Comparatively cheap, beautiful Chile!
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a comment on anything about Argentina except the current cash-cow approach to foreigners. Locals are suffering. While we complain about national park fees, 55% of the local population lives below the poverty line (a 10% increase in just one year!) and struggles to get by, day by day. We can leave. Can they?
After this disappointment, it took us a mere day to reach Puerto Natales in Chile and catch our breath. We had been looking forward to Argentine Patagonia for months, but the reality was far from our expectations.
On towards the next adventure! Chilean Tierra del Fuego, and then we’ll give Argentina a second chance, because, damn, touristy places can be deviously deceiving.
P.S. Do. you want to know our Argentinian travel budget in more detail? A first overview is available on our page ‘Travelling budget South America 2024-2025‘.
