Buenos Aires Money and Shopping: Money

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The Argentinian currency is the peso. A 100 peso bills are notoriously hard to break-- avoid changing round numbers so you get some change (e.g. when changing money change the amount that will give you 90 pesos instead of 100). Coins are rare and required for buses, so try not to spend them in stores.

Money can be exchanged at Banco de la Nación Argentina at the airport and at any of the cambios along Florida or Lavalle, but, if you have the time, shop around for the best rate at the zone known as "La city". This zone is the banking district of Buenos Aires, and numerous exchange places are located at only meters away from each other. This mean fierce competition and options to check the best rates. In addition to this, in this zone is possible not only to change US Dollars or Euros, but also some other major currencies from Latin America (such as Brazilian reals, Mexican pesos, Colombian pesos, etc.), Canada, Asia (Japanese yens, Chinese renminbi, etc.) and Europe (Swedish krona, Swiss francs, etc.). This can mean a saving of time and money by not having to convert 2 times. Take into consideration that wherever the place you change money, you are always required to present your passport and copies are not acceptable.

Traveller's checks are rarely used and may actually be difficult to exchange, but there is an American Express office at San Martin Plaza. ATMs are your best source of cash.

Banks: Banks open from 10 to 3PM. and only on weekdays. Banelco or "Red Link" ATMs can be found around the city, but banks and ATMs are few and far between in residential neighborhoods like Palermo. Try major roads near metro stations. Fees depend on your hometown bank. Sometimes the machines also dispense dollars for international bank cards that are members of the Cirrus and PLUS networks. Visitors from Brazil can find many Banco Itaú agencies all over the city.

Change: Change is a big problem in Buenos Aires as there is a seeming shortage of coins. The locals give two basic reasons for it. The first being that the metal is worth more than the value of the coin so people sell their coins to scrap metal merchants and all that metal ends up in China, or the other reason is that the metro and bus system requires all trips to be paid for with coins so there is a shortage in a city of 12 million people. Whatever the reason, if you buy an item that costs Ar$4.60, almost always expect ot pay with the correct amount of money. Some shop keepers are said to take advantage of this and hope that the purchaser will simply say 'keep the change'.

Forgery: with special attention to taxi drivers, be on the lookout for forged bank notes being given with your change. Some forged notes are very well done and even have what appears to be a watermark. Get to know the notes and exaclty what they look and feel like, also the water marks. When exiting a taxi, hold up your notes to the light to check them before final exit.