Working Remotely in Buenos Aires, Argentina
This is part of my remote work travel series where I review places I visit as a digital nomad.
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Everyone on the planet has been underselling how amazing Buenos Aires is to you. If you are a digital nomad, remote worker — heck, even if you’re just a tourist looking to hang out somewhere awesome — Buenos Aires needs to be #1 at the tippy top of your list.
I knew Buenos Aires was a bit of a digital nomad hub, and heard it called the “Paris of South America.” But I had also heard how the produce and food wasn’t great, and how Patagonia was a better trip.
The naysayers were so wrong — Buenos Aires is everything you want for a city and more. As my partner Kyle says — this place is like a lost European city that was discovered in South America. It has both Latin flair and Juliette balconies. It feels like Prague or Lisbon — but the lush climbing greenery and tree-lined streets give it an otherworldy vibe.
Not to mention that as an American or someone earning in USD, the value you get for your money is pretty crazy. I spent $16 USD on one day of normal eats. We went out for every single meal here, and my favorites include the $4 USD menu del dia at Casa Munay with fresh veggies, a green juice, and bread. Even the fancy fine dining places were $20-$30 per person. This is, unfortunately, partially due to the inflation happening in the country. But if you’re a traveler looking to contribute to a city that isn’t totally overrun by tourists, this is a good place to be.
Where to Stay in Buenos Aires, Argentina for Digital Nomads + Remote Workers
If you’re going to be spending a long time in Buenos Aires, I highly recommend you stay somewhere within this red box in Palermo Hollywood. Why? Simple: you’ll have access to everything you need: the best coffeeshops, gyms, yoga studios, nightlife hotspots, and restaurants. During my entire month in Buenos Aires, I barely left this red box and had nearly endless things to do and new restaurants and coffeeshops to try. The density of amazing things in this area is so high, which is why you’ll want to be close to the action.
Could you pick somewhere not in Amy Suto’s Red Zone of Recommended Places to Stay? Of course. But after spending a month in the city, I can assure you that you’ll have the best time in this box — and you’ll be within a short walk to so many amazing spots.
If you want to do some more research on your own, just know that the areas I highlighted are Palermo Hollywood, and on the other side of that big road — Palermo SoHo. Stay away from touristy parts of town like Recoleta, and be as close to Palermo as possible. The whole city felt very safe, but as a digital nomad or remote worker, you’re going to like Palermo best.
I put an “x” around where I stayed (off of Bonpland and Cnel. Niceto Vega) but I can’t recommend the Airbnb I stayed in, so I recommend finding another cool place in this rectangle. Also by the “x” are several loud clubs, so if you pick an Airbnb around here make sure to read the reviews about noise.
As of the publishing of this piece, Airbnb prices are super cheap: it’s about $1,500 for a luxury one-bedroom condo with access to a hot tub and swimming pool in the heart of Palermo, with more basic places as cheap as $500. This is in part because Buenos Aires is still a bit of a hidden gem, and also because of the inflation and currency issues here — which I’ll cover later.
What to Do in Buenos Aires, Argentina for Digital Nomads + Remote Workers
There are some places I’ve been as a digital nomad — like Cusco, Peru — where the epic weekend trips and adventures made up a considerable part of the appeal of the trip.
With Buenos Aires, there are well-known day trips to places like the delta Tigre, or weekend trips to the Iguazu Falls. However, upon researching these trips and talking to people who have done them, they looked pretty underwhelming so I decided to just explore the city for the entirety of our time in Buenos Aires.
Here are some of the things I did in the city:
Salsa lessons at La Salsera
Went to a tango show
Played padel at the World Padel Center
Went shopping and picked up a few cute things at San Telmo Market (go on Sundays for the craft fair that happens on the street outside the market — it’s a must-do, especially if you want to do some gift shopping for friends, family, or yourself!)
Explored the mate collection at Todo Mate (pronounced Mah-Tay — this is an Argentinian tea drink that’s embedded into the culture. I recommend checking out a Mate class if you haven’t had it before!)
Walked around all of the huge parks around the city!
Went to speakeasy bars like the Alcatraz-themed bar The Hole
…and just explored the insane amount of amazing coffeeshops and world-class restaurants! (More on these soon!)
You could spend six months in Buenos Aires and still be uncovering new and interesting things to do. If you’re in the nightlife season of your life, there are lots of bars and clubs and different dance events to attend. If you want to further your skills in something, it’s very affordable to hire a private teacher to help you learn tennis, salsa, tango — you name it.
Despite the city not having quick access to hiking or other outdoorsy stuff, the tree-lined streets and huge parks still make you feel connected to nature. I fell into an active routine here, so it’s not hard to stay in shape — especially with how walkable the city is.
As a digital nomad and remote worker, I loved how Buenos Aires felt like it supported the best version of myself: a gym membership at Fitr was $25 for the entire month, and the warm sunny weather in January encouraged me to get out and workout. The peaceful tree-lined streets felt nice to walk down, and even though Ubers were $1-$5 USD per ride under 30 minutes, I loved walking everywhere. There were so many healthy restaurants with vegetarian options, and a standard day of eats only cost $16 USD. As long as I didn’t overdo the nightlife, living in Palermo encapsulated my dream life.
So if you’re considering working remotely in Buenos Aires, I’d encourage you to leave space in your schedule to end up spending 3-6 months here — that’s how much you’ll love it.
The Best Time of Year to Visit Buenos Aires, Argentina for Digital Nomads + Remote Workers
Buenos Aires is in the opposite hemisphere to the United States, so our winter is their summer.
The best months to visit are during their spring (September-November) or their fall (March-June) unless you’re okay with some warmer temperatures in their summer months. I visited in January and the first 3 weeks were amazing weather: 80 degrees and sunny, with some rainy days (which unfortunately sparked a mosquito wave for the first week, but it subsided after that!) but during the fourth week of January the temperatures and humidity were unbearable, with 90 degree and even 100 degree days as a heatwave came into town. With the humidity and the lack of widespread air conditioning that actually works well, it’s a miserable place to be when it’s hot.
So, I would avoid summer if you can, even though we were lucky to have some good weather.
Best Coffeeshops in Buenos Aires, Argentina for Digital Nomads + Remote Workers
Trying to pick my favorite coffeeshop feels a bit cruel — like picking a favorite child. I love so many cafes in Buenos Aires, and the Palermo neighborhood is an insane embarrassment of riches when it comes to cafe culture.
There are cafes hidden in bookstores, furniture stores, and clothing stores. There are cafes with curbside seating, cafes with patios — there’s a cafe for everyone! While I didn’t find any specific co-working spaces to recommend you, there were plenty of nomads with laptops in a lot of the coffeeshops here. Only a few upscale cafes didn’t allow laptops, so most places are a good bet for you to spend several productive hours working.
When I’m evaluating a coffeeshop in Buenos Aires, I look at a few things:
The quality of the coffee (obviously) and food options
Table service vs. counter service (I prefer going up and ordering at a counter so I can pay upfront and leave whenever, and I find table service to be a bit formal for co-working)
Ceiling height (taller ceilings have been shown in studies to provoke more creative thought)
Temperature, sunlight (it should get some sun!), and noise levels
While there were hundreds of amazing coffeeshops and cafes in Buenos Aires, I have a strict criteria for my frequented cafes.
Here are my top 3 favorite cafes in Buenos Aires, Argentina that double as great co-working spaces:
LAB Coffee. This coffeeshop is exquisite. I would have easily spent every single morning for the month here (and I almost did!) if it wasn’t for the heatwave, which LAB was ill-equipped for due to its huge windows that get graced with the glaze of morning sun. This coffeeshop takes itself very seriously: they brew their own kombucha, run tasting classes, and have some of the best avocado toast and breakfast quinoa bowls I have ever had on planet Earth. Not an exaggeration — just look at all the love it gets in the reviews on Google. Another thing I love about LAB is how it has high counters to work at, which double as standing desks when you need to ditch your chair and stand while working. Like most coffeeshops in Buenos Aires, LAB opens at 9am, and I found myself there on the dot most mornings to grab my favorite seat by the window. I highly recommend their flat white as a daily staple with their pan de queso, and their kombucha in the afternoons if you don’t mind drinking a * powerful * booch. I tried the espresso tonic — a staple here, it seems, which included espresso, tonic water and lime — and didn’t love it, but if you’re feeling adventurous LAB is a great place to try it as their espresso is top-notch. With fast WiFi, high ceilings, and a nice staff, I can’t recommend this place enough if you’re looking for a great coffeeshop to chill or get a few hours of deep work done.
Cuervo Coffee. Cuervo Coffee is best visited in the afternoons, as the morning crowd can make it hard to find a good place to sit. Cuervo is a local chain here, so there are a few locations. They have a solid matcha coconut latte thing that’s pretty good — especially considering that good matcha is very hard to find in South America — and their Palermo Hollywood location has some nice covered tables and a great wooden bar to sit at and people watch if you can snatch a spot. I ended up just getting matcha para llevar (to-go) most days here because it was too dang busy, but it’s still a solid place to work or meet up with a friend.
Kongo Coffee. During the heatwave, this became my go-to coffeeshop. Why? It has pretty good AC. The coffee? Totally fine. But when it’s 100 degrees and humid outside, Kongo was there for me. It has plenty of tables, including a couch-like side to it so you can work comfortably for a few hours here. Just like LAB and Cuervo, it’s on a tree-lined street with big windows (although it has smaller ceilings than the other two which makes it feel smaller) so it’s a nice backup to LAB or Cuervo if you need one. Instead of ordering food here, I’d recommend going around the corner to Sheikob’s Bagels to get an incredible bagel for $2.
I tried over a dozen more coffeeshops in the city, but these 3 were my favorite. I only bring you the best here on my blog, ya hear?
What to Eat in Buenos Aires, Argentina for Digital Nomads + Remote Workers
I have never been to a city with such a high density of incredible restaurants. Buenos Aires is a foodie’s dream, and despite going out to eat every night for almost 30 days in a row, I know I’m missing out on other amazing places.
All three of my top favorite restaurants in Buenos Aires have the Michelin nod — and cost about $30 USD per person for multiple plates, mocktails, and dessert. Name any other city with culinary acclaim and value like Buenos Aires. I’ll wait.
Here are my top 3 favorite restaurants in Buenos Aires:
Marti. This vegetarian restaurant is hidden in the back of a clothing shop and is a greenhouse paradise for veggie lovers. It’s posh, stylish, and the dishes are cooked in front of you as part of the kitchen is encircled by all of the tables. There’s a pink glow to this restaurant at night, making it a great date spot and a moody vibe of a place to enjoy some killer food. My favorite dish was the shwarma-style mushrooms, but everything here was amazing.
Misighuene. This Jewish-Argentinian fine dining restaurant was the most-talked-about restaurant amongst all of my friends. The hummus, bread baskets, and baba ganoush was to die for, and a clear highlight for me — but everything was so good. This was one of the heavier dinners I had in Buenos Aires, so come hungry.
Picaron. Picaron is a tapas place with a roster of rockstar veggie dishes — great for either dates or group dinners. It’s south of Palermo, and an often overlooked hidden gem.
When it comes to more casual restaurants, I loved Hell’s Pizza for some decadently greasy pizza slices at around $2 USD per slice, and Casa Munay has an amazing vegetarian lunch special which is $4 and includes an overflowing plate of in-season veggies, a drink, and some fresh bread that was amazing. I ended up going to Casa Munay every day for lunch after discovering it, as the lunches were super healthy and a great way to get more veggies in. I ended up splitting the lunch special with my partner Kyle every day as it was quite a bit of food, bringing my daily lunch total down to $2 USD per day — crazy.
For brunch, one spot in town rules all: Oli. From their brulee’d French toast (see the photo above!) to their fluffy omelets, they’re a must-visit for breakfast. They opened in the middle of January after the holidays, and I’m not ashamed to report we went there nearly 4 days in a row. It’s that good.
You can find a ton of amazing food in Buenos Aires: all you have to do is step outside and wander the streets. I also love using Infatuation to help me scope out trendy new restaurants wherever I go.
Understanding Inflation and Currency in Buenos Aires, Argentina
I won’t talk too much about the inflation issues in Buenos Aires, as it’s something I recommend you do some Googling as the situation is changing rapidly.
Argentina used to be a prosperous country, rivaling European countries like Germany. This is why there is so much stunning architecture and modern development in the country: the echoes of wealth are still seen everywhere. However, the political situation in Argentina over the decades has made it a place where hyperinflation continues to rot away at the savings of many Argentinians. This is why many people buy $100 US bills: they need to convert their currency into something more stable, because inflation is so tumultuous that even while I was visiting the exchange rate went from $1 USD to 900 pesos to over 1500 pesos to 1 dollar in just four weeks.
When you arrive, you’ll need to exchange your currency at a Western Union, or with a local. You’ll need to bring a backpack with you to wherever you get your cash, as you’ll be receiving stacks and stacks of cash for the sheer amount of pesos you’ll end up with.
Most places in Buenos Aires take card, but you’ll need cash everywhere to leave a tip, as you can’t leave tips as part of credit card transactions in Argentina — a weird quirk that mandates carrying around cash.
Despite the fact that the exchange rate varies on an everyday basis, most major credit cards keep up with the fluctuations these days, so you don’t have to buy everything in cash in order to stay on top of inflation.
Like I said, you’ll want to do a quick Google search about what’s going on financially in Buenos Aires before going, but regardless I recommend traveling with at least 3 hundred dollar US bills per month of your stay to exchange when you arrive. $300 is plenty to leave tips and buy things at the occasional cash-only place, and it’s always good to bring more than you need just in case. You can also set up a Western Union account and get cash that way — whatever you do, just avoid ATMs as I’ve heard they run out of cash on a regular basis and you could get charged by your bank even if no cash comes out.
My Ratings of Buenos Aires, Argentina as a Digital Nomad
Affordability: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5 — insanely affordable — I went out to eat for every meal, and went to some of the best meals in the city and my total cost for eating out, daily coffee at coffeeshops, and food delivery was around $500 USD for the month, or roughly $17 per day.)
Food Quality: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5 — amazing fruits and veggies, and there are so many vegetarian options everywhere you go in the city.)
Adventures/Day Trips: ⭐️ (1/5 — not a ton of worthwhile day trips, so go here if you want to just stay in the city and explore what’s around.)
Cafes/Co-Working Space Availability: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5 — great cafes that are laptop-friendly. You can work somewhere different every day and not run out of coffeeshops to work out of.)
Digital Nomad-Friendly City: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 — everyone is super friendly here. English can be a little rare, but you can get by with some basic Spanish and Google translate.)
Value of Accommodations for Remote Workers: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5 — Buenos Aires is such a hidden gem, it’s one of the most affordable places I’ve ever stayed in and also one of the most beautiful. Your dollar will go quite far here.)
Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5 — I would live here in a heartbeat. A great place to spend a week, a month, or six months!)
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