Mendoza
Argentina
Malbec, and the highest mountain outside Asia standing behind the vineyards
Photo by Joao Vitor Marcilio on Unsplash
Photos by Jens Peter Olesen, Rafael Hoyos Weht, Matt Broch and Nicolas Perez on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Argentina
March and April for the harvest, and September to November for the blossom
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 30mm in Jan
Where it is
32.89°S, 68.84°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Take a long lunch at a bodega in the Uco Valley
- Drive or ride the Alta Montaña road to Puente del Inca and the Aconcagua viewpoint
- Walk Parque General San Martín in the evening
- Raft the Mendoza river in spring melt
- Cross the Andes to Chile by bus, in daylight
Mendoza travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Argentina
Good valueArgentina's exchange rules change constantly and any printed rate is out of date. Foreign cards now generally get a fair tourist rate automatically — check what is current the week you travel rather than arriving with a brick of dollars on old advice.
ATMs & cards
Low limits and high fees, and machines that empty at the weekend. Paying by card is usually both easier and a better rate now.
Avoid these
- carrying a brick of dollars on advice more than a few months old
Use these instead
- Banco Nación
- Banco Galicia
- Santander Río
Argentina’s rules move constantly. Foreign cards now generally get a fair tourist rate automatically, which makes paying by card both easier and usually better than cash.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Argentina
SafeSafe and relaxed by Argentine standards. The real risk is the combination of wine tasting and either a bicycle or a car — the Maipú bike-and-wine day has a bad record. Take a driver. Mountain weather on the Aconcagua road turns fast and the pass to Chile closes for days in winter.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- Cycling between wineries after tasting, which has a bad record — take a driver
- Mendoza bus terminal — and the streets around it at night
- The Alta Montaña road in winter, and the pass to Chile, which closes for days
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Argentina visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Other passports
Visa required in advance
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Argentina
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
Getting treated
Public hospitals treat everyone free of charge, foreigners included, and the standard in Buenos Aires is decent. Private clinics are fast and inexpensive by European standards. Pharmacies are well stocked and pharmacists give real advice.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodLong lunches at the bodegas, which is the whole industry here — seven courses with a pairing, in a dining room looking at the Andes, for a fraction of what the same thing costs in Europe. In town, an asado, and empanadas mendocinas, which are baked rather than fried.
Nightlife
Long lunches at the bodegas, and a city that comes out onto Aristides Villanueva in the evening.
- Avenida Arístides Villanueva — the bar street, and all of it
- Plaza Independencia — the squares and the terraces around them
- Chacras de Coria — the village restaurants, twenty minutes out
Closing: 04:00 at the weekend, and dinner does not start before ten.
A beer in a bar: ARS varies weekly with inflation
Getting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- CabifyWorks here
- DiDiWorks here
- BoltNot here
Uber operating in a legal argument that never ends
- Against a taxi
- The black-and-yellow taxis are cheap and everywhere, and in the cities they are a perfectly good option.
The exchange rate moves fast enough that a peso figure here is a guide only. Pay by card in the app and the bank rate applies.
Time zone and your working day
America/Argentina/Mendoza — 1 hour ahead of you
7 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–16:00 your time, 10:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 08:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 08:00–16:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Argentina
Why these are Argentina's numbers and not Mendoza's
Home broadband — Good. Comfortable for two people working, streaming in the evening, large downloads. Broadband here runs at about the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 62% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Mendoza, so these are medians for all of Argentina. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Argentina, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Spanish (Latin American)
- HelloHolaOH-la
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youGraciasGRA-syas
- Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meDisculpedees-KOOL-peh
- How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
- The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
- Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD
The c and z are said as an s here, not the Spanish "th" — gracias is GRA-syas.
Religion
Catholic
Catholic by tradition and increasingly secular in practice. Pope Francis was Argentine, which is still a source of national pride.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet with a single kiss on the right cheek, including between men
- Eat dinner at 21:30 or later; anything earlier marks you out
- Accept mate if it is passed to you, and pass it back without saying gracias unless you have finished
- Expect to be interrupted in conversation; it signals engagement rather than rudeness
Don't
- Do not stir the mate straw or wipe it — both are minor insults to the person who prepared it
- Do not bring up the Falklands, or use that name for them
- Do not confuse Argentine Spanish with the Spanish of Spain; the pronoun and pronunciation differ
- Do not ask for your steak well done without accepting the disappointment you will cause
Where to stay in Mendoza
No Holistay rentals in Mendoza yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Mendoza on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into El Plumerillo MDZ
20 minfrom the airport· 8 km as the crow flies
20 min to the centre.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
