Just a quick note to say that one of my friends has a fantastic apartment for rent in Buenos Aires, in the barrio of Caballito. I’ve been there a couple of times and I can confirm that it really is a stunning apartment [a lot more so than you can tell from the photos, I promise :)]

Here’s the details:

• US$575 per month
• Beautiful 1 bedroom apartment with lots of light
• Awesome, spacious, 65+ meters squared (plus a balcony AND a terrace)
• Two subway lines both very nearby, and lots of bus routes
• Completely equipped with very nice, stylish, modern furniture
• Separate study area.
• Living Room
• Laundry area
• Balcony
• Private rooftop terrace
• Super open layout
• Everything you could want!

To confirm, the asking price is US$575 per month, which can be paid on a month to month basis (or there are possible discounts for longer stays).

The address is Valle 142, in the barrio of Caballito, Buenos Aires.

If you are interested, you can contact Juan on telephone number 15 6491 7389 (from within Buenos Aires) or email jozino@motorpress.com.ar.

‘Enjoying Buenos Aires’ Apartment Rental Services

From my point of view, when planning you trip to Buenos Aires and thinking about your accommodation options, it makes a hell of a lot of sense to throw short term apartment rentals into the mix.

Why? Well, when the choices are either to pay US$300 and upwards per night at a luxury or design hotel, versus the same price or less per week for a luxury apartment rental in Buenos Aires, with the same high levels of quality, comfort and design, all of a sudden the apartment option appears to be the most sensible option.

What’s that I hear you cry? Hotels have much higher levels of service and convenience that apartment rentals cannot offer? Well, I recently found out that there is another option to hotels, that matches them in these key areas, and yet beats them every time on value.

When my family came to visit me recently in Buenos Aires, I decided to look into apartment rental companies for them. A friend-of-a-friend knew of the owner of one such company, Enjoying BA, and recommended them highly to me. We ended up using them, and my family found both the quality of the apartment (in Recoleta) and level of service from the company to be of an extremely high standard. And so, here’s a nice review for them…

Enjoying BA is a relatively new player on the Buenos Aires Apartments scene, a small company that puts an emphasis on quality, not quantity, and so offers an extremely personalized service with their rentals - in fact, they even have their own concierge staff, whose mission is to make your stay in Buenos Aires the most comfortable, happy and interesting time possible.

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[11th - 17th December 2006]

It’s back…what is surely already your favorite weekly round-up of the Buenos Aires blogosphere…putting aside the small issue that it is the only weekly round-up of the Buenos Aires blogosphere! We made it to a 2nd week, which is a mild surprise because last week’s instalment took so long to write due some heavy blogging in the Buenos Aires area.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint, there were less relevant Buenos Aires blog posts to report on this week, but still a fair amount for you to get through, partly thanks to my hyperactive blogging this week. Here they are…

Buenos Aires Sightseeing

• As I was saying in this week’s post on Caminito, there is more to La Boca than touristy tack, and these photos reveal some of the gritty modern reality of this famous barrio.
• I wrote a post about the history and modern day use of the wonderful El Mercado de Abasto building.
• All about El Cabildo, the government house during colonial times in Buenos Aires.
• The Buenos Aires Japanese Gardens are a nice place to relax in an oasis of Zen tranquillity. The Buenos Aires city government (blog in Spanish) also notes that the gardens are in a top ten list of the best places to read in peace in Buenos Aires, along with the Botanical Gardens and Plaza San Martin.

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Renting: A Difficult Game

Renting an apartment long-term in a difficult game for a foreigner (extranjero) in Buenos Aires. Firstly, the reasonable prices are usually not easily available for extranjeros (which is why the expensive furnished apartments do such a good trade here) because strictly you need what is called a “garantia” to be able to rent. This would be a person that owns property in Argentina that can sign for you as a guarantee on the contract, to safeguard against you running away or trashing the apartment or something! Also, you are almost always expected to sign an agreement for 2 years, although people tell me that even if you do sign it is not always strictly enforced if you want to move on early.

HOWEVER, a garantia is not always required. You can often speak to the owner (dueno) and try to reach an agreement, which may involve you paying a large deposit, or paying a lot of the rent up front (maybe 6 months to a year) or even paying a little over the asked rent rate. A lot of owners will not want to do this, but it is worth asking…

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There is no simple answer to this question. It all depends on what type of person you are, and what you want to get out of your time in Buenos Aires. The following descriptions of the main areas to stay in Buenos Aires, Argentina should help you choose. Leave me a comment if you have any questions about a particular Barrio, Hotel or Hostel.

‘Microcentro’ (City Center)

This area is OBVIOUSLY central! For many people this is ideal, and it will put you close to major tourist attractions such as the Obelisk, Plaza de Mayo, the Pink House, the Cathedral, Avenida de Mayo, Congress, Florida Shopping Street, Teatro Colon, Plaza San Martin and a whole lot more. However, in other ways it is not so perfect, because this area is also the most busy with dangerous traffic, polluted, noisy, and lacking in space. You have to weigh up these pros and cons to make your decision. But you do stay in the Microcentro, it is very easy to get around on the ’subte’ (subway) system, which serves this area well, as opposed to most other parts of Buenos Aires.

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