September 11, 2024

Long-Distance Buses in Argentina

By In Travel

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Argentina is a big country – the second largest in all of Latin America. Thus, to travel from city to city, there are four main options: flying, driving, taking the train, or taking the bus. Taking the bus is the cheapest and not a bad choice of these four options. Furthermore, there are so many long-distance buses in Argentina that you have plenty of options to suit your budget and destination.

On the other hand, traveling on long-distance buses in Argentina is not easy either. This is especially true if you book an overnight bus. Our first time taking the overnight bus wasn’t as romantic as I thought when I booked the tickets. In this blog post, I’ll discuss the pros and cons of taking long-distance buses in Argentina and what to expect if you do.

Posadas Bus Station Argentina
Getting ready to board the bus in Argentina.

The Benefits of Long-Distance Buses in Argentina

Unlike Europe, train travel is not standard in Latin America. While Argentina is the best Latin country for long-distance train travel, there are only a handful of routes throughout the entire country. Plus, Argentine trains are notoriously slow. So unless you have plenty of time to spend and are traveling between two major cities, Argentine trains probably aren’t the best choice.

For example, Argentina has direct train routes that go from Buenos Aires to Rosario, Córdoba, and Tucumán. They take 6.5 hours, 20 hours, and 32 hours, respectively. Yet, taking a bus takes 4-5 hours, 9-10 hours, and 17 hours, respectively. You can save quite a bit of time and money by taking the bus over the train.

Buses Go Most Places…

Thus, the largest benefit of bus travel in Latin America—including Argentina—is that buses go everywhere. No matter how small or large your destination is, an intercity bus will likely go there. For example, Posadas is a city bordering Paraguay in Northeast Argentina. Its airport is rather small, with only a handful of daily flights, primarily to Buenos Aires. Going to any larger city in Argentina will probably require connecting in Buenos Aires. And if you are traveling to a smaller city, you may need two connections plus an intercity bus.

Posadas, Argentina is the city across the river from Encarnación, Paraguay.

But if you want to take the bus from Posadas, you can go anywhere in Northern and Central Argentina, especially if you are okay with making one connection. This includes direct service to Iguazú, Buenos Aires (Retiro), Córdoba, Santa Fe, Rosario, and Tucumán. And if you are good with making a connection, you can get to almost any city in Argentina, southern Brazil, Uruguay, and parts of Chile.

…and Buses are Cheap

Another benefit is that bus travel is cheap in two ways. The first is the actual cost of the bus tickets. A bus ticket from Posadas to Buenos Aires is under US$60 and includes baggage. Non-stop plane tickets are twice as much, if not more, after accounting for baggage and other “upgrades.” Bus tickets between Posadas and Córdoba – Argentina’s second-largest city – are between US$50-60. But plane tickets are easily US$200 or more one way. If you are doing a lot of traveling, these savings quickly add up.

Yet you may not realize there is a second way to save money traveling by bus. Going from Posadas to Buenos Aires takes around 13 hours by bus. Instead of wasting a day on the bus, we purchased overnight bus tickets. We left Posadas at 7:30 p.m. and arrived in Buenos Aires around 8 a.m. the next morning. By doing this, we didn’t have to purchase hotel accommodations that night, as the bus was our shelter!

By doing this, we saved a couple of hundred dollars by choosing the bus over flights, plus another $100 or so by not staying in a hotel. Win-win!

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Carbon Emissions

Generally, taking a bus will lower your personal carbon emissions compared to flying. You can easily calculate this online by using Google Flights and this bus/coach carbon emissions calculator. For our trip from Posadas to Buenos Aires, Google Flights estimated a non-stop flight emitting either 89kg or 130kg of CO2 per person, depending on which flight we took. However, the bus calculator estimated less than 30kg per person (we used Google Maps to calculate the travel distance roughly).

Of course, these are rough estimates, and many factors affect the carbon emissions of both flights and buses. Nonetheless, even the rough calculation above shows drastically less carbon emissions for bus travel than for flying. Furthermore, most intercity buses in Argentina use relatively newer coaches, so I’d assume their carbon emissions are lower than old, ratty, polluting buses.

Miscellaneous Benefits

Besides time and money, you may prefer to take the bus over flying in Argentina for several other reasons. Here is a list of potential miscellaneous benefits:

  • Fear of Flying: If you don’t like flying, then you may just prefer taking the bus everywhere.
  • Baggage: You generally don’t need to worry about baggage size and weight on the bus, as baggage is included (although you will need to tip the bus porter). However, you’ll probably need to pay for baggage on domestic flights, especially if you buy cheap tickets or use a low-cost carrier such as Flybondi.
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  • Reading Time: If your time value is low and you want to travel at a leisurely pace, then bus travel works well. Catching up on reading is a wonderful benefit of relaxing on the bus. Kevin and I subscribe to Amazon Kindle Unlimited, which is amazing for only US$12/month (click here to get your first month free). However, taking the bus can be a net negative if your time is short and valuable, as I explain below.
  • Remote Areas: If you are traveling in remote areas, or between smaller cities, you may not have a choice other than taking the bus. But if this allows you to explore these off-the-beaten-path places, then that is a huge benefit to bus travel.

The Drawbacks of Long-Distance Buses in Argentina

It may be tempting to take the bus because it is cheap, especially if you intend to travel extensively in Argentina. Yet, there are some major drawbacks that you need to weigh against the cost savings. And most of these drawbacks also apply to taking the train as well, so keep that in mind if you are considering riding a train instead of the bus.

Inability to Sleep Overnight

As mentioned above, you can save a ton of money by taking an overnight bus instead of a domestic flight. But this implies that you’ll be able to sleep on the bus overnight to make it worthwhile. You don’t want to cheap out by taking an overnight bus, yet not get sleep and then be tired the next day. You’ll miss a full day of exploring, which will suck.

This was my plan when we took the 13-hour bus journey from Posadas to Buenos Aires. Since the bus left at 7:30 p.m., I figured we’d eat dinner before boarding the bus. Then I’d read for a couple of hours and then fall asleep—just like at home. I always fell asleep in the car when I was a little kid—why not do the same on the bus?

Unfortunately, my romantic vision of taking the bus failed. While I was able to get to sleep around 11pm, I couldn’t stay asleep. Every time we’d hit a bump or pothole, the bus would wake me up. The constant starting and stopping at each stop also woke me up. I am not a light sleeper, but I am also not a heavy sleeper either. My real issue is that I sleep best in comfortable surroundings, and being on a foreign bus isn’t necessarily the most comfortable place to sleep.

VIP class on a Río Uruguay bus between Posadas and Buenos Aires.
VIP class on a Río Uruguay bus between Posadas and Buenos Aires. This is my bed for 13 hours.

When we arrived in Buenos Aires around 8 a.m., I was tired. Although I could say I got some sleep and was able to function that morning, I crashed pretty hard after lunch. This wasn’t worth it in the end. Having said that, Kevin got more sleep than I did, although he woke up in the middle of the night. You must know your sleep ability and how reasonably well you may sleep in a foreign environment.

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Dead Time

Time is money, and while you are saving money compared to flying, you are probably spending more time. Although the overnight bus is mostly dead time anyway for us – we’d be relaxing and sleeping anyway – taking the bus during the day costs you valuable sightseeing or productive time. Don’t count on WiFi on buses: computer work is probably out of the question. If you have vacation time, spending a half or entire day on the bus is probably not the best use of your time either.

Short bus trips may not suck time as much as flying if you factor in security and baggage time at the airport. But there is no way to consider long-distance buses in Argentina as time equivalent to flying unless you take an overnight bus. Yet, as I mentioned above, if you can’t sleep on the bus, then you waste time the next day anyway by being tired. So you could end up in a lose-lose situation by taking the bus instead of flying.

Not much to do other than wait.

Annoying Neighbors

You can’t control your neighbors on a plane, bus, or train. Yet, at least you only have to deal with your annoying neighbor for a couple of hours at most on a plane (most domestic flights in Argentina are no more than 2-3 hours). But on a bus, you may need to deal with an annoying neighbor for an entire day or night – or both!

If you are very particular about your space and your comfort, you’ll want to consider this before taking the bus. It isn’t that you can control your space and comfort more on a plane than on the bus – the opposite is probably more accurate. It is that if you get stuck in a bad situation on a bus, you’ll be stuck in that situation for a long time compared to a plane. And if you find this annoying, your quality of life will suck for every…single…minute…that…goes…by.

Exterior of Posadas’ Bus Station.

Bus Seat Types in Latin America

Long-distance buses in Argentina have different seating classes, just like on a plane. Fortunately, the prices don’t vary that much between the different seating types, so it will be easier to splurge on “luxury.” There are four main seating types, ranging from the most basic to the most luxurious: común, semi-cama, cama or cama ejecutivo, and Suite/VIP. These classes are usually the same throughout Latin America, so you may already know these terms.

Generally, each bus has only one type of seating. Therefore, if you want a specific class, you’ll have to base your travel around when those specific buses make the trip. For example, there are 30+ daily buses between Posadas and Buenos Aires. However, only one bus has Suite/VIP seating, and only ten have cama ejecutivo seating. Thus, if you want this higher class, you don’t have 30+ options—you only have eleven options.

Común

Común (common in English) is what you’d expect if you took a city bus. It is a seat on a moving vehicle, and that is about it. This isn’t common in Argentina except for short rides of a couple of hours or less. If you get antsy, you’ll want to skip común seating. While this is the cheapest form of bus travel, you should consider booking higher options.

Semi-Cama

Semi-cama—or half-bed in English—is the equivalent of standard economy when flying. Most buses will offer semi-cama service, and it is decent for intercity travel. It is called semi-cama because seats generally recline to around 120 degrees. Think of a recliner lounge chair or an Amtrak train. You won’t be in the lap of luxury, but you won’t be traveling bare bones either.

Semi-cama is the minimum class you’ll want to book for a day trip. We have taken semi-cama buses a few times in Latin America, and each trip was 4-5 hours long. For trips longer than this, I would book cama or Suite/VIP class instead.

Picture of semi-cama bus seats in Latin America.
Example of semi-cama class in Latin America.

Cama or Cama Ejecutivo

Cama or cama ejecutivo – business bed in English – is like Premium Economy on a flight. The seats recline a bit more – potentially up to 150 degrees – and the bus quality is a tad better than semi-cama. Depending on the bus and the bus company, cama class may be a more expensive version of semi-cama or actually a better product. But generally, you should expect something better than a standard intercity seat.

If you are traveling for 8+ hours or traveling overnight, I strongly recommend you book cama class, not semi-cama. The difference between the two products may not be drastic, but for bus trips of this length, you want every bit of comfort possible. And especially because price differences are pretty small, don’t double down on being cheap.

Suite or VIP

Suite or VIP class is the highest class of bus travel, and that is what we booked for our 13-hour overnight trip. I specifically booked this bus—the only one between Posadas and Buenos Aires—because it was a Suite/VIP class bus. The seats almost reclined to a lie-flat seat, but not quite. They were at 160-170 degrees, just noticeable enough that you weren’t completely flat. We received a real pillow and blanket, not cheap stuff they serve in Economy on long-distance flights. I also appreciated that the seats had a hard shell “suite” for some privacy.

Río Uruguay Suite VIP bus seat. The seat folds down and has a pop-up foot rest that creates an almost lie-flat bed.

This type of bus is rare and reserved for the most prestigious of overnight routes. Usually, cama will be the best you can do, which is fine. However, if you can book a Suite or VIP-class bus, I’d recommend it if you intend to sleep during the trip.

What To Know Taking Long-Distance Buses in Argentina

If you will be taking long-distance buses in Argentina, pay attention to this section. You’ll want to prepare for several things, especially if you are not used to taking buses in Latin America.


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Take Cash With You

Whether you purchase your bus tickets online or at the ticket booth, you’ll probably be fine using a credit card. However, it would be best if you still took some cash on the bus.

First, it is customary in Argentina to tip the porter who loads your bags onto the bus. We did not know this and were met with disgust from the porter who demanded we tip him. An Argentine couple approached us afterwards to say tipping the porter is expected in Argentina. At the time, I did have some Paraguayan guaraníes on me, and because Posadas is a border town, the guy accepted it. However, you’d be expected to tip in pesos (or at least dollars or euros) elsewhere in Argentina. US$1-2 or its equivalent per bag is acceptable to tip.

Second, it is also customary for vendors to board the bus at various points to sell baked goods, snacks, and bottled drinks. They only have a few minutes to sell and go and will only accept cash. If you get hungry and need a snack or a drink, you’ll be relieved to have brought cash.

Third, if you arrive in a smaller city without an Uber or equivalent or a nearby ATM, you’ll need cash to take a taxi. We didn’t have cash when we arrived at Posadas and had to walk a mile with our baggage before we got a WiFi signal to call for an Uber. If we had cash, we could have just taken a taxi from the station.

Note that cash is tough and expensive to get in Argentina. Many ATMs limit foreigners to withdrawing US$30-50 at a time – yes, thirty to fifty dollars worth of pesos – and charge an arm and a leg in ATM fees. In Buenos Aires, one ATM charged us US$7.50 to withdraw US$30, while another charged us US$9 to withdraw US$50. Try to use credit and debit cards as much as you can and save your cash for the bus.

Our ATM withdrawal receipt shows that it cost us around 7300 pesos to withdraw 30,000 pesos, which is the most the ATM machine would give us.

Luggage Stickers

For some reason, Argentina requires that you receive a little sticker for each bag you check and another for the backpack you take on board. Our conductor insisted on putting these stickers on the back of my phone. While, in theory, this is okay because it ensures you won’t lose them, it was also nearly impossible to pull off cleanly. I still have the remnants of the stickers on my phone case.

Six months later and I still have reminders that I took luggage aboard a long-distance bus in Argentina.

If I were doing it over again, I would plan on having a readily available place to put the stickers. We had e-tickets, so we didn’t have paper tickets to put the stickers on. But perhaps another piece of paper or even perhaps my passport would be a better place to keep the stickers than my phone.

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No Announcements

Buses generally do not announce the stops, so you must know when to get off. This isn’t particularly important if you are traveling to the end of the line since you’ll see when the bus ride is over. But if you are getting off in the middle – especially at a small stop – you won’t know unless you truly pay attention.

We developed a couple of ways to help figure out when to get off:

  • Google Maps: If you have cell phone service, you can easily watch yourself on Google Maps. You’ll see when you are approaching your stop. But even if you don’t have cell phone service, you can download an offline Google Map of your stop beforehand (read this tutorial if you don’t know how). Your GPS will still function on the offline map, and you can follow along.
  • Ask the Conductor for the Approximate Stop Time: When you board the bus or when the conductor comes around to collect tickets, ask approximately what time the bus will arrive at your stop. Yes, your tickets will have this time printed on them. But what the ticket says and what happens in real life are two different things. Set an alarm 15-30 minutes before this time to ensure you are awake and paying attention before arriving at the stop.

Bus Stations Aren’t Fancy

Bus stations throughout Latin America are not fancy places. They are generally rundown places with limited services and food at best. Some bus stations may have cheap knickknacks and tourist goods. In small towns, bus stations could just be an area where buses come to pick up and drop off passengers. I wouldn’t recommend hanging out at a bus station if you could hang out elsewhere.

To be fair, there are some nice bus stations. Santiago de Chile’s bus station was lovely and had a good assortment of real restaurants. Some bus stations in Brazil are also great. But this is definitely the exception rather than the rule!

Posadas, Argentina has a typical Latin American bus station.

How to Buy Bus Tickets in Argentina

We believe the best way to buy tickets for long-distance buses in Argentina is online in advance. That way you can ensure you can use your credit card – cash is tough and expensive to get in Argentina – and you will be able to take your time choosing the bus you want. We used Plataforma 10 to buy our tickets, and it worked well. However, several booking sites exist, including BusBud and Central de Pasajes. Generally the prices are relatively the same across websites, but it doesn’t hurt to comparison shop just in case there is a cheaper fare.

If you are staying near a bus terminal, you could buy tickets at the counter. Again, we recommend purchasing tickets ahead of time to ensure you have a seat and avoid last-minute problems. However, there is no need to do this if you can buy the tickets online using one of the websites above. These websites allow you to see multiple bus companies instead of just one company’s schedule at the bus station ticket booth.

If you buy online, you’ll probably get a QR Code as your ticket. Both bus companies we rode with accepted the QR code on our phone as a valid ticket. However, on one of the rides, the conductor asked that we send him the QR code via WhatsApp. We didn’t have cell phone service, so we told him we could not. After some back and forth, he agreed just to take a photo of our QR code using his phone. We’re not sure what the exact issue was, but it resolved itself quickly.

Final Thoughts On Long-Distance Buses in Argentina

I would consider traveling using long-distance buses in Argentina as long as you weigh the pros and cons. If you are visiting larger cities, your best alternative is to fly. For example, we are traveling from Buenos Aires to Córdoba this weekend and flying Aerolineas Argentinas. The flight is just over 90 minutes, which is way faster than the bus (9-11 hours) or the train (20 hours). The price is a bit more expensive, but well worth it compared to the time savings. We are also leaving from Aeroparque in Buenos Aires, the airport in the actual city of Buenos Aires, and not from Ezeiza, which is far out in the suburbs.

However, if you are visiting small cities, you may not have an alternative to taking the bus. Perhaps you could rent a car. However, we have never rented a car outside the U.S. because we dislike driving. Thus, we always take some form of public transportation or fly.

If you know the pros and cons and what to look for when taking the bus, it is definitely a viable way to travel across Argentina. And before you go to Argentina, check out all of our posts about Argentina here.

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2 Comments
  1. DA October 13, 2024

    Such an adventure going by bus! I really loved this detailed blog about the bus trips, and the pictures of the places really give me an idea what you’d be working with (especially the pictures of the seats). I’m wondering how I could fall asleep and stay asleep on a long bus trip, because I’m nervous about falling asleep in any car, in general. When you mentioned that you kept waking up every time you guys hit a pot hole and then you were tired the next day, I could feel it. I’d probably feel sick for the next two days (I don’t do well without much sleep, and I’m a heavy-sleeper). The cost of the bus vs. the cost of a flight is a big difference, though. Plus, I’m imagining seeing the sights along the way is really interesting compared to seeing only the sky on a flight. The drawback, like you said, is having a “bad neighbor” on the bus trip for so many hours. I don’t know if I could tolerate that for very long. Thank you for this blog. Very informative, detailed, and helpful.

    Reply
  2. DA October 13, 2024

    Forgot to mention: I didn’t realize there were such heavy fees for taking out cash. Wow!!!

    Reply

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