Hi, I am Rebecca, a long-term Danish expat and travel blogger! I have lived abroad for more than 10 years, and most of this time I lived in Argentina.
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What to expect in this article:
- My life in Argentina
- What is it like to live & work in Argentina?
- Advantages of living in Argentina
- Beautiful destinations to visit
- Spanish in Argentina
- Housing in Argentina
- Visa & permits Argentina
- Disadvantages of living in Argentina
- Economy & cost of living in Argentina
- Salaries in Argentina
- Language barriers
- Bureaucracy
- Insider tips for living in Argentina
- Strolling through the streets of Buenos Aires
- Visiting Iguazu Falls
- Trying Dulce de Leche & Alfojar
- Eating an Argentina Asado
- Buying a kilo of Argentine ice cream
- Visiting a winery in Mendoza
- The best expat resources for living in Argentina
- MercadoLibre
- MercadoPago
- WesterUnion
- DólarHoy
- Delivery Apps: PedidosYa & Rappi
- Ride-sharing Apps: Uber, Cabify & Didi
- Google Translate Offline
- Final thoughts: why move to Argenina
My life in Argentina
Initially, I came to Argentina on an exchange program as part of my undergraduate degree in Denmark.
I was supposed to stay in Argentina for only six months… … But six months turned into seven years living in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital city!
After graduating my undergraduate in Denmark in 2017, I started a Master’s Degree in Organizational Analysis at Universidad de Belgrano in Buenos Aires.
In 2018, I started a Master’s Degree in Political Science focussed on Latin American studies at Universidad Torcuato di Tella (best decision ever! The courses were so interesting!)
During my time in Buenos Aires, I also started my professional career as a project manager working with Argentine teams and U.S. customers.
In 2023, I left Argentina due to the difficult economic situation in the country, and moved back to Europe, more specifically Barcelona, Spain.
In this post, I want to share some of my best tips about living in Argentina!
What is it like to live & work in Argentina?
Argentina is an interesting country to live in with a fun mix of South American and European culture.
Many Argentines descend from European migrations flows in the 1880s and early 1900s, and will gladly tell you so. But their mentality and behavior are still very much South American – seen from my European perspective, of course!
Argentines are generally friendly towards foreigners and are happy to engage in small talk about everything from today’s currency exchange rate to their European heritage. Despite living in a country with a complicated economic situation, most Argentines are proud of their country and will gladly explain to you how they have the best meat, the best wine, the best sweets, and, of course, the best soccer team (in case you missed it; Argentina did win the World Cup in 2022).
Working in Argentina as a foreigner can be quite difficult because of Argentina’s turbulent economy. It can be hard even for locals to find a job in Argentina, so you can imagine it is also hard for foreigners. Most jobs that accept foreigners are located in Buenos Aires, but many of these jobs offer a really low salary.
For that reason, many expats and internationals staying long-term in Argentina decide to find a remote job that pays in a foreign currency (usually USD).
Rebecca in Buenos Aires

Getting around Argentina goes from super easy to complicated. In Buenos Aires, infrastructure is great with the city being well-connected with many subway lines, plenty of city buses, and trains.
However, as you get to the more remote areas of Argentina infrastructure isn’t very well-developed, and you will largely depend on having or renting a car.
In Argentina, long-distance buses are the most popular form of transportation between the cities in the country. There are only very limited long-distance train connections in Argentina.
Alternatively, there are domestic flights to most bigger cities in the country or popular tourist destinations. Most domestic flights leave from Buenos Aires, so if you’re situated elsewhere in the country, the long-distance bus is your best call.
Advantages of Living in Argentina
Beautiful destinations to visit
In this section, I’ll explore a bit of the advantages of living in Argentina before diving into the disadvantages of living in Argentina.
The first advantage of living in Argentina is that there are so many beautiful places to visit in Argentina!
Argentina is located in the southernmost part of South America and is the eighth largest country in the World. So, you can imagine there are plenty of places to explore in Argentina!
Towards the East, Argentina borders Chile over the Andes Mountains offering beautiful mountain landscapes and vineyards around the provinces of Mendoza and Rio Negro.
In the Northwest, Argentina borders Bolivia featuring tiny mountain villages nestled within colorful mountains.
Rebecca in North West Argentina

Argentina borders Brazil and Paraguay in the north east, offering an impressive lush green rainforest and one of the World’s natural wonders, the waterfalls of Iguazú Falls.
Towards the coastline in the Northeast, Argentina borders Uruguay by the river, Río de la Plata, where you will find Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital city, and the flat evergreen fields of La Pampa.
In the Southern parts of Argentina, raw nature with towering mountains and glaciers makes up the Patagonia region.
Living in Argentina means that no matter where you choose to settle down, you’ll have a beautiful destination to explore and even more beautiful destinations to visit around Argentina.
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Spanish in Argentina
Argentina is a great place to go if you want to learn or improve your Spanish!
Before starting your move to Argentina, you should keep in mind that Spanish in Argentina is very different from any other Spanish you might have learned in school or from other Spanish-speaking friends.
First of all, Argentine Spanish has a particular pronunciation, commonly referred to as yeísmo. In Argentina, the letters “y” and “ll” are pronounced as a soft “zh” sound. So, for example, “playa” (beach) becomes “pla-zha”.
Secondly, Argentine Spanish has a lot of particular local words and expressions that are almost only used in Argentina. Argentina actually has its local slang, called Lunfardo.
The origins of Lunfardo can be dated back to the late 1880s and early 1900s when Argentina experienced a huge influx of European immigrants, especially Italians. The slang expressions used in Lunfardo are primarily derived from Italian words. For example, the slang word for “girl” in Argentina is mina. Mina is believed to come from the Italian word for woman; femmina.
While it can be confusing to learn Spanish in Argentina, at first, it is also a fascinating journey to better understanding Argentina’s past.

Housing in Argentina
Compared to bigger cities in Europe and North America, it is relatively easy to find long-term rentals in Buenos Aires. You might need to start renting a place on a short-term rental contract where there are fewer requirements. Short-term rentals in Argentina are rental contracts of 3 months or less.
Long-term rental contracts in Argentina are harder for foreigners to get a hold of because there are a lot of local requirements. The standard of long-term contracts in Argentina is 3 years. In other parts of Argentina, the demand for apartment and house rentals is generally less than in Buenos Aires, meaning you should easily be able to find a place to stay.
In general, other places in Argentina tend to also be cheaper than renting in Buenos Aires.
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Visa & permits Argentina
Immigration processes are never the funniest part of moving abroad, but actually visas and permits in Argentina are relatively straightforward – at least not compared to other countries!
One of the easiest ways to get a long-term visa is to study abroad in Argentina!
After you enroll in a university program, you need to present a couple of standard papers like a copy of your passport, criminal record, etc. with approval from the local university at the immigration office.
Once, you get your visa approved you need to reward your student visa once a year for two to three years (depending on whether you’re a MERCOSUR national or not) until you can apply for permanent residency.
Patagonia

With a student visa in Argentina, you are also able to work legally in Argentina.
You do need to keep in mind that most universities in Argentina only offer classes in Spanish. So, you need to have a decent level of Spanish to study in Argentina. But if you have the chance to go and study in Argentina, do it!
Another option is to get a working visa in Argentina. Here you need a local company to sponsor your visa application, and it can be a bit difficult to find a local company willing to go through the bureaucratic hassle with the immigration office.
Currently, Argentina also opened up the possibility of a digital nomad visa to stay up to 180 days. I don’t know anybody directly who applied for the digital nomad visa. You can find the official information (in Spanish) about the digital nomad visa in Argentina.
There are a couple of other options for getting a long-term visa to stay in Argentina, including a rentista visa for foreigners with sufficient funds to support themselves while living in Argentina. Here is the list of all the temporal residency options in Argentina (link in Spanish) from the Argentine immigration office.

Disadvantages of Living in Argentina
Economy & cost of living in Argentina
The economic stability (or lack thereof) and the cost of living are the absolute biggest disadvantages of living in Argentina!
Inflation in Argentina steadily increases the cost of living, meaning that prices on everything – from groceries to clothing – rise each month. As a result, over time it becomes harder to buy the same goods and services with the same amount of money.
On top of that, Argentina also suffers from a pretty unstable currency exchange rate – especially compared to the U.S. dollar. Inflation and currency exchange rates go hand in hand. When the Argentine peso devalues, its price relative to other currencies rises.
This means that if you earn in a foreign currency, you will get more pesos for the same amount of foreign currency. This can help offset some of inflation’s impact on your purchasing power. The unstable Argentine pesos is why many expats and digital nomads choose to work online from Argentina and get paid in U.S. dollars or any other stable foreign currency such as the Euro.
Recently, the new government in Argentina that took power in December 2023 has done a lot to control the inflation rates and seems to be succeeding (at least for now). However, Argentina in general has become quite expensive – even for expats!
If you’re not prepared to let go of the stability that comes with living in a country with a predictable economic outlook, you may want to reconsider relocating to Argentina.
Salaries in Argentina
In connection to the economic stability and cost of living, another disadvantage of living in Argentina is the local salaries.
Salaries in Argentina tend to be low, especially when compared to those in Europe and the U.S.! While wages in Buenos Aires may be slightly higher than in other regions and other countries in Latin America, they still don’t come close to matching incomes in many other parts of the world.
One crucial factor to keep in mind when living in Argentina is that most local jobs pay in Argentine pesos. Even if you’re applying for a position at a multinational company, chances are your salary will still be in pesos—I’ve tested this firsthand!
Being paid in Argentine pesos means your income is directly affected by the country’s economic volatility, including inflation and currency devaluation. Since the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Argentine peso fluctuates unpredictably, earning in pesos can significantly reduce your purchasing power—both within Argentina and abroad—whenever the peso loses value.
Language barriers
While Argentina is a great destination for learning or improving your Spanish, it is a difficult country to live and work in with little to no Spanish.
English isn’t widely spoken. Most locals working in supermarkets, cafes, and restaurants don’t tend to speak English. However, most locals are patience and happy when a foreigner makes an effort to speak Spanish.
Middle-class Argentines working for bigger international companies tend to speak decent English. But Spanish is very much needed for living in Argentina.

Bureaucracy
Argentine bureaucracy is definitely a downside of living in Argentina!
Bureaucracy in Argentina is slow and inefficient! Normally, it includes bringing a lot of paper copies from one office to another office, only to be told that you are missing a paper from the first office.
The inefficiency in the bureaucracy ranges from the immigration paperwork to the registration paperwork if you buy a car over administration paperwork at the university or to filling any type of complain.
The best advice for you, if you are planning to move to Argentina, is to bring a good amount of patience and not expect things to move as fast and efficiently as you might be used to at home.

Insider tips for living in Argentina
In this section, I’m sharing a couple of my insider tips for living in Argentina.
Hopefully, it will help you on your journey of moving to Argentina – or deciding whether to move to Argentina or not!
Do NOT leave Argentina Without...
Strolling through the streets of Buenos Aires
Whether you decide to settle in Buenos Aires or somewhere else in Argentina, in my opinion, you can’t leave Argentina without having wandered the streets of Buenos Aires! Buenos Aires is very different from most cities in Argentina and South America because of its European-inspired architecture.
Walk along the historic avenue, Avenida de Mayo, and make a stop at the iconic Barolo Palace to see Buenos Aires from above.
Visiting Iguazu Falls
One of my favorite destinations in Argentina is Iguazú Falls, an impressive waterfall located on the border between Argentina and Brazil. Iguazú Falls is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered one of the world’s most breathtaking natural wonders. The impressive waterfall consists of over 270 cascading waterfalls surrounded by lush rainforest.

Trying Dulce de Leche & Alfajor
Dulce de leche is a caramel spread that is extremely popular in Argentina, and definitely a thing you must try when living in Argentina! Dulce de leche translates to “the sweet of milk”, and is made from slow-cooking sugar, milk, and vanilla.
Argentines love adding dulce de leche to all kinds of desserts, but especially the Alfajor is popular in Argentina. An Alfajor is a local Argentine sweet with two (and sometimes even three!) layers of cookie dough with dulce de leche in between.
Eating an Argentina Asado
Argentina is famous for its meat and Argentine barbecue, called asado. Barbecue is a cornerstone in Argentine culture, where family and friends will meet on weekends to catch up over an asado.
Argentine asado is prepared on a parrilla, the Spanish word Argentines use for a grill. The word parrilla is also used to refer to local restaurants serving asado. I almost think you can’t get your Argentine visa approved if you leave Argentina without trying asado!

Buying a kilo of Argentine ice cream
Since Argentina experienced a lot of Italian immigration, you will find a lot of Italian influence in local cuisine in Argentina. I must say the Italians definitely brought their best recipes for ice cream to Argentina because ice cream in Argentina is yummy!
Most ice cream stores in Argentina, don’t only sell ice cream in a cup or cone but also by the kilo – also the flavors you can pick and choose yourself! Before you leave Argentina, don’t fool yourself by trying the delicious Argentine ice cream – and why not order a kilo when you’re at it?
Visiting a Winery in Mendoza
Mendoza is known as Argentina’s wine capital with more than 1,200 vineyards spread out over the Mendoza province. Before you leave Argentina make sure to stop by Mendoza and visit one of the province’s many wineries and taste the best of Argentine wine.

The best expat resources for living in Argentina
One of the difficult things about moving abroad is moving to a new place and not knowing what websites and apps to use for the most basic things such as communication, online shopping, transportation, and delivery. To help you with your move to Argentina, I have gathered a list of the most common and best resources to get started on your expat life in Argentina:
MercadoLibre
MercadoLibre is the go-to online marketplace in Argentina, similar to Amazon or eBay, where you can buy everything from electronics to home goods.
MercadoLibre is an indispensable resource when living in Argentina! Whether you’re furnishing an apartment, looking for second-hand items, or ordering essentials, MercadoLibre allows you to compare prices between a lot of providers to find the best offer.
MercadoPago
MercadoPago is another essential app to get when moving to Argentina!
MercadoPago functions like a digital wallet, allowing you to pay for goods and services, transfer money, and even pay bills. MercadoPago is developed by the company behind MercadoLibre, and is also used to complete purchases on MercadoLibre. Many businesses in Argentina, from small vendors to large retailers, also accept MercadoPago as a payment method for in-store shopping.
Honestly, MercadoPago is an essential tool for everyday transactions in Argentina!
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WhatsApp is the most essential app to have on your phone when living in Argentina!
WhatsApp is the primary way Argentines communicate for both personal and professional matters. From coordinating with landlords and employers to setting up utility services and even contacting customer support for local businesses,
WhatsApp is widely used for nearly everything. Many restaurants, medical clinics, and even banks provide customer service via WhatsApp, making it an essential tool for navigating daily life in Argentina.

WesternUnion
For expats earning in a foreign currency, Western Union is one of the best ways to exchange money in Argentina at a favorable rate.
With the Western Union app, you can check the current exchange rate and find the closest office for cash pick-ups. Many expats transfer money from their foreign bank accounts to be withdrawn in Argentine pesos at a Western Union location or directly into their Argentine bank account. Western Union is best to transfer smaller amounts at a time, as some locations occasionally run out of cash.
DólarHoy
When living in Argentina, tracking exchange rates is crucial due to constant currency fluctuations. DólarHoy is the go-to site for checking the dólar blue (informal exchange rate) and the official exchange rate. Knowing the advantage exchange rate for both the informational blue dollar the official rate can help you understand where to get the best value when exchanging money. Most local newspapers in Argentina also offers a daily update on the currency exchange rates on their websites.
Delivery Apps: PedidosYa & Rappi
Food delivery apps are a great resource to have on busy days (or lazy days) when living in Argentina. PedidosYa is the most widely used platform, offering everything from restaurant meals to groceries and pharmacy items. Rappi is another popular delivery app that provides similar services to PedidoYa, with additional options like cash withdrawals delivered to your door.

Ride-sharing Apps: Uber, Cabify & Didi
Uber and Cabify are the most popular ride-sharing apps in Argentina and a reliable alternative to traditional taxis. Many expats and locals consider them safer than hailing a taxi on the street, as the apps provide route tracking and cashless payment options.
Another ride-sharing app that has become increasingly popular in Argentina is Didi. With Didi, you might be sharing the ride with somebody else going in the same direction as you.
If your Spanish is still improving, Uber and Cabify can also make transportation easier, as you enter your destination directly into the app instead of having to explain it to the driver. While Uber operates in a legal gray area in Argentina, it remains widely used, while Cabify is a fully legal and regulated alternative.
Uber and Cabify mostly work in Buenos Aires and a few larger cities in Argentina. If you’re staying outside these areas, an additional is to hire a local remise. A remise in Argentina is a private drive you hire to bring you for one place to another. For longer distance rides, remises are more popular in Argentina than taxis.
Google Translate Offline
If you’re living in Argentina and still learning Spanish, Google Translate Offline is a must-have. In some parts of Argentina, mobile data can be unreliable, so downloading Google Translate for Spanish and your native language allows you to translate menus, signs, and conversations anytime.

Final thoughts: why move to Argentina
Argentina is a great country to live in if you want to improve your Spanish and immerse yourself in Argentina’s culture or history.
Personally for me, learning about Argentina’s history was a fascinating journey to better understanding the country that Argentina is today with all its ups and downs (a lot of downs if you ask most Argentines). Argentina’s unpredictable and chaotic culture is very different from Danish control-freak culture, and it differently took some time for me to get use to it.
The spontaneous nature of Argentines’ way of being also has its beauty when you get used to it. Going from not having any plans to meeting up drinking mate (Argentine traditional infusion drink) or being invited to an asado at somebody’s house just because. However, if you are looking to move abroad to find a well-paying job and avoid headaches about an unstable economy, then Argentina is properly not your ideal destination for living abroad.
So, you should move to Argentina if you want to improve your Spanish, travel around South America, learn about the region, and can live with the unpredictable nature of living in an unstable economy.