Argentina's Blue Dollar Exchange: How to Change Your Money
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Argentina is unlike any other country I’ve ever traveled to when it comes to dealing with money. If you come to Argentina planning to withdraw money from the ATM, use your credit card, or exchange money at a currency exchange, you will literally be paying double or more for everything! I’m Kristy and in today’s post I will teach you how you can navigate your money in Argentina, using the blue dollar and literally save more than half of your dollars. If you’d prefer to watch the video, you can find it above. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel if you find this information helpful!
Today we will be talking about the blue dollar and the official dollar. The official dollar is the exchange rate you will receive if you use your credit card, withdraw from an ATM, or go to an official currency exchange. The current amount of pesos you will receive in exchange for one USD is 180. However the blue dollar on the other hand is the exchange rate you will get if you go to Western Union or exchange your dollars on the street. Basically, the blue dollar is the informal name given to the U.S. dollar bills you can find on the blue market. It has a much higher exchange rate than that of the official dollar, and yes, it is legal. The blue dollar is currently valued at 385 pesos. So by exchanging on the blue dollar you are getting twice the amount of pesos for the same single US dollar. Crazy right!? I actually would have had no idea about this if it weren’t for my husband being from Argentina and knowing all the ins and outs of the system. When I first heard about it I thought “no way” seems super sketchy, but no the blue dollar is what everyone living in Argentina bases their money off of.
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Now I’m going to walk you through how it all works when you travel there and what you need to do. My biggest advice is to show up with US dollars in hand. Go to your local bank and ask to withdraw USD before coming to Argentina. If you’re not located in the US your bank may charge a fee but it's still well worth it. If you can, I would try to make an estimate of how much you plan on spending and then bring that in USD. We spent on average $300 per week per person.
Once you arrive in Argentina you will first want to google “dollar blue hoy” to find out what the blue dollar exchange is that day- because trust me it fluctuates a lot from day to day so you want to make sure you are getting the best exchange rate. For example when we arrived in Argentina we exchanged our dollars at a rate of 335 pesos, and when we left Argentina 6 weeks later the blue dollar was changing at 385 pesos. That’s a huge difference.
Next you will want to search in google maps for “cambiar dolares” and it should give you a list of places you can go to change your dollars. You can check the reviews to see if it mentions blue dollar to make sure its a blue dollar exchange. Once you arrive, ask them what their rate is. Most of the time it will be within 10 pesos less of what the online exchange rate values it at. Then all you have to do is tell them how many dollars you want to change and they will give you a stack of pesos. Another thing to note is you will NOT want to change all your dollars at once. Since the exchange rate fluctuates so much due to inflation, you will probably want to change dollars every week or so to make sure you are getting the best value for your dollar.
The next thing I will cover is what to do if you run out of dollars, like we did. Luckily it’s super easy to send yourself money via Western Union. All you have to do is go online and create an account. You select how much money in dollars you want to send yourself and it will show you what the exchange rate and how many pesos you will receive. You can pay using your credit card, debit card, or bank transfer. I will say sometimes the Western Union exchange rate is a bit less than the blue dollar exchange rate, which is why I recommend bringing more dollars. You will also have to pay a small fee for the exchange, but it’s still worth it. In order to pick up your money you will just need to go to any Western Union with your transfer receipt and your ID in order to pick up the money. Make sure the receiver details match your ID exactly, or you will not be able to retrieve the money.
And lastly I want to share a bonus tip with you guys in terms of booking accommodations online. If you are booking and paying for places online, you will be charged the official exchange rate, not the blue dollar rate, so essentially paying double. During our time in Argentina we got in the habit of contacting places directly through Whatsapp or by email and booking with them. Normally the rates they will offer you will be lower than online, as they don't have to pay commissions to booking websites, AND if you let them know you will be paying cash, they will sometimes offer a further discount, meaning you will be saving half the money and possibly getting a deeper discount. It's a win-win situation for both you and the property owners.
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below and I will try my best to answer them. Thanks so much for reading and I’ll catch ya later!