EZEBuenos Aires · ARExchange destination
Buenos Aires is Latin America's most European capital, a café-soaked sprawl where you can study hard by day and dance until sunrise, all on a budget that stretches remarkably far.
Argentina avg / mo
€450–850
Languages
Spanish
Dear future me,
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c/o Buenos Aires group chat · Fall 2026
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City Guide
Few cities pack in this much energy for so little money. Buenos Aires mixes grand boulevards and belle-époque façades with a restless creative scene, and its universities draw exchange students from across the globe. The rhythm is addictive: long lunches, dinners after nine, and a nightlife that genuinely never quits.
Porteños are sociable night owls, so plan for late starts. Expect asado gatherings on rooftops, milongas where you can learn tango for free, and boliches in Palermo and Costanera that only fill up around 2am. Football is a religion, and catching a Boca or River match is a rite of passage.
Argentina is one of the cheapest places you'll ever study, though prices shift with inflation. Budget roughly €500–800 a month including a room, and you'll still eat out and go dancing often. The catch is the exchange rate: bring US dollars in cash and change them via Western Union or the blue market rather than the official bank rate, which can halve your money.
Most exchange students rent a room in a shared flat, often paid in US dollars month to month, since long leases demand a local guarantor (garantía). Palermo, Recoleta, Belgrano and Villa Crespo are the safe, well-connected favourites. Never sign anything before seeing it in person.
The city is flat, grid-planned and easy to read. Six Subte lines (A to E plus H) cover the centre, backed by a dense colectivo bus network that runs all night, all tapped with one SUBE card. Ecobici offers free short bike hires, and the Cabify app is cheap for late nights.
Buenos Aires is Argentina's academic heart. The vast, free Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) sprawls across the city, while private institutions like Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Universidad de San Andrés, UCA and UADE run more structured exchange programmes. Terms run March to July and August to December.
Rules depend heavily on your nationality. Many passport holders can enter visa-free as tourists for 90 days, and some students effectively study on that basis for a single semester, extending once if needed. Officially, longer stays require a student visa arranged through an Argentine consulate before you travel.
For the student visa you will typically need an acceptance letter, a criminal-record check, a birth certificate and consular legalisation, so start early because it is slow. Once in Argentina, student-visa holders register for temporary residence and get a local ID, the DNI. Always confirm the current requirements with the consulate for your country.
Life revolves around meat, pastry and mate. Sunday asado is sacred, empanadas and milanesa are everyday staples, and no coffee is complete without medialunas. You'll be handed a gourd of mate to share, so never refuse it and never stir the straw. Dinner starts at nine at the earliest.
Palermo is the student and nightlife magnet, split into leafy Soho and busier Hollywood. Recoleta is elegant and central, Belgrano leafy and calmer, San Telmo bohemian and historic, and Villa Crespo the cheaper, up-and-coming option right beside Palermo.
The flat Pampas and a good bus network make escapes easy. The Tigre delta is an hour by train for a day among the waterways, and Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay is a quick ferry across the river. For bigger adventures, overnight buses reach Mendoza's vineyards and the Iguazú falls.
The single biggest mistake is spending on a foreign card at the official rate, which loses you nearly half your money. Bring dollars, use Western Union or the blue market, and carry cash since many places still don't take cards. Adjust to the clock too, because nothing social happens early.
Student Reviews
“Yes, I recommend it for its location (close to shops, bars, restaurants and the university, about 20 minutes by bus). The rooms are large and in good condition. However, the bathroom is not very modern and clean, but it does the job very well (it is as shown in the photos). The best thing about the house is that it has a very large living room and a rooftop, which is great for entertaining and having aperitifs/evenings. The owner never complained about the evenings and other activities where we invited people to our home. However, she can sometimes be unpleasant on certain points, such as welcoming guests (if someone stays more than one night, they have to pay €10 per night, even if it's someone from your family who comes to visit you). Finally, it's a shared house with 11 other people, so you obviously have to like living in a community and know how to compromise. For my part, everything went very well and I became friends with my roommates and I think it's a good way to integrate and discover the city together!”
“If you come to Buenos Aires, do not stay at this accommodation. It was recommended to me by people from my school, but I do not recommend it at all. First, I found out only five days before my departure that my room had been listed on Airbnb and wouldn’t be available when I arrived. I had to stay for ten days in a room that wasn’t mine. Then, when I finally got my room, it was located right next to the kitchen. The problem was that there were parties or long conversations in the kitchen almost every night, so it was impossible to sleep — the noise kept waking me up. Finally, after finding out that there were insects in the house, I decided to leave. It’s true that I felt a bit more lonely afterwards, but at least I could sleep peacefully.”
“Le taux de change varie très souvent donc c'est compliqué de donner des idées sur les prix. Mais en général le bus n'est pas du tout cher, le métro coute moins cher avec notre carte bancaire qu'avec la carte de transport argentine. Je vous conseille de retirer de l'argent pour payer, il y a beaucoup d'endroit où ils ne prennent la carte et souvent il y a une réduction de 10 à 20% si on paye en espèces. J'ai également un compte tiktok sur lequel j'ai donné des petits tips sur la vie en Argentine, n'hésitez pas à allez voir! (thya.972)”
“The campus was quite good, not a lot of accommodations but really suficient. I advise you to make your DNI on site, it’s really less cheaper than doing the registration in France and Alexia the students echange secretary will be really helpfull for that task. The courses were not too hard but you have to know that the accent there is a bit harder to understand than the spanish accent wich could be complicated at the beginning for someone.”
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