Flights and costs

Typically, your trip will involve two parts: the first between you home institute and Buenos Aires, the second between Buenos Aires and Bariloche. There are two cases:

• First case: you plan to stop over in Buenos Aires and to go directly from there to Bariloche (and back); in other words, you do not have any other touristic plans in Argentina. In this situation, you have a rather large choice of airlines that can bring you to the argentinian capital city. You should be able to buy a round trip ticket around January 8 or 9 for a price approx. equal to $1000 (from Europe), $800 (from Miami) and less if you are already in South America. Participants willing to come from Australia, New Zealand or Japan probably already know that there exists a ``transpolar'' connection Sydney-Buenos Aires on Aerolíneas Argentinas, with stops in New Zealand and Ushuaia (or Río Gallegos).

  The round trip Buenos Aires - Bariloche can then be obtained separately for a price of approx. $300 but tickets at $200 can be found if booked sufficently in advance.

• Second case: you plan not only to come to Bariloche but also to travel around in Argentina before or after the school and go to remote places in the extreme north or south of the country. In that case you should take into account the fact that individual tickets are quite expensive. The most economic choice, then, would be to get a Visit Argentina Pass, something that you can only buy outside of Argentina. The point is that, in such a case you have to enter the country with Aerolíneas Argentinas or an affiliated airline like Iberia. Those last two companies are not necessarily the cheapest ones, as far as the the international flight is concerned but they allow you to get this pass; its present cost is $440, consisting in a set of four flights, anywhere within the country, (this means practically two round trips since most flights start from Buenos Aires). Moreover, additional coupons can be gotten, within the country, at a price of approx. $100. Here are a few round trip averaged prices, just for you to compare: BsAs-Iguazú 2 x $120, BsAs-Salta 2 x $140, BsAs-Trelew (Península Valdez) 2 x $100, BsAs-Bariloche 2 x $150, BsAs-Ushuaia 2 x $200.

Reaching Bariloche

Of course, Bariloche can be reached by plane form Buenos Aires. The companies operating this route are Aerolíneas Argentinas, Austral (actually, a subsidiary of Aeorolíneas Argentinas), LAPA (a partner member of United Airlines/Star Alliance frequent flyer program), and some others with smaller planes. As we already said, the typical price for a round trip is $300, but tickets at $200 can be found booking in advance.

Other ways of reaching Bariloche

• Bariloche can be reached by bus from many towns in Argentina, and from Puerto Mont, in Chile. Typical price for a round trip ticket from Buenos Aires, by bus, is $150. The trip takes about 20 hours (one way).
• Bariloche can also be reached by boat (yes!) from Puerto Mont, in Chile. About $100, one day trip, and spectacular. Of course you have to find some way to go to Puerto Mont first!