VENUE The meeting will be held at the: Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina (National Library of Argentina) Agüero 2502 (At Las Heras Av.) RECOLETA BUENOS AIRES The National Library of Argentina is located in one of the most beautiful areas of Buenos Aires, the very famous RECOLETA. It is considered to be one of the finest and most expensive areas of the city. It boasts many French style buildings, large green spaces, first class restaurants and a large number of hotels for every budget. Some people consider this district a copy of París. Many cultural events take place here. On weekends there is a large handicrafts market where you can find high quality items and legions of street performers. Some of the tourist landmarks that worth to see in the area are: Recoleta Cementery, Nuestra Señora del Pilar Basilic, Recoleta Cultural Center, Fine Arts National Museum, Palais de Glace and the Latinamerican Art Museum (MALBA) Museum, among others. ACCOMMODATION Buenos Aires has a solid selection of international class business hotels. Many of them are located in the RECOLETA area and are at walking distance or at a short ride by public transportation from the National Library. Many international chains are present in the city offering the same level of comfort and service as their hotels in the United States or Europe. Also a large quantity of local operated hotels for every budget is available in RECOLETA near the National Library (in Spanish BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL). The following table shows just an example of a selection of well-located hotels. There are many other options in the area. Most of these hotels may be booked through www.booking.com (Select: City: Buenos Aires, Zone: Recoleta) or other well know websites for booking services. Hotels Address Mail Five Stars Hotels Alvear Palace Hotel Av. Alvear 1891 (Recoleta) info@alvearpalace.com Loi Suites Recoleta Hotel Vicente López 1955 (Recoleta) recoleta@loisuites.com.ar Park Hyatt Bs. A.s. - Palacio Duhau Av. Alvear 1661 (Recoleta) buenosaires.park@hyatt.com Sofitel Buenos Aires Arroyo 841 (Recoleta) h3253@accor.hotels.com Four Stars Hotels Intersur Recoleta Av. Callao 1764 (Recoleta) reservas@intersurrecoleta.com.ar Meliá Recoleta Plaza Boutique Hotel Posadas 1557 (Recoleta) melia.recoleta.plaza@solmelia.com Park Elegance Unique Hotel Av. Pueyrredon 1940 (Recoleta) elegance@parkplazahotels.com Park Plaza Unique Hotel Parera 183 (Recoleta) park@parkplazahotels.com Wilton Palace Hotel Av. Callao 1162 (Recoleta) info@hotelwilton.com.ar
Three Stars Hotels Bel Air Bs. As. Hotel Arenales 1462 (Recoleta) reservas@hotelbelair.com.ar Dazzler Laprida Laprida 1902 (Recoleta) frontdesk@dazzlerlaprida.com Howard Johnson Hotel Boutique Peña 2047 (Recoleta) reservas@hjboutiquerecoleta.com.ar Plaza Francia Hotel E. Schiaffino 2189 (Recoleta) reservas@hotelplazafrancia.com Two Stars Hotels Ayacucho Palace Hotel Ayacucho 1418 (Recoleta) reservas@ayacuchohotel.com.ar Guido Palace Hotel Gral. Guido 1780 (Recoleta) consulta@guidopalace.com.ar Principe Norte Hotel Laprida 1454 (Recoleta) principe@hotel-principe.com.ar Recoleta Hotel Jose L. Pagano 2684 (Recoleta) hotelrecoleta@elsitio.net How to get there and travel The main airlines of the world travel to Argentina arriving, most of them, at the Internacional Ministro Pistarini Airport (located in the Town of Ezeiza). Passports, Visas and Vaccination People travelling from certain countries to Argentina will need visas and certain vaccines. Please contact the Argentinean Embassy or Consulate in your country to find out the entry requirements. Transport Buenos Aires is a great metropolis with numberless means of transport that take you to any point of the city, its roundabouts (Gran Buenos Aires) and virtually to any point of the country. Here we provide a summary of the available means of transport within the city. Ministro Pistrani International Airport (EZEIZA) International flights from the main cities of the world arrive here. It is located 45km from the city center, in the city of Ezeiza, in the suburbs. At the airport there are taxis, private car services (remise), and private bus services all of which are safe and quick ways to arrive into the City Center. For safety reasons it is strongly suggested to use Manuel Tienda León (www.tiendaleon.com.ar), Transfer Express or VIP- CAR services. They are located at the arrivals sector, just out of Customs. A one way bus fare is AR$ 80 (US$ 14) for a shuttle service with free distribution to the downtown hotels. Taxis and Private Cars are more expensive (around 50 USD one way ride). There are also public transportation buses that take about two hours to arrive to the city center. They are cheaper but not recommended if you are carrying luggage.
Moving around the City Underground The underground is the quickest way to move within Downtown Buenos Aires. The system currently covers around 46 km, with 80 stations and carries, annually, 250 millon passangers. It has a fixed fare that is paid in the ticket offices of any of its stations. Each one tripo card allows going to any part of the city, even to make long trips changing lines. Currently the ticket fare is $ 2.50 and subway services operate from 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM Monday through Saturday and 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM on Sundays. Tickets or subtepass are purchased in the subway stations. SUBTE is the local name for the subway and indicates the entrance of the stations. Taxi (Capital Federal and Gran Buenos Aires) Within the city of Buenos Aires there are more than 32.000 taxis. The fare consists of an initial price plus an additional charge calculated according the time and distance travelled. Such fare must be paid at the end of the trip in accordance to the quantity displayed in the clock placed on the right of the front windshield. Taxis are painted black with yellow roof. The service costs 20% more from 22 hours to 6 a.m. There are many radiotaxis companies. They are ordered by telephone and pick up passengers anywhere. They do not charge extra and they are safer. The remise is a service similar to the radiotaxi but the cars have no markings and they calculate the fare based on the distance. The fare is arranged before the trip.http://www.argentinaturistica.com/2transpbsas.htm - Arriba Public Transportation Buses The bus (also called micro or colectivo in Argentina), is one of the means of transport mostly used to move along the Capital and the Gran Buenos Aires. The fare is related to the distance travelled and it must be paid by introducing coins (according to the value of your trip) in automatic machines. It is not necessary to have exact change because the machines return money, but it is necessary to have coins because the driver does not change bills. You must get on by the front door and get off by the back or central door. The vehicles are painted in different colours according to the line they belong to, which, by the way, make up more than a hundred. http://www.argentinaturistica.com/2transpbsas.htm - Arriba
Local Trains The train is the most adecuate means of transport to move along the Capital and the most convenient to reach the suburbs. The fare varies according to the distance travelled, and has to be paid in the corresponding station. Money Handling The legal tender currency in our country is the Argentine Peso. Several shops accept Dollars; however, it is convenient to exchange them in Banks and authorized Exchange Bureaux. The legal tender notes are 100, 50, 20, 10, 5 y 2 Pesos, and the coins 1 Peso, 50, 25, 10 y 5 cents (there are also 1 cent coins but they are rarely used). Credit Cards are widely accepted. The most well known and accepted credit cards are: American Express, Master Card, VISA and Diners. Vat Return At the airport you can recover the 21% of the value paid in concept of the Added Value Tax (VAT), if you have purchased local products for an amount greater than $70 (per invoice) in the shops which are members of this scheme (that show in their show window the logo added here). This process is arranged by GLOBAL REFUND, world lider in tax refund services. Shops that provide this service display in their windows a Global Refund logo. The tourist customer must request from the sales person the invoice and forms, which comes as a refund check and it has to be completed at the time of the purchase. Before leaving the country theses checks must be presented at customs for validation. There are many ways of receiving the refund, it can be cashed upon leaving the country or credited to your credit card, also a check can be mailed to your personal address, finally it can also be cashed in any of the tax return offices that the Global Refund company has around the world. Tips It is customary to leave the equivalent to 10 % of the value paid in cafeterias and restaurants. It is also usual to tip doormen, ushers and porters. Weather and clothes Buenos Aires weather is nice in November. Temperature varies between 15 ºC and 25 ºC. You should bring some light coat because variations in temperature may occur. Time, Electricity, Weights and Measures The official Argentine hour is 3 (three) hours less to that of Greenwich. Voltage in Argentina is 220 V AC, 50 Hz. For plugging electrical devices you will need a special national plug. Nevertheless some hotels have sockets in which you can plug
European and American plugs. For devices that work with 110/120 V you will also need a voltage transformer. The unit of measure for distance is the meter and its derivations: millimeter (0,001 meter), centimeter (0,01 meter) and kilometer (1000 metros). For Weights the unit of measure is the gram and its derivations: el kilogram (1000 grams). The unit for capacity is the liter and cubic centimeters (cc).