Dock Location in Buenos Aires?

[billrco90278]

Where can I expect the Viking Jupiter to be docked in Buenos Aires? Is it walkable to town or are there shuttles?

Thanks!

[Heidi13]

14 hours ago, billrco90278 said:

Where can I expect the Viking Jupiter to be docked in Buenos Aires? Is it walkable to town or are there shuttles?

Thanks!

 

The pax terminal is at a commercial container port and is known as Benito Quinquela Martín Passenger Terminal. It is less than a mile from the city centre.

 

While the area has been updated, I still would not be walking in the vicinity of the port area. I expect Viking will provide shuttles.

[RobEsson]

It is walkable, along the canal/river which we (4 of us from the ship) felt seemed safe enough. A few blocks over from there looked to be a little less salubrious but nothing too too terrible. The only thing is you may be 'accosted' by Tango dancers trying to get you to tango with them so that pictures can be taken and tips provided ...

Edited September 16 by RobEsson

[photopro2]

We did a back-to-back through Buenos Aires last March and were there for three days with two overnights on the ship.

 

While it is certainly physically possible to walk from the cruise terminal into town we certainly WOULD NOT recommend it! 

 

As @Heidi13 says, the ship is docked in a busy commercial port and you will always need to get a shuttle bus from the ship to the cruise terminal whatever transport you plan to take from there.

 

Immediately outside the cruise terminal are commercial premises, busy roads and quite a number of military facilities. It is not the sort of area anyone would wander through unless they had a very good reason. Most Viking passengers would stand out like a sore thumb and make themselves potential targets for undesirables.

 

Viking offers an excellent free shuttle which is much quicker and safer than walking. It operates from 9 am to 9 pm on the day passengers are overnighting on the ship. If I recall correctly, it operated every 30 minutes except for a bit of a gap in the middle of the day when drivers took lunch. The bus drops off in the pleasant Plaza San Martin, close to the top of the bustling Florida Street. It is an easy and safe walk from there to the other main city centre tourist sites.

 

A few hundred yards down Florida Street is the up market Galerías Pacífico shopping mall, which provides nice, free toilet facilities as required!

 

The first day we walked from the shuttle stop to Casa Roseada, the palace with the Eva Peron balcony. On our second day, we walked from the shuttle stop to Recoleta cemetery. On our final morning, we walked from the shuttle stop to the regenerated Old Port area with its newly built high-rise apartments, shops and restaurants.

 

Buenos Aires is a lovely city. We also covered a lot of other ground by foot over those three days (30,000 + steps a day) and we never felt unsafe at any point, though we obviously took the usual care. But to walk from the cruise terminal into town?…… absolutely no way!

[SJD117]

@photopro2 I had a similar experience in BA in March 2020, right before the city closed up due to the pandemic. Viking offered a free shuttle from the port to the outskirts of downtown, near Calle Florida as I recall. It was an easy and scenic walk from there to the main plaza. No reason at all to add to that walk by starting at the port.

[Mich3554]

From what I remember in BA, no passengers are allowed to walk in the port.  A shuttle. Is provided from the ship to the terminal building.  From there, it is easy to get a taxi into town if Viking is not running a shuttle. 

[Ready to Sail!]

 Is there a queue? Should we assume the taxis there would be reliable, safe? 

[LindaS272]

“Is there a queue?” Depends on when you go—but not likely as everyone will be leaving at different times, and many will be on excursions. Morning around excursion times might be an issue.

 

Taxis are safe and reliable.

[niehauscr]

We felt very safe using Uber in BA.  Once the Uber was a BA taxi.

[billrco90278]

Thank you for all the responses!

[CCWineLover]

On 9/22/2024 at 8:46 AM, niehauscr said:

We felt very safe using Uber in BA.  Once the Uber was a BA taxi.

We also did an Uber to get from the cruise terminal to the small airport (to catch a flight to Mendoza).  It was quite easy to do.  And yes, you cannot walk to the entrance, you must take the Viking Shuttle bus from the ship to the entrance.  And I wouldn't want to walk it even if they allowed it.  Too many things going on around the pier area - accidents could happen!

Note - there was a decent crowd outside the gate, but with an Uber reserved, we had no issue - and I do think people (passengers) were just a bit confused and overwhelmed trying to get a taxi and where to line up, etc.