My daughter and I traveled to Buenos Aires a few months ago for several days. Prior to the trip, I did my best to note down the cheapest and best way to get from EZE airport to Buenos Aires city center. Ministerio Pistarini (Ezeiza – EZE) International Airport is the larger international airport located further from the city center than Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP), and many international flights land here. We were staying in Puerto Madero, so I was looking for the cheapest way to get us from EZE airport to that neighborhood of Buenos Aires.
There are a good number of transportation options from EZE into Buenos Aires, including taxis, private shuttles, and various minibus and larger buses that can take you close or relatively close to where you’re staying. Depending on your priorities, it is really to you which is the cheapest and best way from EZE to Buenos Aires city center, but I believe I can point you in the right direction with a couple options.
Taxi
Taxi is a convenient option from EZE airport to the center of Buenos Aires. Hailing one from the airport is easy, and they offer a direct option to wherever you’re going in the city. There are a lot of taxis in Buenos Aires. The city has one for approximately every 80 inhabitants. I honestly don’t know how this is sustainable. But it does make rates competitive.
Taxiezeiza is one of the companies that operates out of the airport. They currently have a promotion offering a return trip (outbound to airport, return to BA center) for only ARS 990 (~$25). This is quite a deal, given the typical one-way trip costs more like $30, typically. Prices in ARS will age quickly, as the inflation rate in Argentina is generally high.
Uber
Uber is a convenient option as well. You can expect to pay ARS600-800 ($16-22 USD) for a ride from Ezeiza International Airport to the Puerto Madero neighborhood, where our hotel was located. Depending on traffic and other factors, it could be higher. But this is not bad at all for a ride from EZE to Buenos Aires city center.
The taxistas aren’t too keen on Uber, which shouldn’t be a surprise. During our time in the capital, we witnessed a protest along the main avenue for a couple hours. Uber has no defined zone at EZE, and there are lots of taxis. Uber from the airport (according to reports) can be problematic at times, mainly due to the tension between the taxis and Uber.
Private Transfer
There are a few companies that provide private car or van service from EZE to Buenos Aires city center. These are a pricier option, however. Expect to pay $50 to over $100 for the service, one-way. There is a private car service called remises that offers a transfer service. The fleet is modern, and they are more comfortable than a taxi. But expect to pay a premium.
Bus: Cheapest Way from EZE Airport to Buenos Aires City
The research I’d done ahead of time pointed toward a bus as the cheapest way from EZE Airport to Buenos Aires city. There are a couple different bus companies, but the most convenient option is likely Tienda Leon. This was the company the information desk pointed us toward after we passed through customs and were in the arrivals area.
Tienda Leon offers transportation from EZE airport to Buenos Aires for 400 pesos (~$10 USD) per person. This is a very reasonable price, in my opinion. If you’re group is larger (3-4 people), Taxi or Uber will certainly be better. For a traveling pair, it might be a wash, or a taxi could actually be a hair cheaper. For the solo traveler, this is the cheapest way from EZE airport to Buenos Aires city.
To get to the Tienda Leon depot at EZE, you must exit the airport, keep going straight across the road, and then pass along a pedestrian walkway until you see it on the left. The Tienda Leon depot will be fairly obvious.
Our bus was very full. After landing at 10:30 a.m., we managed to catch the 11:30 departure. It had a scheduled arrival of 12:10 for an estimated transit time of 40 minutes.
The Tienda Leon bus depot in Buenos Aires is between the Centro and Puerto Madero neighborhoods. This was convenient, as we were staying at the Hilton Buenos Aires in Puerto Madero. The hotel is an easy walk away.
Transit Experience With Tienda Leon
The Tienda Leon bus was air conditioned and had comfortable seats. We were among the last to board and ended up in the very back. There really isn’t a lot to see between EZE airport and Buenos Aires. My daughter quickly fell asleep.
The bus uses a separate lane available for group transport, which helps cut down the travel time. Traffic got progressively worse the closer we got to Buenos Aires, but we were able to bypass the initial gridlock.
We arrived into the Puerto Madero area around 12:10, and I thought we would be at the stop shortly. That was the scheduled arrival time. How wrong I was.
We spent the next 40 minutes in traffic to go approximately half a kilometer. The bus driver took a different route than I expected, passing through Puerto Madero and looping back around to the depot. If we hadn’t placed a bag in the compartment below, I might have begged the driver to just let us off the bus. At one point we were within a 2-minute walk of the Hilton. It was super frustrating.
Transfer Between EZE and AEP
If you need to transfer between EZE and AEP, Tienda Leon is an option. The fare is only 100 pesos more than into Buenos Aires (total of 500 pesos). Just beware the significant delays that you may experience. If you’re pressed for time, using a taxi or Uber is likely a better choice, as you can get to Aeroparque Jorge Newberry much more directly. A taxi will likely charge you $40 or more.
Note that the Tienda Leon prices may change after posting. The exchange between Argentinian pesos and USD has been sliding for years.
Conclusion
Given the horrible traffic and extended amount of time it took us to make a loop through Puerto Madero to the bus station, I’m not sure that the bus is necessarily the best way from EZE airport to Buenos Aires center. It is certainly the cheapest option, especially for the solo traveler. However, depending on where you are headed in Buenos Aires, a taxi or Uber could be entirely worth the additional cost.
Hi there, Thanks for your post. Seems SO hard to find detailed info. online which is surprising for such a well traveled city. I’ve now read about a few shuttles including Tienda, so wondering if you had to do it again, would you have taken a taxi, being that traffic would be the same, I think either way? I’m a solo traveler trying to control my budget and had read that I could do Bus Line 8 the Metro Line D… yet no one has really posted useful information. This is after hours of digging. People would suggest but would not provide specific help. Argentinian websites are not very helpful. I consider myself an experienced traveler and this has been quite frustrating. I could see that Tienda goes to Aeroparque, but then it’s another 56 min by bus to my destination to Palermo;( Any insights appreciated.
Hard choice. I dislike taxis, but we would have made it to the hotel much quicker. The nasty traffic was all on two roads in Puerto Madero.
As far as public bus line 8, I believe that it it the one that goes to the heart of the city (Plaza de mayo). Should be called Semirapido Ezeiza. Is this where you would catch the metro? You should be able to take a single line to Palermo from Plaza de Mayo.
When we arrived at EZE 2 years ago, we had arranged a shuttle pick up that was recommended by the hotel. The driver was right there when we came out from baggage claim. We had been told that it would take about an hour to get to the hotel. We didn’t realize that the teachers would be holding a demonstration that day. Apparently neither did the driver. He had to take detour after detour after detour. Every time we turned the corner up popped a cop putting out traffic cones. The upside was that we got to see just about every neighborhood in the city. The driver gave us a running commentary better than any tour guide. Twice he had to call the office to tell them he couldn’t do his next run and then the following run. We finally got to the hotel almost 3 hours later than we expected. It was a real adventure. As a retired educator myself, I often wonder if the teachers got what they were asking for. We loved Buenos Aires by the way.
That’s a crazy story!
From what our tour guides said, Argentinos *love* to protest.
Thank you that was very helpful. Going there in January.
Glad you find it useful!