Buenos Aires the 2nd most popular Nomad Destination (2023)

Intro

Beautiful Buenos-Aires: The Paris of South America and the capital city of Argentina, Buenos Aires literally translates to beautiful air in English. Buenos Aires has always been a popular spot among tourists and Nomads alike. However, recently has seen a massive surge in Nomads and Buenos Aires is now the 2nd most popular nomad destination in 2023 according to Nomad List. What are the factors that are contributing to this massive influx?  

Inflation Crisis

Although Argentina is gifted with plentiful natural resources and intelligent human capital it’s been plagued for the last 50 years by mismanagement in the government it has earned its reputation as the economic basket case of South America. As of April 6th, 2023 the Argentine peso has fallen 16% against the US dollar and 44% in 2022. Inflation and government mismanagement make life in Argentina much worse than it could be. 

For Argentines the situation is awful, locals earning in the Argentine peso have no choice but to suffer from inflation or convert their cash into more stable assets, USD, gold, and even bitcoin have proven to be a better alternative to the Argentine peso. However, the situation is actually a huge advantage for anybody earning in USD, or other more stable currencies. It is probably fair to say most digital nomads are making in a stable currency because anyone earning the Argentine peso or Venezuelan bolivar won’t have the stability to survive inflation while nomadic. 

Converting these more stable currencies to Argentine Peso gives you massive spending power in Argentina the only downside is you have to bring a backpack full of hyper-inflated bills just to pay for dinner at a restaurant. Your expenses such as food and utilities are now incredibly “cheap” at least for people earning a foreign income. 

Although many things in Argentina have become cheaper some things like rent have remained the same, not because they have risen with the Argentine peso but because they are priced in USD. For example, if you look at Airbnb prices they are good at least by United States, Europe, and Canadian standards but still more expensive than many other famous cities in Latin America. 

Many claim that nomads coming and taking advantage of the situation are actually making things worse. However I beg to differ, the nomads flocking to Argentina are bringing in stable currencies. This money goes straight to the local people through rent, food, and entertainment. Creating a trickle-down effect. Unfortunately, even if all the digital nomads in the world decided to congregate in Buenos Aires (1m+ people). It would not make much of a dent in dragging Argentina out of its current crisis and to be fair it’s not up to digital nomads to fix the problems of Argentina. 

Buenos Aires Aesthetic 

It’s not called ” Buenos-Aires: The Paris of South America ” for nothing Buenos Aires is beautiful; it has most of the amenities like a metro system, and is, for the most part, a walkable city. Something most US cities lack. Along with the beauty of the town, you also have world-class restaurants and almost every kind of store you would likely need In your day-to-day life within a 30-minute walk. 

Buenos Aires is a very liveable city when comparing it to the other cities in Latin America it is also very safe now that doesn’t mean that it’s as safe as somewhere like Stockholm but you can compare it to somewhere like London or Paris. Not a lot of violent crime but keep an eye on your pockets…

Although due to the current political climate and the crisis at hand we could see violence and theft make an uptick so as a nomad you have to make sure to take care of your own safety and decide when things are getting to a point where it’s too dangerous for you to live maybe its time for you to pack and up move to your next location that’s the beauty of being a digital nomad when. Life is changing 

The People

Buenos Aires is a Latin American country so like most (not all) countries in Latin America the national language is Spanish—the 4th most spoken language in the world. Many people also claim that Spanish is easy for English speakers to learn. It’s a city of 15.5 million people so it has something for everybody, great nightlife, modern creative energy and many parks. Also, the Argentine people much like other people in Latin America are very warm and open to making new friends. 

Conclusion

Buenos-Aires: The Paris of South America has always been a popular spot amongst Digital Nomads it’s just the current political situation has heightened the desirability amongst nomads because one of the best parts of operating location independently is that you can move to where ever you desire as long as there’s a strong internet connection so a city like Buenos Aires that has incredible archetypical beauty a decent metro system, easy liveability and generous and warm, open people. You make the cost of living really low and you’re looking at a perfect city for digital nomads.  

If you are thinking of travelling to Buenos Aires or Argentina or your thinking about changing your life and achieving location independence, book a Yonderpreneur book a call or check some of our other content to learn more about being globally minded.