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Are siestas anything I should consider when traveling around Argentina(large and small towns)? Are travel services likely to be effected in anyway?

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I have traveled extensively throughout Argentina, and I would have to say that the siesta (which does exist in some places) has never affected anything I wanted to do there. Within Buenos Aires, many smaller shops are closed for a siesta, but then many are not, and large ones certainly are not.

Outside of Buenos Aires, the siesta may become a factor, but probably not. It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. For me, when outside of BA, I have always been out and about seeing the sights or exploring town or experiencing the nature during those hours. Obviously transport continues as usual, though in cities you may have a slightly harder time finding a taxi. Longer-haul transport you'll obviously want to buy tickets for in advance anyway.

When it comes to restaurants, most do indeed close in the middle of the day for several hours, but this is more for the changeover from lunch to dinner service. I don't think this happens until 3 or 4 PM though. Perhaps restaurateurs take a slightly later siesta as some don't reopen till much later. Many Argentinians seem to have dinner incredibly late. I have seen families with young children sitting down to eat steak dinners at 11:00 PM. But I digress.

In sum: it may be a minor factor. But as long as you arrange anything that needs to be arranged in advance, you will be fine. Personally, it has not been an issue for me as much as it has been in, for example, parts of Spain.

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For the most part, no. I've travelled extensively in the country as well as the other answerer, and can confirm it never seemed to interrupt anything - indeed most cities don't seem to follow it any more.

However, the one place it DID affect was in Mendoza. I spent two weeks there doing a Spanish class each morning, and if we wanted to go to the post office or some other services, we'd have to get there quickly after class, or wait until much later in the day. It's one of the few remaining places that still has an effect. Annoying if it gets in your way, I suppose, but as travellers, we really appreciated it and took advantage of it as well - relaxing in the park all afternoon is great :)

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  • Yep. Though my only Argentina experience is about 5 days in Mendoza, I was on a stay-out-late, wake-up-late, take-my-time-to-get-ready kind of schedule, so invariably, by the time I was actually ready to go out and shop or get food, so many of the businesses were closed, haha.
    – Max Starkenburg
    Commented Apr 1, 2016 at 20:59
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It depends on what provinces are you are visiting, perhaps in the north siestas might be an issue, but Buenos Aires for example people don't usually take naps. I was in Tucuman and I wasn't aware there was a siesta and for 4 long hours the city was like a ghost town, but gas stations, restaurants and shopping malls were open

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I agree with you guys. I am from Mendoza (Argentina) and we love to take naps between 2pm and 3pm. If you visit this city you will see some stores closed during these hours. Nevertheless you will find big stores or supermarkets open.

If you work in an office you can have this kind of advantages (naps). All the services in Mendoza work normally, even though you might wait a little bit more in the bus stop.

I think that during this hours you can discover the city in a different way, less crowded, less noisy.

Enjoy your trip!! :)

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