How Argentines greet each other, what to expect with mate and at an asado, and how to read a restaurant bill and tip.
The basics: a kiss on the cheek when you arrive and when you leave, alcohol in moderation and with food, and a tip of about 10% in restaurants when service is not included. With mate, a travel guide says, foreigners get leeway.
A travel guide describes the custom like this: One kiss on the right cheek for everyone present, on arrival and departure, including between men in many circles; handshakes for formal business; locals may offer a hand to foreigners.
In practice:
You may be offered mate (a herbal drink passed around a group). Sharing it has its own customs.
Do not worry about getting them wrong. A travel guide notes that foreigners get leeway, and that a slip is more likely to be met with a smile than a scolding. If you are unsure what to do, watch the others, or ask.
If you are invited to an asado (a barbecue) and are unsure about anything, ask your host.
On drinking, the same travel guide says alcohol is drunk in moderation and with food.
Smoking in enclosed public places is illegal nationwide, according to the guide.
Before you pay a restaurant bill:
Haggling over prices is not traditional, the guide notes.
An expat report from 2026 sums up social life in Buenos Aires like this: Parks, cinemas, concerts, football and tango; easy to meet people but learn Spanish.
One language school in Buenos Aires runs an evening group course for expats. See where to study and what it costs.
The 2026 expat report also describes Buenos Aires as busy and noisy, and suggests earplugs. It says summers are hot and very humid, with mosquitoes, and compares driving in the city to an Olympic sport.
The same 2026 report mentions reports of racism and anti-immigrant attitudes. That evidence is thin and comes from one account, but it is there.
In mid-2026 there was also public debate about charging foreigners without full residence for public health care and university. If that affects you, read public hospitals now bill non-residents.
Learning Spanish helps with all of this. Start with Argentine Spanish in ten minutes. If you have not chosen a residence route yet, the Route Finder shows the routes you may fit.
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