San Bernardo del Tuyu bus terminal – a review.

We recently visited San Bernardo at the Argentine coast and got dropped off at the bus terminal in town. The bus terminal is very small and there is not much to do. We arrived just before 06:00 in the morning and everything was closed.

It wasn’t until 07:00 when a small bakery opened. By this time, there was more movement. Many people looked for hot water – Argentine mate is very popular. If you are looking for hot water – don’t go to this bakery. The woman has a big sign on the door and she is not very friendly. The bread and facturas are delicious if you are hungry.

Our accommodation was not ready until 14h00, so we had to hang around there for a couple of hours.

The diner opened just after 09:00 and we had a nice coffee there.

Services at the bus terminal in San Bernardo del Tuyu.

This is a typical bus terminal. They have clean restrooms, taxis, bus information and ticket offices, a small bakery, kiosco and diner. Do not expect these places to open early. Some do, but the majority only open at about 09:00.

There is an ATM inside but it was not working and looked like vandals tried to destroy it. The woman at the RutaAtlantica office did not know how to work the credit card machine and we ended up paying in cash. This was very inconvenient because we were on our way to the Termas and took only enough cash to get us through the day. When we arrived at the Termas we had to pay everything in cash as well and ended up with not enough money. The woman at the RutaAtlantica office basically just shrugged her shoulders.

Later on we went to the office of Plusmar and purchased out tickets back to Buenos Aires. We paid with the card and everything worked fine. This certainly annoyed me a little bit. 

Tip: If you are travelling to the coast of Argentina and end up in a small place like San Bernardo, do not expect to pay with your card in most places. They work mainly with cash and very view places offered a service to pay with a debit or credit card.

Improvements and suggestions for the San Bernardo bus terminal.

Chances are 98% that people working at the terminal will NOT read this blog post but a couple of suggestions might improve the overall experience for travellers.

There is no tourist information office at the San Bernardo bus terminal. Tourists arrive and would like to know what they can do. We saw information on the window of the RutaAtlantica office about the Mundo Marino and Las Termas. They offer excursions to these touristy places and obviously we chose one and booked.

There is no luggage storage service at the bus terminal. If you arrive early and the place where you are staying are not willing or not able to store luggage, then this comes in very handy. Even lockers would be perfect.

Fix the ATM machine to make it easier for people to withdraw cash if needed.

Get rid of the people who grab your luggage from the taxi and then expect payment. We did not like it at all.

To conclude. The bus terminal in San Bernardo is not bad. It is slightly neglected and could do with some improvements.