Where is Argentina Located

Short answer

• Argentina is located in southern South America. It occupies most of the southern portion of the continent, in the Southern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere, with the Andes mountains along its western edge and the South Atlantic Ocean along its eastern edge. Its official name is the Argentine Republic. Its capital is Buenos Aires, which sits on the eastern side of the country, on the wide estuary called the Rio de la Plata, close to Uruguay. Argentina shares land borders with five countries: Chile to the west, Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Brazil to the northeast, and Uruguay to the east. The South Atlantic Ocean forms its long eastern and southeastern coastline, and the Drake Passage lies to the south, beyond the tip of the continent. Argentina is the second largest country in South America, after Brazil, and the eighth largest country in the world by mainland area. Its mainland surface area is 2,780,400 square kilometers, or about 1,073,518 square miles. That is slightly less than three tenths the size of the United States, so it is far larger than most travelers expect from a single country on a small world map. For a reader in the United States, the simplest mental picture is this: fly south from Miami or New York, pass over the Caribbean and the northern part of South America, and keep going until the continent narrows toward its southern tip. Argentina is the large country that fills that southern end, with Chile as a long, narrow neighbor running down its western side. Buenos Aires, on the Rio de la Plata estuary in the east of the country, is about 4,411 miles from Miami and about 5,332 miles from New York by direct air route, so it is a long haul flight south, not a short hop across a border.

Argentina is easy to picture and surprisingly easy to misplace. Many people know its name from football, tango, steak, or Patagonia, but they are less sure whether it sits in the north or the south of its continent, which ocean touches it, or which countries surround it. On a map the answer is clear and dramatic. Argentina fills most of the southern end of South America, runs from subtropical lowlands in the north to cold lands near the tip of the continent in the south, and has the Andes on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other.

This article places Argentina on the world map, names every neighboring country in the correct direction, explains its shape and size, locates its capital, walks through its main regions from north to south, and gives its distance, direction, and time difference from the United States. It answers the location question only. The capital and the language are covered briefly here as location context, and fuller treatments belong in separate articles on those topics.

Argentina on the World Map

Start with the continent. South America is the southern continent of the Americas, joined to North America by Central America and separated from it by the narrow land bridge of Panama. Argentina sits at the bottom of that continent, not in the middle and not near the equator. Its northern border lies in the subtropics, well south of the equator, and its southern tip reaches toward subantarctic waters. That southern position explains much of its climate range, from warm northern lowlands to cold, windy Patagonia in the south.

Argentina also sits in the Southern Cone, the southernmost part of South America. Argentina and Chile together fill most of that pointed southern end. Argentina takes the eastern and larger part. Chile takes the long western strip beside the Pacific Ocean.

The country is in both the Southern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere. Its seasons are therefore reversed compared with North America and Europe: when it is summer in New York, it is winter in Buenos Aires. It lies west of the prime meridian, in the same broad half of the globe as the Americas.

A useful central reference point for the country as a whole is 34 degrees south and 64 degrees west. Buenos Aires itself lies farther east and slightly south of that point, on the Atlantic side of the country.

Which Hemisphere and Which Ocean

Two questions often follow the main location question, and both have short answers that prevent common mistakes. First, Argentina is not in the Northern Hemisphere, and it is not near the equator. A traveler who imagines it beside Colombia or Venezuela has placed it thousands of kilometers too far north. Its northernmost land is still far south of the equator, and most of the country lies in temperate and cold latitudes.

Second, Argentina does not touch the Pacific Ocean with its mainland coast, even though Chile, its western neighbor, does. The Andes stand between Argentina and the Pacific for almost the whole length of the western border. Argentina’s ocean is the Atlantic, specifically the South Atlantic. That is why Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, and the Patagonian coastal cities face east toward the Atlantic, while a traveler who wants a Pacific beach from Argentina must cross into Chile.

This Atlantic position also explains river direction: major northern and central rivers flow toward the Rio de la Plata and then into the Atlantic, and Patagonian rivers generally flow east from the Andes to the Atlantic coast.

Every Neighbor, in the Correct Direction

Argentina has five land neighbors, and their directions are worth learning in order, because most map confusion comes from mixing up the northern and eastern borders.

Chile lies to the west and also to the south. It is Argentina’s longest border and its most important western neighbor. The Andes form most of the natural boundary, running north to south along the whole western edge. The border then continues south through Patagonia to Tierra del Fuego, the island group shared by the two countries at the tip of the continent. If you stand in Mendoza, in western Argentina, Chile is the next country across the mountains. If you stand in southern Patagonia, Chile is still to the west, and in Tierra del Fuego it is also the neighbor to the west and south.

Bolivia lies to the north. Paraguay also lies to the north, but farther east than Bolivia. Together they form the northern border, with Bolivia in the northwest and Paraguay in the northeast of that northern edge. The northern border region is lowland and subtropical in character, very different from the cold south, and it includes the Gran Chaco lowlands and river country that link Argentina to the interior of the continent.

Brazil lies to the northeast. Its border includes the Iguazu Falls area, where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet near a three country point. Brazil is the only South American country larger than Argentina. A traveler in Misiones, in northeastern Argentina, is close to Brazil and Paraguay at the same time.

Uruguay lies to the east, across the Rio de la Plata and the Uruguay River from Buenos Aires and the Argentine Mesopotamia region. Uruguay is the smallest of Argentina’s land neighbors, and it is the neighbor most closely tied to Buenos Aires by geography, because the Argentine capital faces it across the wide estuary. Ferries cross the Rio de la Plata between Buenos Aires and Uruguayan cities, which makes the eastern border feel much closer than the long western border with Chile.

To the east and southeast lies the South Atlantic Ocean. To the south, beyond Tierra del Fuego, lies the Drake Passage, between South America and Antarctica. Argentina also claims a portion of Antarctica and several South Atlantic islands, including the Falkland Islands, known in Argentina as the Islas Malvinas, which are administered by the United Kingdom. Those disputed claims are separate from the mainland location described above.

Shape and Size

Argentina is shaped roughly like an inverted triangle, with its wide base at the top in the north and its point narrowing toward the south. Britannica describes it that way, and the image is helpful when you look at a map: the north is broad, stretching from the Andes in the west to Brazil and Uruguay in the east, while the south narrows steadily through Patagonia to Tierra del Fuego.

The country stretches about 3,800 kilometers, or about 2,360 miles, from its subtropical north to its subantarctic south. Its widest east to west extent is about 1,420 kilometers, or about 880 miles. That north to south length is the more striking figure. It is roughly the distance from the northern United States to the southern United States, packed into one country, and it is why Argentina can contain subtropical forests, temperate grasslands, deserts, high mountains, and cold steppe within a single national border.

In area, the mainland figure used by the Argentine government and the CIA World Factbook is 2,780,400 square kilometers. That makes Argentina the second largest country in South America, after Brazil, the fourth largest in the Americas, after Canada, the United States, and Brazil, and the eighth largest in the world. Britannica gives a slightly smaller total area figure, because sources treat coastal waters, claimed areas, and inland water differently. The ranking is consistent across those sources. The key point is scale: Argentina is one of the largest countries on Earth.

Its Atlantic coastline is also long, about 4,700 kilometers, or about 2,900 miles, on Britannica’s measure, running from the Rio de la Plata in the northeast all the way south around Patagonia to Tierra del Fuego.

Where the Capital Sits

Buenos Aires is the capital and the largest city of Argentina, and its position tells you a great deal about the country. It sits on the eastern side of Argentina, on the southern shore of the Rio de la Plata estuary, in the east central part of the country. It is not in the geographic center, and it is not in the west near the Andes. It is an Atlantic facing capital, built where the Parana and Uruguay rivers meet the sea through a wide estuary.

That eastern position matters for travel and trade. Buenos Aires faces Uruguay across the estuary, and it is the natural port and gateway for the fertile Pampas region that surrounds it. Greater Buenos Aires holds about one third of the Argentine people, according to Britannica. Look for it on the southern shore of the Rio de la Plata, well west of where the estuary meets the Atlantic, and across the water from Uruguay.

Other cities help anchor the map: Rosario on the Parana River northwest of Buenos Aires, Cordoba farther inland in the center, Mendoza in the west near Chile, Mar del Plata on the Atlantic coast southeast of Buenos Aires, Neuquen in northern Patagonia, and Ushuaia in the far south in Tierra del Fuego.

Briefly, for location context only: the capital is Buenos Aires, and the main language is Spanish. Fuller treatments of the capital and of languages belong in separate articles and are not duplicated here.

The Main Regions from North to South

Argentina’s geography is commonly grouped into four major regions: the Andes, the North, the Pampas, and Patagonia. Those four labels cover the whole country from west to east and from north to south, and they are a good first framework. Within that framework, finer regional names such as the Northwest, the Gran Chaco, Mesopotamia, and Cuyo help a reader place individual provinces.

The Andes region runs along the western edge, from Bolivia in the north to southern Patagonia in the south, for about 3,700 kilometers, forming most of the boundary with Chile. In the north it includes high plateaus, deep valleys, and peaks over 6,400 meters, including Aconcagua, at 6,959 meters, or 22,831 feet, in Mendoza province. In the south it becomes the Patagonian Andes, with lakes, forests, and glaciers.

The North region is commonly described in two main parts. The Gran Chaco is the dry lowland between the Andes and the Parana River, stretching across the northwestern and northern interior. It is flat, hot in summer, covered in thorny vegetation in many areas, and subject to flooding in the wet season. Mesopotamia is the area between the Parana and Uruguay rivers, in the northeast. It is greener and wetter than the Chaco, with rivers, wetlands, and subtropical vegetation, and it includes the province of Misiones, where Iguazu Falls sits on the border with Brazil.

Cuyo is the west central region at the foot of the Andes, centered on Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis provinces. It is an arid piedmont region of valleys, irrigated oases, and mountain backdrops, famous for vineyards that depend on irrigation from Andean rivers. On a map, Cuyo sits between the high Andes to the west and the Pampas to the east, in the middle of the country’s length. It is the region most travelers cross when they travel from Buenos Aires west to the Andes.

The Pampas are the central grasslands, the wide, flat to gently rolling plains that stretch west from the Rio de la Plata to the Andean foothills, and south to the Colorado River. They are divided into a more humid eastern part and a drier western part. The Pampas are Argentina’s farming heartland, and they surround Buenos Aires, which is why the capital region feels so flat and open compared with the mountain west. The word pampa comes from a Quechua term meaning flat plain, and that description still fits: long horizons, few hills, and a landscape shaped by agriculture and cattle.

Patagonia extends about 1,900 kilometers south of the Pampas, from the Colorado River to Tierra del Fuego. It is cold, dry in the east, windy, and sparsely populated. It includes the Lake District in the west, the dry steppe plateau in the center and east, and Tierra del Fuego at the far south, the part of the country closest to Antarctica.

From Subtropical North to Subantarctic South

The north to south journey is the best way to understand Argentina’s size. In the far north, in provinces such as Jujuy, Salta, Formosa, and Misiones, the climate is subtropical, with warm temperatures, summer rain, and vegetation that looks very different from the south. This is the Argentina of red earth, subtropical forest, river wetlands, and the Iguazu Falls, and it sits at latitudes that are still far south of the equator but warm by Argentine standards.

Move south into the center, and the land becomes the temperate Pampas and Cuyo valleys, where Buenos Aires, Cordoba, and Rosario sit. Continue south into Patagonia, and the climate turns colder, drier in the east, and windier. At the far south, in Tierra del Fuego, the climate is subantarctic, with cold temperatures year round and strong winds. That contrast exists only because Argentina is so long from north to south.

Elevation adds a second contrast, from west to east. The highest point is Aconcagua, at 6,959 meters above sea level, in the Andes of Mendoza province, and also the highest point in South America and in the Southern and Western Hemispheres. The lowest point is Laguna del Carbon, at 105 meters below sea level, in Santa Cruz province in Patagonia, and also the lowest point in the Southern and Western Hemispheres.

Coast, Rivers, and the Atlantic Edge

Argentina’s eastern edge is the South Atlantic, and its rivers are part of how that edge works. The largest river system is the Paraguay, Parana, and Rio de la Plata system, which drains much of northern Argentina, plus Paraguay, eastern Bolivia, most of Uruguay, and a large part of Brazil. In Argentina, the main river is the Parana. The Parana and Uruguay rivers then meet to form the Rio de la Plata, a wide estuary that flows into the Atlantic beside Buenos Aires.

The Iguazu River, a tributary in the northeast, drops over the edge of the Brazilian highlands to form Iguazu Falls, on the border between Argentina and Brazil. The falls sit in the Mesopotamia region, in the northeast, not in the south, close to Brazil and Paraguay.

In Patagonia, rivers generally flow east from the Andes across the plateau to the Atlantic. The Colorado River marks the northern edge of Patagonia. Lakes matter in the west, especially in the Lake District, where large glacial lakes such as Nahuel Huapi sit between the Andes and the plateau.

Distance and Direction from the United States

From the United States, Argentina is south, and a long way south. It is not in Central America, and it is not in the Caribbean. It is at the far end of South America, beyond Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, and Chile’s northern regions. A flight from the eastern United States to Buenos Aires crosses the Caribbean Sea or the northern coast of South America, then continues south over Brazil or over the continent’s interior, before descending to the Rio de la Plata.

In approximate direct air distance, Buenos Aires is about 4,411 miles from Miami, with a nonstop flight of about 9 hours. From New York, the direct air distance to Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport is about 5,332 miles, with a direct flight time of about 10 hours and 45 minutes. These figures are approximate air route distances, not road distances, and actual flight times vary by airline, route, wind, and stops. From the western United States, the journey is longer, because the traveler must first cross the United States eastward or fly south through Central America and then down the continent. From Los Angeles or San Francisco, expect a substantially longer total journey than from Miami or New York, even though the direction is still broadly southeast and then south.

Direction helps more than a single number. From Miami and New York, Buenos Aires lies south, across the equator and down the eastern side of South America. A traveler who flies west from the United States toward the Pacific will not reach Argentina. The route is south, over or beside the Atlantic side of the continent, not west across the Pacific.

Argentina is listed under one main time zone, Argentina Time, which is three hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. For a United States traveler, Buenos Aires is usually one or two hours ahead of New York, depending on United States daylight saving time. The exact gap shifts when the United States changes its clocks, so travelers should check the gap for their dates. The key fact is simpler: Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and Ushuaia share the same clock time even though Ushuaia is far to the south.

Common Location Mistakes

Several mistakes recur in searches about Argentina’s location, and each is easy to correct once the map is clear.

Argentina is not in Central America, and it is not in North America. Central America is the narrow bridge between Mexico and Colombia. Argentina is thousands of kilometers south of that bridge, at the opposite end of South America. Confusing the two usually comes from grouping all Spanish speaking countries in the Americas together, but language does not determine geography.

Argentina is not on the Pacific coast. Chile occupies the Pacific side of the southern Andes. Argentina occupies the Atlantic side. A beach holiday in Argentina means an Atlantic beach, such as Mar del Plata, not a Pacific beach. A Pacific view requires crossing the Andes into Chile.

Argentina is not a small country, and Buenos Aires is not near the southern tip. Buenos Aires sits in the east central part of the country, roughly in the northern half of Argentina’s full length. Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego, is the city near the southern tip, and it lies far south of Buenos Aires. A map that places Buenos Aires at the bottom of South America has compressed the whole of Patagonia out of existence.

Argentina is not the same as Brazil, and it does not contain the Amazon rainforest as its main landscape. Brazil is the larger neighbor to the northeast, and the Amazon lies mainly in northern Brazil and neighboring northern countries, not in Argentina. Argentina’s northern landscapes are subtropical and riverine, but they are not the Amazon basin. Its most famous southern landscape is Patagonia, not the Amazon.

Finally, Argentina is not in Europe, even though Buenos Aires is often compared with Paris or Rome for its architecture. Argentina is firmly in South America, in the Southern Hemisphere, on the Atlantic side of the Southern Cone.

How to Find Argentina on Any Map

Use this sequence the next time you open a map. First, find South America and then find its southern tip, where the continent narrows to a point. Second, find Chile, the long narrow country on the western, Pacific side of that point. Third, find the large country immediately east of Chile, filling the rest of the point and stretching north to Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, and Uruguay. That large country is Argentina.

Next, trace the Atlantic coast south from the Rio de la Plata, past Mar del Plata and the Patagonian gulfs, to Tierra del Fuego. Then find Buenos Aires on the east coast, Mendoza in the west at the foot of the Andes, and Ushuaia in the far south. If those points are in the right places, you have found Argentina correctly.

For digital maps, search the country name rather than a city name alone, because names such as Mendoza or Cordoba exist in other countries too. Once the country outline is visible, the inverted triangle shape, the Andes on the west, and the Atlantic on the east should all be visible at once.

FAQ

Is Argentina in South America or Central America?

Argentina is in South America, in the southern part of the continent. It is not in Central America, which lies between Mexico and Colombia, far to the north of Argentina.

Is Argentina in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere?

Argentina is in the Southern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere. Its seasons are therefore reversed compared with the Northern Hemisphere, with summer in December to February and winter in June to August in broad terms.

What ocean borders Argentina?

The South Atlantic Ocean borders Argentina to the east and southeast. Argentina does not have a mainland Pacific coastline, because the Andes and Chile lie between it and the Pacific.

Which countries border Argentina?

Argentina shares land borders with five countries: Chile to the west and south, Bolivia to the north, Paraguay to the north, Brazil to the northeast, and Uruguay to the east. The South Atlantic Ocean lies to the east and southeast, and the Drake Passage lies to the south.

Where is Buenos Aires located within Argentina?

Buenos Aires is on the eastern side of Argentina, on the southern shore of the Rio de la Plata estuary, facing Uruguay across the water. It is in the east central part of the country, not in the geographic center and not near the southern tip.

How far is Argentina from the United States?

Buenos Aires is about 4,411 miles from Miami and about 5,332 miles from New York by direct air route, with nonstop flights of about 9 hours from Miami and about 10 hours and 45 minutes from New York. Actual times vary by route and airline, and flights from the western United States take longer.

What time zone is Argentina in?

Argentina is listed under one main time zone, Argentina Time, which is three hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. Buenos Aires is usually one or two hours ahead of New York, depending on United States daylight saving time, but travelers should check the gap for their dates.

Is Argentina the largest country in South America?

No. Brazil is the largest country in South America. Argentina is the second largest in South America, the fourth largest in the Americas, and the eighth largest in the world by mainland area.

What are the main regions of Argentina?

The four major regions commonly used are the Andes in the west, the North, the Pampas in the center, and Patagonia in the south. Finer regional names include the Northwest, the Gran Chaco, Mesopotamia, and Cuyo in the west central area.

Is Patagonia a country?

No. Patagonia is a region, not a country. It is shared mainly by Argentina and Chile, with the Argentine portion forming the large southern part of Argentina, from the Colorado River to Tierra del Fuego.

Where is Tierra del Fuego?

Tierra del Fuego is the island group at the southern tip of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile. The Argentine portion lies in the far south of Argentina, south of mainland Patagonia, across the Strait of Magellan.

Is Argentina near Antarctica?

Argentina is one of the closest countries to Antarctica, because its southern tip points toward the Antarctic Peninsula across the Drake Passage. Its Antarctic claim is separate from its mainland location in southern South America.

Keep reading: What Is Argentina’s Capital?

Keep reading: What Language Do They Speak in Argentina?

Sources & references

• Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Argentina", https://www.britannica.com/place/Argentina (opened 2026-10-28). Used for continent position, inverted triangle shape, north to south and east to west extents, Atlantic coastline length, four major regions, Andes extent, North divisions, Pampas divisions, Patagonia extent, capital position and Greater Buenos Aires share, Aconcagua height, and city positions.
• CIA World Factbook, Argentina geography summaries, via the World Factbook field listing and country geography pages (opened via search summaries 2026-10-28; see ledger note). Used for the location phrase "Southern South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Chile and Uruguay", central coordinates 34 degrees south and 64 degrees west, mainland area 2,780,400 square kilometers, area comparison to the United States.
• Government of Argentina, "General Information", https://www.argentina.gob.ar/sites/default/files/informacion_basica_-_ingles.pdf (opened via search summary 2026-10-28; see ledger note). Used for the southeast South America position, capital Buenos Aires as an autonomous city, mainland area 2,780,400 square kilometers, second in Latin America, fourth in the Americas, and eighth in the world ranking, and the distinction between effectively controlled land and claimed areas.
• World Atlas, "Argentina Maps and Facts", https://www.worldatlas.com/maps/argentina/ (opened via search summary 2026-10-28). Used only as a cross check for neighbor directions and ranking; no figure in the article rests on this source alone.
• Flight Routes, Ezeiza to JFK route page, https://www.flightroutes.com/EZE-JFK (opened via search summary 2026-10-28). Used for the approximate direct distance and flight time from Buenos Aires to New York.
• KAYAK, Miami to Buenos Aires flight route page, https://www.kayak.com/flight-routes/Miami-MIA/Buenos-Aires-BUE (opened via search summary 2026-10-28). Used for the approximate direct distance and nonstop flight time from Miami to Buenos Aires.
• Time and Date, Argentina time zone listing, https://timeanddate.com?id=0 (opened via search summary 2026-10-28). Used only for the time zone label America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires and the UTC minus 3 hours offset; United States time gaps in the article are arithmetic from that offset and are marked qualified in the ledger.