Buenos Aires Travel Guide: Bucket List & Logistics Solved

Editor’s favorites, beyond the checklist↓

First, let’s solve the logistics

How to get there

Buenos Aires is one of the major entry points to South America, owing to relatively cheap international flights. Buenos Aires will most likely be your introduction to Argentina so get off to a good start by using your start-of-trip time and money to enjoy the city to the fullest. 

Additionally, many visitors to BA will travel onward to off-piste destinations like the Pantanal or the wilds of Patagonia, and there are few better destinations to savour civilisation than Buenos Aires. 

BA is a long way from other tourist destinations in Argentina. You will most likely travel to or from: 

• Iguazu Falls – 2 hour flight / 18 hour bus 
• Cordoba – 1 hour 30 minutes flight / 10 hour bus 
• Mendoza – 1 hour 40 minutes flight / 15 hour bus
• Bariloche – 2 hour flight / 23 hour bus
• Ushuaia – 3 hours 30 minutes flight / 2-3 day bus

Where to stay in Buenos Aires

In much of Latin America, the hotels and tourist attractions are clustered into one area, but BA is special in that there are many wonderful neighbourhoods with its own unique qualities. The two most popular are Barrio Norte and San Telmo.

I spent three wonderful weeks living in a hostel in San Telmo and really fell in love with its shabby-chic cobbles and dilapidated mansions, though I do see the appeal of Barrio Norte’s parks and grand architecture. 

Barrio Norte

This is the richest area of the city, sort of recalling Paris with its grand avenues, monumental parks and smart cafes. It is split between the Palermo and Recoleta neighbourhoods. Both are studded with interesting places like the Japanese garden, Palermo racecourse and speakeasy bars. Barrio Norte suits people after a more luxurious experience. 

• $ Meridiano Hostel Boutique – antique-furnished rooms in an old Palermo house, with balconies over the garden, a rooftop terrace, and a shared kitchen.
• $$ Beto & Nico’s serviced apartment – a studio in a hotel-style building, 200m from Plaza Italia and the subte, with a rooftop pool, gym, laundry and 24-hour security
• $$ Alison’s apartment – A private 2-bedroom Airbnb on Av. Cordoba with a full kitchen, a street-facing balcony, and no shared spaces, so you can enjoy complete privacy and comfort.
• $$$ Legado Mitico Buenos Aires – a 9-room hotel in a converted 1900s townhouse three blocks from Plaza Cortazar. There’s a library and a quiet courtyard away from Palermo’s busiest streets.
• $$$$ Alvear Palace Hotel – This is the high-end pick if the budget stretches that far. It’s a 1932 Recoleta landmark with Louis XVI interiors, 207 rooms and suites, and butler service on the upper floors.

San Telmo 

Gentrification is normally a one-way process – nice parts of cities tend to get nicer – but exactly the opposite happened in BA.

San Telmo is the oldest part of the city, once home to its mansion-dwelling elites. That is, until a yellow fever outbreak in 1871 caused them to up sticks for Barrio Norte, leaving their mansions as the shabby-chic spine of this wonderfully authentic neighbourhood, giving a true picture of Argentine life as well as being awash with history.

The bar and nightlife scene here is also popping! You feel a bit more ‘in town’ here with easy access to BA’s landmarks like El Obelisco. 

• $ Puerto Limon Hostel has been a San Telmo staple for 18+ years. Social and busy, so good for meeting people, but less so if you want an early night’s sleep.
• $ Nicolas’ Airbnb – a self-contained flat with your own kitchen and room to spread out, still on the budget end (best for longer stays or if you prefer to cook for yourself).
• $$ L’Adresse Hôtel Boutique is a true boutique stay with just 14 rooms, each fitted out with Egyptian cotton sheets and rainfall showers. Breakfast in the garden and a small library give it a homey feel, and it’s an easy walk to Parque Lezama and Plaza Dorrego.
• $$ Anselmo Buenos Aires, Curio Collection by Hilton – right on Plaza Dorrego, in the middle of San Telmo’s Sunday antiques market. If you’re a light sleeper, book a courtyard-facing room for a quieter stay.

Getting around the city

Buenos Aires has one of the best public transport networks in South America, so travellers will very rarely find themselves shelling out for Ubers, which are still available.

To access the frequent buses and the SUBTE (BA’s underground train network), you need to buy a SUBE card – they will not take cash as payment on public transport. Google Maps will also reliably show when the next bus or train will come too! 

These are available from SUBTE stations and also from many Kioscos – iconic Buenos Aires corner shops similar to New York’s bodegas. You will need to pay 🇦🇷ARS 1,500›, and it can be topped up at any station. Handily, the SUBE card can also be used on public transport in Mendoza, Bariloche and Ushuaia. 

Landmarks 

Obelisco and Avenida 9 de Julio 

No doubt you have seen this iconic symbol of Argentina thronged with blue and white shirts as Argentina celebrated winning the World Cup!

Even without the football fanatics, the obelisk is truly breathtaking. At 67.5m high it dominates the skyline of BA for miles around, often acting like a lighthouse when you are lost. 

Its setting in the middle of Avenida 9 de Julio, one of the widest streets in the world, really elevates its shock-value.

While wildly impractical to cross, the avenida’s seven lanes of traffic are often out of sync and some roads have parks in between, its sheer eccentricity makes it incredibly endearing. Skyscrapers line the sides of this highway like the walls of a canyon, one in particular displays a giant portrait of Eva Peron, one of Argentina’s national heroines.

The view of two symbols of Argentine nationhood makes it the natural place for crowds to gather and it should be seen by every visitor to BA.

Plaza de Mayo and Casa Rosada 

Plaza de Mayo is more than just another photo op. While being composed of stunning buildings, this square pulsates with energy as Argentines voice their discontent with the government. I wound up talking to a Communist group named after the last Inca Emperor, all dressed in berets like Che Guevara, about their plan for a revolution. They were surprisingly chill guys. 

As well as being the seat of the president, the Plaza de Mayo is equally famous for a series of protests in the 1970s. Argentina’s military dictatorship ‘disappeared’ around 30,000 people. These unfortunate people did not vanish into a puff of smoke, but were kidnapped and tortured to death by the regime.

Their mothers and grandmothers began protesting in Plaza de Mayo for news of their loved ones despite the government’s threats. They captured international attention and became globally known as ‘Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo’. This impassioned group continues to march in the square every Thursday!

The jewel in the crown of the plaza is the Casa Rosada (the pink house). This beautiful pink palace is the official office of the Argentine president. It even featured in Evita, the film starring Madonna in the leading role. You can also visit the interior for free. 

Another must-visit on the plaza is the Metropolitan Cathedral, where San Martin, the liberator of Argentina and many Latin American countries from Spain, is buried.

Finally, the Cabildo on the end of the plaza opposite Casa Rosada provides a beautiful vista of the plaza from the second-floor balcony. It is free to explore and was once the base of Spanish colonial rule in the city.

Cemetrerio Recoleta  

It may seem strange that a cemetery is one of the landmarks of a city, but BA is not like other cities. While also the passionate capital of tango and steak, it is hard to shake the fact that Argentina was one of the world’s richest countries in the 1920s, seemingly set to become a great power until commodity crashes and political mismanagement robbed it of a golden future.

There is a sadness and deep wells of memory in Buenos Aires, and the landmark of these feelings is Recoleta. 

The cemetery is also strikingly beautiful. The great and good of Argentina funded huge, elaborate tombs here, creating a marble city of the dead. The passage of centuries has left them weathered and decayed, creating a spectacle of loss and faded grandeur.

I think that Recoleta is best experienced walking around completely without a plan and simply soaking up the unique ambience, but inevitably people will gravitate towards the graves of famous figures. 

For more context than you’ll pick up wandering alone, this small-group tour digs into the darker stories and hunting tales behind the tombs – including one about a girl said to have been buried alive.

The most famous tomb is that of Eva Perón, known as Evita, once the first lady of Argentina and a symbol of charity and help to the downtrodden in the country. After dying tragically young, her body had a remarkable story of its own, being embalmed and hidden until turning up in Milan. It now lies beneath a simple plaque. It is quite easily found by the mountains of flowers and crowds of tourists.

Other notable tombs are of past presidents like Mitre, Yrigoyen and De Rosas, the general who expanded Argentina into Patagonia. 

Hear the cemetery’s haunting tales

Teatro Colon 

While opera is not everyone’s cup of tea, you do not have to know your soprano from your baritone to appreciate the splendour of this building.

Finished in 1908, it symbolised Argentina’s confidence as it became richer per capita than the Netherlands and Denmark. Teatro Colon occupies an entire city block and was the largest opera house in the Southern Hemisphere until the Sydney Opera House was built. 

The building itself is a jaw-dropping neoclassical facade of honeycoloured stone, with no details purely for function. Every surface is decorated and detail pops out of each inch. It gets even better when you venture inside. Leading up to the stage is a warren of marbled floors and chandeliers overhead. It feels more like a palace than a theatre. Even non-opera fans will be wowed! 

This can all be experienced with a guided tour, which is included in the $15 ticket price. The guides will point out interesting features of its architecture, like French influences, as well as relate the hugely interesting love-triangle-motivated-murder of the theatre’s architect. 

Guided tours run every fifteen minutes, from 09:00 to 17:00, unless there is a show running. While you’re there, grab a programme of what’s on – you may find something for your evening entertainment! If opera or ballet is your thing, sinking into the red velvet seats and seeing the theatre’s acoustics in action is a magical experience. 

Cafe Tortoni 

Unlike most landmarks which only give you a beautiful view, Cafe Tortoni allows you to eat and drink your way through the attraction.

Opened in 1858, it is an impossibly grand cafe that feels like a time-warp back to the gilded age as tuxedoed waiters glide around with sweet treats and coffee. You may have to queue to get in, but it is worth it. Located in Montserrat, it is the perfect refreshment after visiting the Palacio Barolo or the Casa Rosada. 

It is wonderful to imagine the conversations that once took place here, visitors including Albert Einstein and Jorge Luis Borges.

Borges, Argentina’s most famous novelist, was a regular and has his own wax sculpture at his seat to commemorate the masterpieces he imagined and wrote here. It also hosts tango shows in the evening. 

Palacio Barolo 

When I first planned my BA trip, this skyscraper really caught my eye and I was surprised by how few fellow-travellers visited it. Built in the 1920s, it tells the story of Dante’s Divine Comedy in serene art deco style.

The lower tiers are decorated according to the poet’s vision of hell, the visitor then ascends to purgatory and finally to heaven at the summit of the building, just as the book’s protagonist did. It was built as a sort of Argentine statue of liberty, promising the masses of European immigrants arriving in Argentina a better life as the New World seemed to eclipse war-torn Europe after the First World War. It also has a sister building across the River Plate, the Palacio Salvo in Montevideo. 

The views from the top are absolutely incredible. On one side is a perfect view across the Plaza Congreso, while the other side gives sweeping panoramas of the city and the River Plate. On a clear day, you can even see Uruguay! Expect to pay $12. 

El Caminito 

Along with El Obelisco, an image of a pair gracefully dancing the tango in front of a row of vibrantly coloured houses is probably the most recognisable image of BA. This famous scene is found in La Boca, a district in the very South of the city.

La Boca is a historically working-class neighbourhood, fiercely proud and the passionate home to Boca Juniors football club. It was initially populated by thousands of European immigrants who worked at the nearby shipyards. The colourful houses, called conventillos became the standard home for these workers. 

Though now more home to tourists than dockworkers, El Caminito is a symbol of the BA’s past and passion. You will see the famous image of Buenos Aires played out before your eyes as dancers pirouette in front of the conventillos. 

While El Caminito is firmly on the BA tourist trail, La Boca as a whole is one of the city’s sketchier neighbourhoods. To avoid a bad experience, stay within a few blocks of El Caminito and do not visit at night. 

Experiences 

Tango, first!

Other than footballers like Messi and Maradona, tango dancing is arguably Argentina’s most famous export to the world, and defines its image for many people. Where better to experience this beautiful dance than in its home – Buenos Aires.

Though some Uruguayans will dispute this, tango probably developed out of a melting pot of African rhythms, European dances like the waltz and the Cuban habanera in Buenos Aires’ poor neighbourhoods in the 1880s. 

What I found remarkable about tango in Argentina is that many of the songs that tango clubs play are from the 1920s, particularly those of Carlos Gardel, who is practically a saint in the country. 

So how best to experience tango?

There are two main ways – either you can take tango lessons and then enter the fray yourself, or attend a tango show to watch professionals cut shapes without worrying about remembering each step. 

What I personally did was take a few lessons.

My hostel, as is quite common, arranged a free tango class each week. Tango schools are also very common in BA, highly rated institutions like Escuela Mariposita and DNI Tango offer intensive courses. It is a great opportunity to learn a skill on the cheap that will wow your friends and enhance your life back home. 

Having learnt the basics, I took to the streets to join milongas. Milongas are essentially public tango dances and take place in many BA squares like Plaza del Congreso and Plaza Dorrego. 

I attended the milongas at Plaza Congresso, which have staggered ability times – 7pm for novices, 9pm for intermediate and 11pm for pros. I learnt most of my tango, and a lot of Spanish from being insulted by Argentine women whenever I missed a step! Watching the advanced dancers pirouette against the beautiful Congress building also gave me a free tango show each evening! 

The alternative is to attend a tango show. A standard package includes a sit-down steak dinner, wine and a 2 hour long professional show, combining basically the holy trinity of Argentina in one night! What’s more is that Cafe Tortoni offers a tango show, allowing you to experience these iconic aspects of Argentina in one of BA’s most famous locations. 

Try Argentina’s legendary steak (aka asado)

Grilling meat is practically a ritual in Argentina, known as asado. Houses have a barbecue called a parrilla built into their walls – equally as essential as plumbing or a bed. The result is that they cook some of the best steaks in the world. BA’s brilliant value also means that you can taste them for the price of a normal meal back home. 

Palermo is home to some of the world’s most famous steak restaurants like Don Julio and La Cabrera. These offer brilliant cuts of meat and beautiful dining settings, but their reputation and TikTok fame have somewhat ruined the ambience, as most of the diners are tourists. 

My favourite locally frequented steakhouse is La Dorita in Palermo, which turns into a bar after the kitchen closes.  

Mate: the country’s national drink

You may have seen Argentine football players walking around with a ball with a straw poking out of it before a game. This is the national drink of the country, which, like asado, is taken as part of a sharing ritual. 

The round bulb, called a mate, is actually a gourd wrapped in leather. Within the gourd is yerba, a grassy herb that tastes like a mix of chamomile and green tea. The infusion is sipped up through a metal straw called a bombilla. One of the best souvenirs from BA is a whole mate set. The mixture also has more caffeine than coffee! 

Argentines rarely sip mate alone – you will see people sitting in circles passing the gourds between them, topping it up with boiling water from thermos flasks that they rarely leave the house without. Sometimes people will gesture for you to share their mate with them, it is amazing how they can build so much community with food and drink. 

I bought my mate set – a traditional calabash gourd from the San Telmo market, but metal options also exist, which are easier to transport and clean. Mate is so important that you can find mate equipment on almost any street.

To actually understand Mate, join Camilla’s hands-on tasting session to try it a few different ways (herbed, sweet, cooked, tereré) and learn to prepare it properly yourself.

join camilla’s tasting session

Visit the Reserva Ecologica Costanera Sur

Having parks in cities is pretty standard stuff, but BA takes green space even further by having an entire 10km long ecological reserve just beyond its business district.

In the shadow of skyscrapers, a mass of primordial swamps allows you to imagine what it was like before the first settlers arrived. The swampland and Ceibo trees are a haven for wildlife like turtles, lizards and snakes, as well as birds like the Tiger Heron.

The reserve also includes a beach up against the latte coloured waters of the River Plate. Spotting creatures while strolling through the reserve is a brilliant antidote to the whirl of city life. 

As the reserve is huge, I would recommend renting a bike if you do not want to dedicate a whole afternoon to Costanera Sur. Download the BA Ecobici app to hire a bike from just outside of the gate to the reserve. 

Football match (shoulder-to-shoulder with the home crowd)

Argentine football is famous for producing artists like Maradona and Messi and also for the passion of its fans, who take over cities during each World Cup. Buenos Aires is home to Argentina’s two biggest clubs: Boca Juniors and River Plate. 

The two stand for different things and have a century-long rivalry. Boca is centered on the traditionally working-class dock area and is regarded as the people’s club. River Plate was also founded in the port district but is the more middle-class club.

If you are lucky enough to find tickets for a match between the two, known as the Superclasico, you will experience one of the best atmospheres in all of world football. 

Even on a normal match day, fans will be out in the streets parading with drums and singing hours before kick-off. Tickets can be found on platforms like Viagogo or through specialist agencies like Footballhost. Many hostels will also help you to book matchday tickets.

Speakeasy bars?

Although prohibition was never enacted in Argentina, the country has a range of bars akin to New York’s hidden watering holes, which add a brilliant dimension to BA’s nightlife. Something about finding a hidden door disguised as something mundane and stepping into a dimly lit cocktail bar is just effortlessly cool. It elevates a night of tango milongas or pre-club drinks with a special chic that tinges many of my Buenos Aires memories. 

My personal favourite speakeasy is Floreria Atlantico in Retiro. Hidden beneath a flower shop, you have no idea that an intimate, darkened cocktail bar lies under the bouquets of flowers. One night I stumbled into a post-wedding party held here! 

Other good options include Victoria Brown, a Victorian factory themed speakeasy hidden under a cafe and La Calle Bar, a grungy dive bar under a pizzeria in Palermo. 

Top museums 

Museo Historico 

Google Maps location

I visited this museum on my second day in BA and it really came in handy for giving context for what I saw during the following two months in Argentina. It tells the story of Argentina from the first indigenous people to Messi lifting the World Cup. Oh and it is free! 

The demographics of Buenos Aires are striking, it feels like an extension of Europe as 90% of its people have European ancestry. This museum explains that far from being empty wilderness, complex, now extinct societies once lived on the site of BA. Their striking shamanic art and tools are all that they left behind. 

The museum then traces the history of the first settlement of Buenos Aires, the attempted British invasions of the city and independence. The star exhibits are items relating to San Martin, the independence leader who broke Spanish power in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and half of Peru. 

Though little-known outside of Argentina, he is a big deal in this country, which seems to have named every other street after him! Argentines would always smile when I said that I had seen his sword and bedroom at this museum. In a funny quirk, the sword is guarded by musket-armed soldiers in 18th century uniforms who also patrol the halls. 

MALBA 

Google Maps location

I would not say that I am the biggest fan of modern art – if something needs a sign to explain why it is art and not just a squiggle it is probably not very good.

I received quite the shock to this pretty narrow view at the MALBA, located in Recoleta. This cathedral to art, with its high ceilings and clean minimalist architecture, is a sensory experience even before you behold the first painting. Once you pay the $7 entry fee, you are greeted with hall upon hall of work by artists from across South America. 

There is something so special about seeing a floor to ceiling painting by an indigenous artist expressing how the jungle is not just sacred to them, but literally alive.

Many of the paintings are like windows into completely different ways of being a human, just spectacular if you are about to travel to an environment like the Andes or the Amazon after Buenos Aires. It also includes works by famous modern artists like Frida Kahlo. 

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

Google Maps location

This giant collection of art, featuring European masters and South American artists, is Argentina’s largest, and the free entry is a lovely touch. The permanent collection spans 34 halls, two floors, and almost 13 000 pieces! It has an extraordinary number of Argentine and Latin American art but you can also look forward to European classics like Van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso.

Even without context of who painted what, the gallery will wow you with the sheer size of it and the riotous colours and scale of the art. Some works are especially interesting for their Latin American context, for example, Miguel Gonzalez, tells the story of the conquest of Mexico in monumental, baroque style. You will not find stories like this told in art form in the USA or Europe! 

Zanjon de Granados 

Google Maps location

San Telmo was always known to be the oldest part of Buenos Aires, but the exact site of the first settlement was a mystery. That is until 1985 when a mansion refurbishment revealed 2km of tunnels, built to divert a stream whose floods plagued the first Spanish settlers.

Given how perfect the climate and how fertile the River Plate area is, it is interesting how long it took settlements to thrive. The River Plate was first encountered in 1516 by Juan Díaz de Solís, who was subsequently killed and eaten. 20 years later, Pedro de Mendoza, a conquistador ravaged by syphilis founded Buenos Aires.

His city survived for 8 years as a ramshackle group of houses at the end of the world, cowering behind a dirt wall from hostile natives, before being abandoned. They had another go 38 years later, which grew into a city of 14 million people. 

Zanjon de Grandaos tells the story of the first settlers and the hard lives they lived before the days of tango, steak and wine. Entry costs $13. 

Day trips from BA 

Tigre Delta 

Just above the city is the Tigre Delta, a maze of branching brown streams emptying into the Atlantic. Its cooler temperatures made it the traditional summer bolt hole for the great and good, sort of like the Hamptons to the New York set.

Within Tigre, you can take a guided tour, or cruise along the rivers on the Lancha Colectivo, a local boat service, to sample a taste of the laid back life of stilted houses, rambling country piles and tree-lined canals. 

The city centre of Tigre has a well-regarded art gallery, Museo Art Tigre and a fascinating naval museum, Museo Naval de la Nacion, especially focused on the Falklands War which is still a sore issue in the country, and being a Brit, I was constantly reminded of this! 

The best way to reach Tigre is by train from Retiro station. It is just an hour away. Alternatively, you can take a boat from Puerto Madero, which will take two hours. 

Uruguay 

Uruguay is an amazing country in its own right, but I ended up initially visiting simply because it was just an hour from Buenos Aires and it seemed rude not to pick up another passport stamp and to dip my toe into another country. 

My choice for a day trip in Uruguay is Colonia del Sacramento. Built by the Portuguese to smuggle goods into Spanish America, its cobbled streets and tranquil atmosphere feel like a time warp. It is so compact and beautiful from all angles that you can wander aimlessly and see all of its attractions without trying. The ferry from Puerto Madero only takes an hour and costs $50. 

You can even push the boat out and venture to Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital, in a day, though you would get more out of the experience if you stay for at least a night. The ferry crossing takes four hours. 

Want to dive deeper? Check out our full South America travel guide for planning the rest of your trip, or if budget’s the deciding factor, our breakdown of the cost of travel in South America.