Buenos Aires destination guide
The Casa Rosada (Pink House) in Buenos Aires’s Plaza de Mayo
Discover Buenos Aires, the bustling cosmopolitan city known for its strong artistic culture, vibrant community and complex history. Seen as the ‘Europe of Latin America’, Buenos Aires is one of the largest arts cities in the world, brimming with neo-classical architecture, striking historical monuments and a strong reputation as a theatre capital. In this destination guide, we look at the city’s intricate neighbourhoods and the lively communities that inhabit it.
The political identity at the heart of an international city
Situated along the La Plata River, Buenos Aires has long been an international city. It provided an ideal location for multiple ports of the Spanish Empire from 1580 and saw an influx in immigration, particularly from Italy, from the nineteenth century. Today, the city has a population of approximately 3.1 million people, proud of their Porteño identity (as “people of the port”) and with a distinct culture and dialect specific to Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires is said to have been ‘founded’ twice: first in 1536 by Pedro de Mendoza, a Spanish conqueror who abandoned colonisation after strong resistance from the indigenous Querandí peoples; and again by Juan de Garay in 1580. The first Argentine flag was hoisted in Buenos Aires at the Obelisk, where the names of the city’s founders are inscribed. Independence from Spanish rule in 1816 is also commemorated in the Obelisk’s location: Avenida 9 de Julio is named for the date of Independence Day.
If you follow Avenida 9 de Julio south, you’ll arrive at Plaza de Mayo and the Casa de Rosada (Pink House), seat of the Argentine government. Built in 1884 with the aim of creating a unified plaza from two already on this site, it is Buenos Aires’s oldest public square. A number of important events have taken place here, as Plaza de Mayo became a central gathering place for social and political events: the May Revolution of 1810, for which the Plaza is named; the demonstrations demanding the release from prison in 1945 of former president Perón; and the protests of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, who searched for their disappeared children during the country’s brutal period of dictatorship (1973–1983).
Impromptu tango performance on the streets of San Telmo
Markets, theatres and bookstores
San Telmo is Buenos Aires’s oldest neighbourhood, described by the great Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges as one of the city’s most mysterious quarters. It has hosted a food market since 1897 and the large building, once catering to the needs of immigrants in this area, retains much of its original architecture. Today it is filled with small restaurant stands, local fruit and vegetable stores, coffee shops and second-hand stores. The streets that surround the food market are bustling with various street vendors, who gather along the one-kilometre strip to sell everything from homemade goods and artisanal products to artworks and antiques. Easily accessible by subway, a walk through this neighbourhood is one of the best ways to experience the artistic and local community culture of Buenos Aires.
Just a short stroll away from San Telmo is the port neighbourhood of Puerto Madero, with fine views of the Dique River and the asymmetrical “Woman’s Bridge”, a striking structure designed by ‘starchitect’ Santiago Calatrava. Keep an eye out in this neighbourhood for the street names, all of which are dedicated to influential women. This followed a push in the 1990s for more female representation in the capital.
Buenos Aires is known as the theatrical capital of Latin America, boasting around 300 theatres for performances. The Grand Splendid Theatre in the Recoleta neighbourhood – designed by architects Peró and Torres Armengol and built in 1903 – lives up to its name, once at the centre of Buenos Aires’s performing arts scene and hosting ballets, operas and tango performances from 1919.
In the year 2000, the venue was converted into El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore and is now home to more than 120,000 books. Today, this converted theatre is rated as one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world. The impressive original architecture and design of the theatre has been carefully preserved, from its golden lights to the frescoed ceilings, red velvet curtains and theatre boxes which are now used as quiet reading spaces. s quiet side chapel, where candles flicker and local residents come to remember and pray for their loved ones.
El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore (image courtesy Niels Mickers, Flickr, CC-BY-2.0)
Jorge Luis Borges: Buenos Aires’s literary lion
While the El Ateneo bookstore honours Buenos Aires’s literary scene, it was writer Jorge Luis Borges who put Argentine literature squarely on the map. Born in 1899, Borges wrote many inventive works that are filed with philosophical, mystical and illusionary elements, crossing literary genres and pushing beyond the boundaries of the traditional Gaucho or cowboy-themed literature that dominated in the late nineteenth century.
The Buenos Aires’s International Foundation of Jorge Luis Borges houses a cultural centre and museum dedicated to this great legacy, offering an insight on the author’s writing life, displaying manuscripts, first editions and private collections of books and other personal items, and hosting temporary exhibitions connected to the themes of his life and work.
Walking along Jorge Luis Borges Street, where Borge’s childhood home once stood, is another way to soak up his vivid descriptions of the city. The street was renamed after Borges in 1996 to commemorate his 97th birthday. It was not only where he spent his formative years: the surrounding had become a central feature in his writing, such as in Fervor de Buenos Aires (1923), which describes the intricacies of Buenos Aires’s Palermo neighbourhood.
Similar movements were also underfoot in the world of art, with Borges’s well-known friend and painter Xul Solar experimenting and blending artistic styles with motifs based on astrology, mythical objects and imaginary worlds. Like Borges, Solar produced works that were not immediately recognisable as Argentine and so challenged a national sense of identity.
The Xul Solar Museum is about ten minutes’ walk from the Foundation of Jorge Luis Borges, located in the former townhouse where many of his colourful and thought-provoking works are displayed.
Basílica de Maria Auxiliadora y San Carlos (image courtesy Nicolas Solop, Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA-2.0)
From the Virgin Mary to Pope Francis I, murals and the importance of tango
The Basílica de Maria Auxiliadora y San Carlos in the Almagro neighbourhood is a short journey outside central Buenos Aires. Well worth a visit, it was designed in the early nineteenth century by the Italian-born and Argentine adopted priest and architect Ernesto Vespignani, and uniquely blends the European architectural styles of the Gothic, Romanesque and Renaissance.
The distinctive red and white striped columns, bright ceiling recalling the blue of heaven, detailed carvings and stained-glass windows are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and bore witness to the baptism, on Christmas Day 1936, of Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Later the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio would take the papal tiara as Francis I.
Nearby, the H Line of the subway pays homage to tango in Buenos Aires, with murals depicting famous tango musicians and dancers. Station Corrientes has particularly colourful murals of Enrique Santos Discépolo and Carlos Gardel, key figures of the tango scene in the twentieth century. This is a good place to spot impromptu tango performances.
There are more murals in the La Boca neighbourhood. Close to the port, it was home to shipworkers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Better known locally for its soccer team, Boca Juniors, it is the location for tenements that are now decorated with murals. Many were made by Benito Quinquela Martín and depict key Argentine historical moments, from Madonna to children’s television icon Mafalda and the mothers of Plaza de Mayo. La Boca is best visited during the day and with a local guide.
La Boca’s colourful corrugated-iron houses
Getting around and suggestions for day trips
While Buenos Aires’s vibrant neighbourhoods are best explored on foot, the subway lines (known locally as Subte) are generally quite reliable and cover the main destinations. Be aware of your surroundings when using public transport and taxis, making sure to keep a close eye and grip on your bags. You’ll need a SUBE card to use public transport systems, which you can find in most local convenience stores.
If you’re looking to head out of Buenos Aires, you could also consider a day trip to nearby Tigre. The city is made up of small islands clustering in the Paraná Delta River and many attractions are accessible only by boat. Here, you can follow the promenade down the river to the Tigre Art Museum, which houses figurative and landscape art from the nineteenth and twentieth century in a neo-classical building constructed in 1912 by French architects.
Another option would be to visit La Plata, a pleasingly geometrical planned city to the south of Buenos Aires. Its diagonal avenues were designed by engineer Pedro Benoit and at the heart of the city lies a striking Gothic cathedral completed in 1932. With its stained-glass windows and pointed arches, it is Argentina’s largest.
Where to stay
The Palermo neighbourhood has a great range of accommodation choices and is conveniently located on the D Line of the subway, with plenty of good cafes, restaurants and shopping options.
Also in the Palermo neighbourhood is the Museum of Latin American Art (MALBA), a modern art museum showcasing contemporary Latin American works and hosting diverse temporary exhibitions.
In nearby Recoleta, the National Museum of Fine Arts boasts more than 2,700 artworks. There are collections of Argentine art, including works by Xul Solar, and Western masterpieces from Goya to van Gogh.
In the evening, you might like to catch a classical performance in the historic opera house of Teatro Colón, located in the San Nicolás neighbourhood. The theatre is widely considered to have one of the world’s best acoustics and its grandiose interior is well worth a visit. Be sure to pre-book a ticket directly at the box office a few days prior to the performance to secure your place!