Buenos Aires, told by the people who drive it every day.
The places we recommend, each with its story and a tip from people who know them.
The must-sees
8 placesFirst time in Buenos Aires? Start here. From south to north: Caminito and La Bombonera in La Boca, the square in San Telmo, Plaza de Mayo with the Cabildo and the Cathedral, the bridge in Puerto Madero and, last, Recoleta Cemetery.
La Boca1 h
Caminito
A pedestrian lane in La Boca, almost a hundred and fifty meters long, curved and cobbled, lined with corrugated-metal houses painted in bright colors.
La Boca1–2 h
La Bombonera
Boca Juniors’ stadium, in La Boca, a few blocks from Caminito. Its official name is Alberto J. Armando, but everyone calls it La Bombonera, “the chocolate…
San Telmo1–2 h
Plaza Dorrego
San Telmo’s square, on the corner of Defensa and Humberto Primo, ringed by 19th-century houses that are now bars and antique shops.
Monserrat1–2 h
Plaza de Mayo & Casa Rosada
The oldest square in Buenos Aires, named for the May Revolution of 1810, the first step toward Argentine independence, and for more than a century the place…
Monserrat45 min
Cabildo
The building where, in May 1810, the people of Buenos Aires voted to remove the Spanish viceroy, and where the Primera Junta was formed: the country’s first…
San Nicolás30 min
Metropolitan Cathedral
Buenos Aires’ cathedral, on the corner of Plaza de Mayo and Rivadavia. Its twelve columns, one for each apostle, make it look more like a Greek temple than a…
Puerto Madero30 min
Puente de la Mujer
A footbridge across Dique 3, one of the old docks of Puerto Madero, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and opened in December 2001.
Recoleta1–2 h
Recoleta Cemetery
Buenos Aires’ first public cemetery opened in 1822 in the old vegetable garden of the Recollect friars, who also gave the neighborhood its name.
Architecture
15 placesEarly 20th-century palaces, a 1936 obelisk and a Calatrava bridge: the city tells its story through its buildings.
San Nicolás20 min
Obelisk
The Obelisk stands 67.5 meters tall at the intersection of Avenida 9 de Julio and Corrientes. It was inaugurated on May 23, 1936, to mark four hundred years…
San Nicolás1 h
Teatro Colón
Buenos Aires’ opera house, opened in 1908 after twenty years of construction and three architects. Its horseshoe-shaped auditorium ranks among the best in…
Balvanera1–2 h
National Congress
The seat of Argentina’s legislature, its green dome rising 80 meters at the far end of Avenida de Mayo. Designed by the Italian architect Vittorio Meano, it…
Monserrat1 h
Palacio Barolo
An office building on Avenida de Mayo that was the tallest in Buenos Aires when it opened in 1923. It was designed by the Italian architect Mario Palanti…
Must-seePuerto Madero30 min
Puente de la Mujer
A footbridge across Dique 3, one of the old docks of Puerto Madero, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and opened in December 2001.
Palermo1–2 h
Galileo Galilei Planetarium
The city’s planetarium, in the Bosques de Palermo, Palermo’s great park: a dome with a ring around it, like Saturn, beside a lake.
Recoleta30 min
UBA Law School
The UBA Law School, on Avenida Figueroa Alcorta: part of the Universidad de Buenos Aires, a working public university, with steps that span the entire front…
Must-seeRecoleta1–2 h
Recoleta Cemetery
Buenos Aires’ first public cemetery opened in 1822 in the old vegetable garden of the Recollect friars, who also gave the neighborhood its name.
Recoleta15 min
Floralis Genérica
A stainless steel and aluminum flower about 20 meters tall, standing in a reflecting pool in Plaza de las Naciones Unidas, on Avenida Figueroa Alcorta.
Recoleta30 min
El Ateneo Grand Splendid
A 1919 theater on Avenida Santa Fe that became a bookstore in 2000 and lost almost nothing along the way. It still has the dome painted by Nazareno Orlandi…
Balvanera1 h
Palacio de Aguas Corrientes
It looks like a French palace, and it’s a water tank. Finished in 1894, it stored the city’s filtered water in twelve iron tanks that could hold as much as…
Palermo1 h
King Fahd Mosque
The Palermo mosque, the largest in Latin America: two fifty-meter minarets and a great dome by Avenida del Libertador. Free guided tours.
San Nicolás1–2 h
Palacio Libertad (former CCK)
The old Central Post Office, known until 2024 as the CCK: the largest cultural center in Latin America, with free admission and free guided tours.
La Boca1 h
Usina del Arte
A brick building with a clock tower and the air of a Florentine palazzo, on Avenida Pedro de Mendoza. It was the power plant of the Compañía Italo Argentina…
Retiro30 min
Torre Monumental
The red-brick tower facing Retiro station, with a clock on each side. It was a gift from the British who lived in Buenos Aires, for the centennial of the May…
Museums
3 placesLatin American art, the largest collection of Argentine art, the life of Evita and contemporary art by the Riachuelo.
Palermo1–2 h
MALBA
Buenos Aires’ museum of Latin American art, in a limestone-and-glass building on Avenida Figueroa Alcorta. It opened in 2001 with Eduardo Costantini’s…
Recoleta2 h
National Museum of Fine Arts
Argentina’s national art museum, on Avenida del Libertador, with the largest collection of Argentine art in the country and European works by El Greco…
Palermo1 h 30
Evita Museum
A 1923 mansion on Calle Lafinur, in Palermo, that tells the life of Eva Perón, better known as Evita, through her dresses, her documents and her personal…
Historic center
8 placesMonserrat, San Telmo and La Boca, where the city began: the founding square, the old cafés and markets, and the port neighborhood.
Must-seeMonserrat1–2 h
Plaza de Mayo & Casa Rosada
The oldest square in Buenos Aires, named for the May Revolution of 1810, the first step toward Argentine independence, and for more than a century the place…
Must-seeSan Nicolás30 min
Metropolitan Cathedral
Buenos Aires’ cathedral, on the corner of Plaza de Mayo and Rivadavia. Its twelve columns, one for each apostle, make it look more like a Greek temple than a…
Monserrat1 h
San Ignacio & Manzana de las Luces
The church of San Ignacio, the oldest in Buenos Aires still standing, with its two mismatched towers on Bolívar, two blocks from the Cabildo, the old…
Must-seeSan Telmo1–2 h
Plaza Dorrego
San Telmo’s square, on the corner of Defensa and Humberto Primo, ringed by 19th-century houses that are now bars and antique shops.
Must-seeLa Boca1 h
Caminito
A pedestrian lane in La Boca, almost a hundred and fifty meters long, curved and cobbled, lined with corrugated-metal houses painted in bright colors.
Must-seeMonserrat45 min
Cabildo
The building where, in May 1810, the people of Buenos Aires voted to remove the Spanish viceroy, and where the Primera Junta was formed: the country’s first…
Monserrat45 min
Café Tortoni
The oldest café in Buenos Aires, opened in 1858 by a Frenchman who named it after a café in Paris. It sits on Avenida de Mayo, about four blocks from Plaza…
San Telmo1 h
San Telmo Market
A covered market from 1897, with an iron frame, sheet-metal-and-glass roofs and a dome in the middle, tucked into the heart of a San Telmo block.
Birdwatching
2 placesBuenos Aires has a nature reserve ten minutes from downtown. Lagoons, grasslands and hundreds of bird species.
Puerto Madero2–3 h
Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve
Some 350 hectares of lagoons, reed beds, grasslands and woods on the shore of the Río de la Plata, right next to Puerto Madero.
Palermo1–2 h
Palermo Lakes
These are the lakes of Parque Tres de Febrero, better known as the Bosques de Palermo, and it’s where a porteño, as Buenos Aires locals are called, goes to…
Parks & squares
6 placesThe Palermo Woods and their gardens, and the squares where the city's history is told: from Plaza de Mayo to Plaza San Martín.
Must-seeMonserrat1–2 h
Plaza de Mayo & Casa Rosada
The oldest square in Buenos Aires, named for the May Revolution of 1810, the first step toward Argentine independence, and for more than a century the place…
Palermo1 h
Japanese Garden
A Japanese-style garden in the Bosques de Palermo, with a koi lake, islands, stone lanterns and a red bridge that’s the garden’s picture-postcard view.
Palermo1 h
Rose Garden (El Rosedal)
The rose garden of the Bosques de Palermo, Buenos Aires’ big city park, with a white bridge over the lake and a Greek-style pergola.
Retiro45 min
Plaza San Martín
The Retiro square that slopes down toward the train station, one of the oldest in the city. At its center stands the 1862 statue of San Martín on horseback…
Palermo1 h
Botanical Garden
The Palermo Botanical Garden, across from Plaza Italia: seven hectares with some fifteen hundred plant species, more than thirty works of art and five…
Recoleta1–2 h
Plaza Francia & the crafts fair
The sloping plazas of Recoleta, between Avenida del Libertador and the Centro Cultural Recoleta, at the foot of the Pilar church and the cemetery.
Soccer
2 placesThe country's two most famous stadiums: River's in Núñez and Boca's in La Boca. You can tour both, even when there's no game.
Núñez1–2 h
Monumental Stadium
River Plate’s stadium, on Avenida Figueroa Alcorta near the river, and the largest stadium in Argentina. It opened in 1938, and it’s where Argentina’s…
Must-seeLa Boca1–2 h
La Bombonera
Boca Juniors’ stadium, in La Boca, a few blocks from Caminito. Its official name is Alberto J. Armando, but everyone calls it La Bombonera, “the chocolate…
Food
1 placeWhat the city eats, neighborhood by neighborhood. We start with Chinatown in Belgrano.
