Historic center
Monserrat, San Telmo and La Boca, where the city began: the founding square, the old cafés and markets, and the port neighborhood.
8 places
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.