Buenos Aires Full City Tourist Guide - Travel & Discover

Buenos Aires, an energetic, fascinating, and seductive port city, stretches south to north along the Rio de la Plata, and since its founding has served as a gateway to Argentina. Porteños, as the multinational people of Buenos Aires are known, possess a varied cultural identity. With Italian and German surnames outnumbering Spanish ones, Porteños value their European heritage highly, and the lifestyle and architecture of Buenos Aires are markedly more European than in any other South American city. Puerto Madero represents the latest architectural trend in Buenos Aires. Once the city's port, where cargo from around the world was brought in by ship and stored in warehouses, the area's docks and buildings were restored in the 1990s with the idea of reintegrating the port into the city, thereby extending the downtown area. Puerto Madero is now a lively and flourishing neighborhood. The traditional architecture of its warehouses turned into modern and upscale residential and business lofts and offices, sophisticated restaurants, bars, clubs, and cinemas. Unattractive land along the Rio Plata to the east of Puerto Madero, we find the Buenos Aires Ecological Reserve. The Ecological Reserve, declared a natural park in the 1980s, was formed by a landfill of waste material from demolished buildings dumped in the river off the Costanera Sud Avenue to make way for highway construction throughout Buenos Aires in the 1970s. Over time, sand and sediment began to build up and develop, without human intervention, into a biodiversity sample of the native pampa. In 1986, it was officially declared as an ecological reserve by the Buenos Aires municipal government. Five minutes away from the center of Buenos Aires, its 350 hectares are covered by pastures of cortaderas and forests of alders and willows. Hundreds of birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles inhabit this area. The zone is considered a diverse subtropical forest. Many plants, such as rushes, floating water hyacinths, straw and silk cotton trees, are native to the reserve. In the marginal forest of Monte Blanco, a variety of flora make their home, including subtropical shrubs and trees with peculiar names, such as pindo, agarrapalo, red and white sarand, passion flowers, criollo willow, and river alders. The Buenos Aires Ecological Reserve fulfills the double duty of protecting the environment and offering Porteños a space for recreation and education. Part of the reserve is destined solely for the protection of this unique natural environment. Only scientific expeditions are allowed access to this area, and no changes can be made to the environment, whether to its wildlife or its physical properties. The delta, with its large number of summer residences, canoe and yacht clubs, offers a pleasant destination for a day trip or as a place to spend a vacation. The Paraná River Delta is a 14,000 square kilometer area with thousands of islands and inlets. Water channels, rivers, and backwaters form a subtropical wonderland about 32 kilometers northeast of Buenos Aires. The Paraná is South America's second longest river, after the Amazon. It travels 2,570 kilometers through Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and joins the Uruguay River to form the Rio de la Plata estuary in the delta region near the town of Tigre. The Puerto de Frutos is located not far from the principal port. This market is known for its many booths that sell plants, handcrafted articles of wicker and straw, fruits, vegetables, cheeses, sausages, and other edible delights. Originally this was the place where the products from the island gardens were sold. San Telmo is widely hailed as the most picturesque part of Buenos Aires. Cobblestone streets and colonial buildings set the atmosphere for an array of shops and boutiques, tango parlors and cafes. San Telmo, with its fading elegance, is the most bohemian barrio of Buenos Aires. Not far from Plaza do Rego stands the lovely, ornate blue-and-white façade of the Iglesia de San Pedro Telmo, a listed National Historic Monument. Founded by the Jesuits in 1734, the church has a façade in the eclectic style and presents neo-colonial architectural elements. It is crowned by an image of San Pedro González Telmo. San Telmo is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. The European colonial-style mansions, once home to wealthy porteño families, were later mostly occupied by immigrants and transformed into a sort of popular housing called conventillos. Recently these conventillos have been renovated and turned into art galleries, boutiques for local handicrafts such as leather and silverworking, or tango halls and fashionable restaurants. Since the city's founding in 1580, the Plaza de Mayo has been the heart of Buenos Aires and the site of some of Argentina's most important historical events. Lining the square is the Cabildo, or Town Hall, the Government House or Casa Rosada, and the Metropolitan Cathedral. Today the plaza owes much of its fame to the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, the women who still show up in the square seeking information on the desaparecidos, their loved ones who vanished during Argentina's dirty war. National Historic Monument, built in the neoclassical style, the cathedral is Argentina's most important church and the place where national holidays are celebrated in the presence of the president. Inside the cathedral is an ornate mausoleum containing the remains of General José de San Martín, the South American liberator whom Argentines consider the father of the nation. His body was moved here in 1880 when Buenos Aires became the capital of Argentina at the end of a long civil war. It would serve as a rallying symbol of Argentina's unification and rise to greatness. The Casa Rosada, the official seat of the executive branch of the government of Argentina, was built beginning in 1857. Under President Domingo Faustino Sarmiento at the end of the 19th century, the Italianate building was painted pink in order to diffuse tensions between the country's two main political parties. The red of the Federals and white of the Unionists were combined to give the building its characteristic pink color and its name, Casa Rosada. Since 1957, the Casa Rosada has also been home to the Historical Museum and its collection of presidential memorabilia and selected belongings, including sashes, batons, books and furniture, as well as three carriages which once belonged to the country's presidents. The Casa Rosada is the official home in Buenos Aires of the President of the Republic of Argentina. The site, originally at the shoreline of the Rio de la Plata, was first occupied by the Fort of Juan Balthasar of Austria, a structure built on the orders of the founder of Buenos Aires, Captain Juan de Garay, in 1594. The Casa Rosada is divided into two parts, with the government offices on one side and the post office on the other. Throughout its history, the Casa Rosada has remained one of the most emblematic buildings in Buenos Aires. Among the qualities that make Buenos Aires a unique and fascinating city is the incredible contrast in architectural styles that characterizes its buildings. The elusive yet magical spirit of Argentina can be breathed all over Buenos Aires, in its streets, parks and public squares, but no aspect of that spirit is more typical than the tango. No visitor to Buenos Aires should leave without taking in a tango show. The national dance is perhaps the best expression of the Argentine spirit, and none is more widespread. Tango is practiced in dance halls, parks, open plazas and ballrooms. It is a dance of intimate separation and common rhythm, combining an elegant reserve with an exuberant passion. Both the music and the dance of tango were influenced by African candombé, Cuban habanera, Andalusian tango, as well as the txotis and the cuplé, added to regional music and popular lyrics. The last, most experts agree that Buenos Aires witnessed the origins of both the music and the dance during the 1880s. In those years, there was a proliferation of brothels in Buenos Aires, mostly filled with immigrant women from Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Poland, whose clientele were also immigrants that had left their families and homes in search of a better life. Tango is said to have been born in Buenos Aires, on the banks of the Riachuelo River, especially in the brothels and impoverished slums of southern Buenos Aires. The social class in which it was developed was a mixture of regional people and immigrants made up of sailors, craftsmen and working-class people. They were mostly lonely men who had left their families in their home countries and frequented clubs or dance ballrooms for amusement. Many tango lyrics were inspired by these groups of men, known as the guapos, malevos and compadritos. Some of the meeting places of these characters include the Café Sabatino, the Almacén de la Milonga and the Viejo Bailatín de Palomar. This part of society identified with the tango lyrics because they spoke of the hard or bad life. One of the most definitive characteristics of the tango is its choreography. The dance is one of the most important expressions of the tango, creating a visual beauty that illustrates the spirit of the music. A foot moves to every musical note, meaning that if a foot moves in one note, in the following note the other one should too, similar to walking. The famous virolette refers to the steps that the dancing pair makes as a skillful display to seduce and beautify the dance. And it is the detail that transforms the tango into a heroic spectacle. The tango has a wide range of choreographic options, making it intriguing and of singular visual beauty. In the choreographed dance, the dancers present a specific rehearsed show, while the improvised dance is not a result of rehearsals but of creativity and expertise. The tango cannot be danced individually but is inextricably related to the couple. The woman seduces and the man leads. He protects and supports her while she elaborates and outlines the dance, breaking balance and resting on his chest. In the 1990s, tango music and dance witnessed an enormous international revival, and many new artists surfaced in Buenos Aires. Tango music and dance is not a historical relic but a living art that changes with the times, as each generation updates and reinterprets it in a novel and unique way. Tango music is set to 2-4 or 4-4 time and is traditionally played by a sextet, known as orquesta tipica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons, a sort of accordion. Tango music may be purely instrumental, or may include a vocalist. By the 1940s, singers became an integral part of tango, and vocalists such as Carlos Gardel and Francisco Fiorentino, the archetypical orchestra singers. Initially, the tango was played in brothels with a violin, flute and guitar, and if a guitar was not available, it was replaced by a comb, turned into a wind instrument alongside a cigarette paper and an expert blower that marked the rhythm. The mythical instrument, the bandoneon, did not become a part of the tango until a couple of decades later, around the turn of the century, when it gradually replaced the flute. Plaza de la Repubblica is a vast square designed by Alberto Prebisch, who also designed the obelisk that rises in its center. The square lies at the intersection of three of Buenos Aires' main arteries. Buenos Aires' physical structure is a mosaic as varied and diverse as its culture. The city has no dominating monument, no natural monolith that serves as its focal point. Instead, Buenos Aires is composed of many small places, intimate details, and tiny events and interactions, each with a slightly different shape and character. Glass-clad skyscrapers cast their slender shadows over nineteenth-century Victorian houses. Tango bars hazed with the pink and tang of cigar smoke face dusty, treasure-filled antique shops across the way. Alvear Avenue is located in the Recoleta neighborhood. Considered one of the most elegant avenues in the world, it is lined with luxurious mansions in the French Academy style from the turn of the twentieth century, built by the first inhabitants of the area. Nowadays, the majority of the buildings have been turned into embassies, fashion boutiques, famous jewelry shops, antique stores, and even art galleries. The Pareda Palace, home to the Brazilian Embassy, is one of the most famous among Avenida Alvear's many examples of Belle Époque architecture. The Ortiz-Basualdo Palace, where the French Embassy is located, is a magnificent building in the Art Nouveau style. The Fernandez Anchorena Palace is a magnificent former residence in the Second Empire style in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of the Recoleta. Dating from 1909, today the mansion is home to the Vatican Embassy. Buenos Aires is divided into barrios, Spanish for neighborhoods. Each one of them has its unique character and history that identifies the spirit and personality of its residents. The Recoleto Barrio, its boulevards lined with upscale apartment buildings, has remained one of Buenos Aires' elite residential areas. The Basilica of Nuestra Senora del Pilar, built by Jesuit monks in 1732, is one of the oldest churches in the city. The construction was directed by the Jesuit architect Andres Blanqui. The altarpieces, great part of the images, and other elements related to worship from the time the Recoletos monks inhabited the convent, have been preserved. Some of them are on display at the small museum located next to the church. Through a set of gates flanked by large, wide neoclassical Greek columns lies a cemetery in the heart of the Recoleta neighborhood. Established in the mid-19th century in the former gardens of a group of Franciscan monks known as the Recoletos, the cemetery has been the final resting place for the city's rich and well-connected ever since. The massive, lavish, and often intricately carved tombs represent nearly every architectural period imaginable. Miniature Gothic cathedrals and neoclassical temples stand next to modernist blocks of black marble and art deco shrines. The tomb of Eva Perón, better known as Evita, has become a site of pilgrimage in the cemetery. The wife of President Juan Perón, she served as First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until her death in 1952. She exercised enormous power during her husband's presidency and remains a controversial figure for Argentines, beloved by the working class, loathed by others. Along with its unique architecture, the La Boca neighborhood identifies itself heavily with its resident soccer team, the Boca Juniors, Argentina's most famous club, and another big tourist draw. Despite the barrio's popularity, visitors should be aware that it is still very poor and should avoid wandering in its quiet areas away from the main site. La Boca, Spanish for the mouth, is perhaps the most colorful area in Buenos Aires. This portside neighborhood is composed of an assortment of brightly painted low-rise houses made of wood and metal, giving it an almost Nordic feel. But La Boca was built by immigrants from Italy, Genoa to be precise, who worked in nearby warehouses and meatpacking plants. La Boca is partly an artist colony and mostly a working-class neighborhood. Many artists display their work on the sides of the main street, the colorful Caminito. The neighborhood has long been known for its radical politics. A tradition that dates back to 1882, when La Boca seceded from Argentina after a lengthy general strike. The rebels raised the Genoese flag, which was immediately torn down by then President Julio Argentino Roca. The typical houses of La Boca have walls made of scrap corrugated metal and other materials that early residents found left over in the shipyards. The metal was then painted with bright colors, a tradition brought over from Genoa, creating a construction style that gives the neighborhood its unique personality. Together with the port and the railroad station Vuelta de Rocha, La Boca comprises a unique district, rich in immigrant history and heritage, yet somehow emblematic of Argentina itself. Palermo is a vast barrio of Buenos Aires, partly residential, partly commercial, as well as the site of the city's largest park. El Rosedal, also known as the Jardin de las Rosas, or simply the Rose Garden, is the picturesque centerpiece of the sprawling Bosques de Palermo, Buenos Aires' urban woods. A brisk walk in the early morning for an energetic way to begin the day, a boat ride on a lazy Sunday afternoon, or simply a meeting place for friends to enjoy the sun and chat are some of the options this enormous park offers. With nearly 350 acres of parks, wooded areas, and lakes designed by French landscape architect Charles Theiss, Palermo provides a peaceful escape from the rush of downtown. Whining red gravel paths guide park goers through more than 15,000 different rose bushes and 1,189 species of roses in every color of the rainbow. Each brick-colored walkway is lined with green wooden benches, offering plentiful places to stop and enjoy the scenery. From evergreens, to palm trees, to islands of perfectly manicured lawns, the Rosedal forms a small oasis bursting with greenery amid the concrete jungle of the city. A small lake in the center of the park is picturesque, and fun to tour around on a paddle or rowboat. Far from the bustling city center, the park shows porteños at their most relaxed, with people of all ages walking, rollerblading, riding their bicycles, or just playing volleyball, or taking a boat ride. Visitors to Palermo can also enjoy a popular street phenomenon, performances by artistic groups such as puppet masters, actors and singers, or murgas, a sort of singing and dancing group dressed as jesters, typical of Montevideo and Buenos Aires. Legend has it that this neighborhood barrio owes its name to one of the first owners of this area, the Sicilian Juan Dominguez Palermo, a rich entrepreneur, who was married to the daughter of one of the city's founders. He acquired the land somewhere around the year 1590, and since then this area has been referred to as the Palermo Fields. The fountains, lakes, ornate bridges, pergolas, patios, gazebos, statues, and even the collection of international Rosas Nuevas, are neatly laid out and cultivated, ideal for a relaxing stroll through the manicured gardens. Latin American countries such as Argentina are composed of groups of peoples of various cultures, languages, and ethnic origins, whose present reality is the result of long and complex historical processes. With its gaze fixed on Europe and its umbilical cord linked to America, Buenos Aires has grown until it has become a metropolis of nearly 13 million inhabitants, the eighth most densely populated city in the world, and one of the largest. Argentina is an important cultural pole in South America, with countless museums and art galleries, in addition to its leading universities. For those weary of big city life, San Isidro, just 40 minutes by train from the center of Buenos Aires, offers the perfect escape. With its winding cobblestone streets, beautiful old mansions, numerous green spaces, and riverside location, this upscale northern barrio is a great way to relax on a sunny afternoon. The history of San Isidro began when Juan de Garay, the governor of Paraguay, made the first distribution of the lands north of the city of La Santísima Trinidad, as Buenos Aires was once known. The current territory of the district of San Isidro was within the lands of the coast, or lands of the large forest. Legend has it that while traveling along these lands, a captain from Vizcaya by the name of Domingo de Acasuso had a dream in which he pledged to build a chapel in honor of San Isidro Labrador, whose name was later given to the entire area. Amidst the elegant and well-preserved historical center of San Isidro, rises the neo-gothic cathedral of San Isidro Labrador. Built by a team of French architects, the cathedral was inaugurated in 1898. The cathedral is home to many important pieces of art and relics, among them the uncorrupted bone of Saint Isidore, sent to the church as a present by the King of Spain. Despite a vast and diverse population, the city of Buenos Aires remains surprisingly uniform in its religious and racial makeup. Its inhabitants are overwhelmingly of European origin, and particularly of Catholic Spanish and Italian descent, though there is also a strong presence of Porteños of English and German background. Strongly influenced by European culture, while retaining its Latin charm, Buenos Aires has been called the Paris of the South. One of the most sophisticated cities in Latin America, the Argentine capital is renowned for its nightlife and cultural activities. With its countless bars and cafes, bustling streets and tango venues, Buenos Aires is a place of movement, passion and excitement. Its unmistakable flavor was created by the unique combination of immigrants that made it home over the centuries. A fusion of cultures and personalities that gave rise to the proud and dynamic city that is Buenos Aires.