Buenos Aires has a lot going for it. A cosmopolitan and culturally rich city, it combines European influences (it was rebuilt in the early 20th Century and modelled on Paris and Madrid) with true Latin atmosphere and a passion entirely of its own.
But the magic of Buenos Aires is in its diversity. The city is made up of many barrios (neighbourhoods) each with its own character and wandering them at leisure is definitely the best way to experience the city.
The fashionable district of Recoleta is a refined quarter of wide avenues and elegant classical architecture where the well-heeled reside. It’s also home to one of Buenos Aires’s main landmarks, the Recoleta Cemetery.
A cemetery isn’t the usual city highlight I recommend to clients, but this one is an extraordinary place. Aside from being the final resting place of many famous Argentineans, this vast cemetery is architecturally stunning with thousands of mausoleums of varying styles from Gothic chapels to Greek temples, fairy tale grottos and little houses.
It’s also the resting place of Eva Peron where, to this day, fans still lay flowers at her rather modest vault.
The arty district of San Telmo is famous for its antique shops and fabulous Sunday flea market.
I had so much fun joining the porteños (port dwellers) mooching round the stalls lining the cobbled streets.
San Telmo is also the home of tango, the steamy dance described as “making love in the vertical position”. You can watch it in one of the glamourised tango shows, which are very entertaining with their grand feats of athleticism. But it’s just as atmospheric watching tango being performed on the streets. This sweet couple were strutting their stuff and proving that you can dance tango with passion and drama at any age!
Palermo is the fashionable district and is very much like the Soho and Tribeca areas of New York. The tree line streets form a grid and are lined with trendy boutiques, art galleries and cafés. This is definitely the place to sit and watch the world go by.
Entirely different, but equally unmissable is La Boca. Meaning “mouth of the river”, this area was originally a port district which grew into the home of a large inflow of Italian immigrants, in particular the Genovese. They built their simple homes out of wood and corrugated iron painted in brilliant colours.
An easy day trip (but nicer to stay overnight) is to Colonia del Sacramento. I hopped on the ferry to cross the Rio de la Plata and in an hour I was stepping off in Uruguay.
Colonia is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s a great place to slow down and take time to meander around the Barrio Historico.
Founded by the Portuguese in 1680, the town was of strategic importance in resisting the Spanish. But after a century of dispute and turmoil, the Portuguese eventually lost control and the town is now a well-preserved fusion of Portuguese, Spanish and post-colonial architecture. It’s like stepping back in time.
The cobblestone streets circle a large, leafy plaza and skirt the riverbank, which has wonderful sunsets.
Sitting under the gaze of the white lighthouse, the pretty buildings in pastel colours charmingly show their faded grandeur.
Any trip to Argentina really should include a stay in Buenos Aires. You can combine it with experiencing life as a gaucho on a working Estancia and then indulging in some excellent wine in Mendoza (read about my trip here). Or travel to the sultry, dry highlands of Salta and Jujuy, which feel like a completely different country - burnt oranges and stark pink dazzle and the strange mountain formations puzzle and amaze. Or even head to the powerful, surging Iguassu Falls on the border with Brazil and Paraguay - a place to stand and impressively watch Mother Nature at work. On my latest trip I visited the remote wilds of Patagonia in the south - think epic mountains, glistening glaciers, massive lakes and a rugged coastline - crossing over the border into Chile. There will be more of that next month.
If you are interested in a trip to Argentina then please contact me and let me put together the perfect itinerary for you to this very diverse country.