The Buenos Aires Guide: OUR TOP NEIGHBOURHOODS TO EXPLORE
Once one of the world’s wealthiest cities, Buenos Aires melds Old World charm with graceful beauty, a cosmopolitan heart and fiery soul.
Explore this electric capital under the wing of a specialist guide and see the wonder of Buenos Aires through the eyes of a local. Bespoke tours are tailored to your individual interests, spanning architecture and history, food and wine. There are forty-eight neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires, each with their own distinct atmosphere and contrasting architecture, each with their own story to tell. Keep reading to get the full scoop on our favourite five to visit.
Recoleta
Recoleta exudes a quiet sophistication, its Belle Époque mansions whispering of a gilded age. Here, leafy avenues offer a reprieve from the city’s relentless energy. It’s a place where grandeur lingers in the air – not shouted, but suggested.
RECOLETA’S HISTORY
Recoleta owes its rise to calamity. In 1871, a yellow fever epidemic swept through Buenos Aires, driving the city’s elite from the south to this once-quiet northern district. With them came ambition and a determination to craft a neighbourhood that mirrored the refinement of Paris and Rome, establishing Recoleta as the cultural and intellectual heart of the city.
THINGS TO DO IN RECOLETA
Recoleta Cemetery:
A city within a city, this haunting necropolis is a labyrinth of marble and shadow. Its grand mausoleums tell stories of ambition and loss, while the tomb of Eva Perón draws pilgrims in hushed reverence. Arrive early to wander its paths in solitude.
Avenida Alvear: A promenade of understated wealth, lined with embassies and boutiques housed in opulent mansions; stop at the Alvear Palace Hotel for a perfectly mixed gin and tonic beneath its glittering chandeliers.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes: Argentina’s preeminent art museum, where works by national masters sit alongside European icons such as Degas, Goya, and Manet.
Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo: This 20th century mansion-turned-museum is full to the brim with European and Argentine treasures. We recommend lunch at its garden café, Croque Madame.
Plaza Francia: Visit on weekends when the square becomes an artisanal market.
Dinner at Roux: No restaurant receives more consistently outstanding reviews from our clients than this diminutive corner bistro – we recommend the seafood salad.
Downtown
Downtown is not a single neighbourhood but a mosaic of districts – San Nicolás, Retiro, and Monserrat – that form the city’s political and cultural core. Here, Argentine history unfolds in real time. It is not polished, nor does it pretend to be, but its vibrancy is irresistible.
DOWNTOWN BUENOS AIRES’ HISTORY
Founded in 1580, downtown began as a humble colonial outpost anchored around Plaza de Mayo. By the late 18th century, its narrow streets gave way to wider boulevards and grand buildings influenced by European ideals, brimming with immigrants from across the Atlantic. Over the centuries, its landmarks have borne witness to revolutions and declarations, its cafés echoing with the debates of poets and presidents.
THINGS TO DO IN DOWNTOWN BUENOS AIRES
Teatro Colon: This stately Belle Époque building presides over the Avenida 9 de Julio like a grande dame and fills an entire city block, rising four stories above ground and extending three stories below. One of this city’s most important landmarks, it is a reminder of a more prosperous era when artists like Toscanini, Caruso and the Ballets Russes routinely performed here.
Casa Rosada: The Presidential Palace and home to the balcony where Evita used to address throngs of Peronists who gathered in the Playa de Mayo and up Avenida de Mayo. It became iconic as the setting for ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,’ the signature song of the musical Evita.
Café Tortoni: The oldest café in Buenos Aires and a refuge for writers and thinkers since the 1800s. Order a submarino – hot milk and a melting bar of chocolate – and watch the world unfold.
Cabildo: Once the seat of colonial power, now a museum chronicling Argentina’s fight for independence. Its modesty belies its importance.
San Telmo
The bohemian San Telmo neighbourhood, named after the patron saint of seafarers, sits midway between bustling Downtown and the quiet port area of La Boca. Time hasn’t smoothed its cobblestones or polished its wrought iron, but rather has infused the place with an air of quiet rebellion. This is Buenos Aires in sepia tones, all shadowy corners and sudden flashes of brilliance.
SAN TELMO’S HISTORY
San Telmo’s trajectory is one of reinvention. Once home to the city’s elite, when they fled their grand mansions to escape the yellow fever epidemic, artists and immigrants filled the void. Revitalisation has meant many of its streets are now home to buzzing cafes, restaurants and bars, yet the neighbourhood remains defiantly itself, its landmarks now protected as national treasures.
THINGS TO DO IN SAN TELMO
Plaza Dorrego: On Sundays, this sleepy square erupts into an outdoor art and antiques market with impromptu tango performances. Arrive early to avoid the throng, then linger over a leisurely lunch at Caseros.
Tango Milongas: Forget polished shows – places like La Catedral show tango in its real form, unscripted and utterly transporting.
El Zanjón de Granados: Beneath the streets lie a subterranean labyrinth of tunnels that reveal the city’s colonial origins.
Note: Petty theft is common in San Telmo, so please exercise caution when walking here and avoid taking valuables.
Puerto Madero
The city’s newest district, Puerto Madero is Buenos Aires reborn. The once-derelict docks now gleam with ambition, their industrial past reimagined in glass and steel, and the riverfront is home to sleek high-rises, parks and buzzy restaurants.
PUERTO MADERO’S HISTORY
Conceived in the late 19th century by Eduardo Madero, the port quickly became obsolete and languished for decades, a wasteland of crumbling docks and dilapidated warehouses. Following a revival project in the 1990s, it is now considered one of the most successful urban waterfront restoration projects in the world.
THINGS TO DO IN PUERTO MADERO
Puente de la Mujer: Santiago Calatrava’s striking bridge is the neighbourhood’s most iconic feature, with sweeping lines that evoke a couple mid-tango.
El Faena Hotel: Love it or hate it, Philip Starck’s audacious creation is worth a visit – start with a cocktail at the Library Lounge before exploring the adjacent Faena Art Centre which puts on some first-rate exhibitions.
Palermo
Palermo is one of Buenos Aires’ hippest neighbourhoods, and seems to reinvent itself with each block – one moment a leafy sanctuary, the next an epicentre of creativity. It is divided into micro-districts like Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood, with each having its own distinct feel.
PALERMO’S HISTORY
Palermo’s transformation began in the 19th century, when President Sarmiento envisioned a district of parks and cultural institutions. Today it is Buenos Aires’ most eclectic quarter, a haven for those drawn to its creative energy.
THINGS TO DO IN PALERMO
Bosques de Palermo: These sprawling green spaces feel deliberately unmanicured, with hidden lagoons and whimsical bridges inviting exploration.
MALBA (Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires): A sleek temple to the region’s contemporary art scene, where Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera share walls with contemporary provocateurs. Make sure to leave an hour or two to explore.
Shopping – Palermo Soho’s Gurruchaga, El Salvador and Gorriti streets are a haven for independent boutiques. Over the rail tracks, Palermo Hollywood is more residential and peppered with funky shops, restaurants and galleries.
Plaza Serrano: The centre of Palermo Soho, this plaza hums with energy, with craft markets, fashion boutiques, and restaurants that spill onto the pavement. At night, it morphs into a hub for cocktails and music.
Dinner at Don Julio: Yes, it’s become very touristy, but the quality and service are usually exceptional. For a less traditional dining experience, head to the neighbourhoods bordering Palermo; we love Ácido in Chacarita, and Anchoita in Villa Crespo.
Buenos Aires isn’t a city to simply visit; it’s a city to inhabit, however briefly.
Its pleasures reveal themselves slowly – a glimpse of tango on a lamplit street, the clink of glasses in a crowded café, the faint scent of jacaranda drifting through the evening air. This is a city that invites you to lose your bearings, to follow its rhythms, to let its contradictions pull you deeper.
Get in touch with our travel designers to start planning your Argentina journey.
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