Buenos Aires 🐎🥩🍷🍦🥐

WHERE TO STAY

  • Palermo Soho: quiet, tree-lined streets with lots of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars [FIRST CHOICE]

  • Palermo Hollywood

  • Recoleta

WHAT TO DO

  • Walk around, sit at a cafe and shop in Palermo

  • Street art tour in Palermo

  • Walk around Tres de Febrero Park

  • Eat asado at a parilla and drink Argentinian wine: Don Julio

  • Walk around Recoleta: El Ateneo Grand Splendid (bookstore in a theatre), Recoleta Cemetery, Centro Cultural Recoleta, MALBA Museum, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Floralis Generica,

  • Walk around the City Center: Congresso de la Nacion Argentina, Palacio Barolo (buy ticket to rooftop during sunset), Catedral Metropolitana, Plaza de Mayo, Casa Rosada, Obelisco, Teatro Colon, Puerto Madero (new part of the city)

  • Walk around La Boca: colorful buildings on Caminito street, Fundacion Proa (modern art museum), Usina del Arte museum, Museo Historico Nacional museum, watch Boca Juniors (futbol) in La Bombonera Stadium, only visit during the day (not at night)

  • Take a Tango class and/or watch a Tango show: La Catedral Club (lessons on Tues-Sat at 6/8/9:30pm), Milonga La Nacional, Querandi

  • Watch a show at Teatro Colon

  • Sunday market in San Telmo (Feria de San Telmo) and eat at Desnivel

  • Visit an “Estancia” (ranch) and watch a Polo game

WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK

  • Restaurants

    • Julia: must get a reservation in advance, one of the world’s 50 best restaurants [MUST]

    • Don Julio: must get a reservation in advance, one of the world’s 50 best restaurants, one of the best parilla in Argentina, give champagne + empanadas while you wait, get the ojo de bife, chorizo, beef empanada, heirloom tomato salad, and fries [MUST]

    • Anchoita: must get a reservation in advance, one of the world’s 50 best restaurants [MUST]

    • El Preferido de Palermo: same owners as Don Julio, give gin tonic + empanadas while you wait, get the beef milanesa, easy to walk in at 12pm on a weekday [MUST]

    • Anafe: must get a reservation in advance, Latin American fusion, get the pate, girgolas (oyster mushrooms) and pavlova with dulce de leche [MUST]

    • Las Pizzaras Bistro: seasonal menu

    • Mishiguene: Jewish Argentinian food, get the fatoush salad

    • Chori: quick, casual lunch, get the ahumeda sandwich (smoked pork chorizo) or chorizo clasico

    • Elena: in the Four Seasons hotel

    • Picaron: fun and chill tapas place to taste a little of everything, can usually get in without reservations

    • Pain et Vin: chill, laid-back French tapas, great wine selection

    • FRANCA: same owners as Julia

    • Croque Madam Palacio Paz: French cuisine in one of the most beautiful palaces of Buenos Aires

    • La Alacena Trattoria: pasta

    • Gran Dabbang: Indian fusion, can walk in “early” at 8pm

    • LUPA: Fusion tapa-style restaurant

    • MARTi: vegetarian, must get reservation in advance

    • Sacro: vegan

    • Chui: vegetarian

    • INVERNADERO: Gin on tap and tapas

    • Madre Rojas

    • Corte Carniceria: parilla, get the croquetas de tapa de asado, tartar, y el dry age

    • Other parillas: Belisario Roldan, La Cabrera

    • Pizza: Atte. Pizzeria Napoletana, El Cuartito, Las Cuartetas, Pizzeria Guerrin

  • Cafes

    • Atelier Fuerza: best medialunas

    • Havanna: get alfajores (dark chocolate, almond)

    • Farinelli: sit on patio

    • Birkin: brunch

    • UBU Cafe

    • Surry Hills Cafe

    • MIGUEL Cafe

    • Cuervo Cafe

    • Oli Cafe

    • Moshu Treehouse

    • Seattle Cafe

  • Dessert

    • Rapa Nui: best ice cream (dark chocolate, goat milk dulce de leche), also get franui (dark chocolate covered raspberries)

    • Freddo: ice cream

  • Bars

    • Tres Monos

    • Trade Sky Bar: rooftop bar

    • Alvear Icon Hotel: rooftop bar

    • Floreria Atlantico: cocktail bar hidden behind a flower shop

    • MAUER bar: Fun Berlin-themed bar

DAY TRIPS

  • San Antonio de Areco: Head outside the city into the plains (“Las Pampas”) to a local ranch (“estancia”) for grilled meats, horseback riding, and gaucho performances

    • Also check out Museo Gauchesco Ricardo Guiraldes, Boliche de Bessonart Bar, stay in Estancia El Ombu de Areco in the area

  • Puesto Viejo Estancia: Horseback riding, polo lessons

  • Tigre: gateway to the rivers and wetlands of the vast Paraná Delta, 45-minute train ride from BA, take a boat tour, visit Port of Fruits and Parque de la Costa

  • Finca Don Atilio Winery

  • Colonia de Sacaramento, Uruguay: historical town, one hour ferry via Colonia Express or _

  • Montevideo, Uruguay: capital of Uruguay, two hour ferry

LONGER TRIPS FROM BUENOS AIRES

  • Iguazu Falls

  • Bariloche, Patagonia

  • Mendoza: wine country

THINGS TO KNOW

  • Bring CASH from the US

    • Argentinians don’t trust the official bank due to inflation. They prefer to get paid via crypto or Payoneer. Use cash and exchange money in “cuevas” to receive the “blue rate” (USD$1 = ARS$188 (official rate) = ARS$375 (blue rate)). Apparently starting in Jan 2023, major credit cards (ie. VISA, mastercard) will charge official rate first, but then credit back using blue rate a few days later. Haven’t seen this happen yet…

    • Bring new USD$100 bills to exchange, they don’t take the old USD$100 bills

    • Any bills less that USD$100 will have lower exchange rate (ie. USD$1 = ARS$355 instead of USD$1 = ARS$365)

    • Most cuevas are in ___

    • Palermo Cuevas:

  • National Dish: Asado (grilled meat, such as Ojo de Bife, Chorizo, Morcilla), Milanesa (beef), Empanada, Offal (sweet breads), Pizza (very cheesy and thick crust)

  • National Desserts: Dulce de Leche, Alfajores (sweet cookies stuffed with dulce de leche), Ice cream, Chocotorta (chocolate biscuits, dulce de leche and cream cheese cake)

  • National Pastries: Medialunas (mix between brioche and croissant and topped with syrup)

  • National Drinks:

    • Mate: caffeinated herbal tea, steep dried tea leaves in traditional mate cup (made from gourd) and drunk through filtered metal straw, can’t find in coffee shops since locals make at home

    • Malbec wine (from Mendoza)

    • Fernet con cola

    • Also: Campari con orange juice, Campari con grapefruit soda, Vermouth soda, Gin tonic

  • Ubers were VERY cheap: most ubers were less than $7 even if riding for more than 30min

  • Uber/Taxi from airport (EZE) to Palermo is USD$25 or ARS$6,500

  • Buy SUBE (subway) ticket: very clean and easy to ride, like the London Tube

Eunice Chin