Best Things to Do in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires rewards visitors who alternate monumental architecture with unhurried hours in neighbourhood squares, historic markets, and riverside parks. Rather than concentrating around a single central plaza, the capital's landmarks spread across distinct barrios shaped by Spanish colonial foundations, 19th-century Franco-Italian urban planning, and 20th-century port regeneration.

Walk the Historic Axis from Plaza de Mayo to Congreso

Begin at Plaza de Mayo, Casa Rosada, and Avenida de Mayo, the political heart of Argentina since Juan de Garay laid out the city grid in 1580. Unified in 1884 after the demolition of the colonial Recova arcade, the square centres on the 1811 Pirámide de Mayo and is framed by the pink Casa Rosada executive palace, the 1725 colonial Cabildo, and the neoclassical Metropolitan Cathedral, which houses the mausoleum of General José de San Martín. From the square's western edge, walk along Avenida de Mayo past the stained-glass ceiling of the 1858 Café Tortoni and the 100-metre-tall, Dante-inspired Palacio Barolo to the green dome of the National Congress.

Explore San Telmo's Cobblestones and La Boca's Tenements

South of Plaza de Mayo, San Telmo preserves low-rise colonial and 19th-century townhouses along Calle Defensa. Stop inside the 1897 cast-iron Mercado de San Telmo for freshly baked empanadas and antique stalls, and watch open-air tango dancers on Plaza Dorrego.

La Boca and Caminito

Continue south to the mouth of the Matanza-Riachuelo River at La Boca, Caminito, and the Old Riachuelo Port, where artist Benito Quinquela Martín transformed a disused 1954 railway curve into the brightly painted open-air street museum of Caminito in 1959.

Tour Teatro Colón and the Northern Cultural Corridor

In the theatre district around Teatro Colón, Obelisco, and Avenida Corrientes, book a guided interior tour of the 1908 Teatro Colón, celebrated by international conductors for the acoustics of its horseshoe auditorium, and walk past the 1936 Obelisco at the intersection of Avenida Corrientes and Avenida 9 de Julio. Further north in Recoleta, explore the labyrinth of more than 4,600 above-ground vaults at the 1822 La Recoleta Cemetery, view European and Argentine masterworks at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, and browse shelves inside the 1919 Teatro Gran Splendid at El Ateneo Grand Splendid.

Cross Puerto Madero and Unwind in the Palermo Woods

Along the eastern riverfront, cross Santiago Calatrava's 170-metre rotating footbridge, the Puente de la Mujer, in Puerto Madero, and follow the gravel trails of the 350-hectare Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve to the Río de la Plata shore. Dedicate an afternoon to Palermo Soho, Bosques de Palermo, and MALBA for Latin American modernism, the 1914 El Rosedal rose garden, and the 1967 Buenos Aires Japanese Gardens, or ride the commuter train north to the island waterways of the Tigre Delta.