Buenos Aires is Argentina’s big, cosmopolitan capital city. Its centre is the Plaza de Mayo, lined with stately 19th-century buildings including Casa Rosada, the iconic, balconied presidential palace. Other major attractions include Teatro Colón, a grand 1908 opera house with nearly 2,500 seats, and the modern MALBA museum, displaying Latin American art. Buenos Aires was established on 2 February 1536 (by Pedro de Mendoza)and 11 June 1580 (by Juan de Garay) (Source: Wikipedia)
My picture of Buenos Aires has always been THE TANGO and the iconic EVA PERON. However, there is much more to Buenos Aires….
- Buenos Aires is a 3 hour flight from Sao Paulo
- There are 2 airports: The Ministro Pistarini International Airport or known as the Ezeiza International Airport, approx. 22 kilometres from the city centre. The other airport, Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (in honour of the Argentine aviator) is located in the Palermo neighbourhood, only 2km from downtown. This airport is often also referred to as the Domestic Airport, however, it also serves flights from Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile & Paraguay. Thus, flying in from Sao Paolo and out to Santiago, our LATAM flight used this airport. NOTE: Make sure you have the correct airport in mind
- The Aeroparque Jorge Newbury is a stones through from the mighty Rio de la Plato, second biggest river in the world after the Amazon River. Quite a unique experience looking from the terminal building onto the river a few metres away
- Buenos Aires is situated on the shore of the Rio de la Plata (Plata River), which can easily be mistaken for the ocean because it is huge. However, the water is brown and Buenos Aires is in fact situated approx. 240 km from the Atlantic Ocean
- My first impression of Buenos Aires travelling from this airport to our accommodation in the well known Recoleta neighbourhood was the beautiful big parks / green belt and lots of dogs. I have never seen dog walkers with so many dogs in 1 go….up to 12 dogs with 1 walker and it seems they do more than dog walking. On sunny mornings you spot many dog minders with their dogs….seems the walk turns into a ½ day play date
- We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the Recoleta neighbourhood….it is central, consists of many apartment blocks with a wide variety of shops on street level, including the most important French & Italian designers. It is a comfortable area to walk around at night and the area is also seen as an important gastronomic hub with many international awards amongst the wide variety of restaurants
- A well-known landmark in the area is the Recoleta Cemetery. Well worth it to spend some time there and walk past the final resting place of Eva Peron, maiden name Duarte. The cemetery is open every day and entry is free
- A ½ day city sightseeing tour with English guide (not hop on / hop off) is a good option to get a feel for what is where, approx. US $20 pp
- The new riverfront development includes parks, residential and office developments as well as the ferry ports to various destinations
- La Boca, the well-known and very vibrant and colourful neighbourhood in Buenos Aires and home of the La Boca Football team. Unfortunately it is very touristy. Worth seeing but would not recommend spending more than 1 hour, maybe 2 if you want to do lunch. Be careful in this area at night, not recommended for tourists
- Home of the tango – although tourists can buy a dinner & tango package for around US $80-100, we were more interested in an impromptu authentic version and luckily came across such a version in down town Buenos Aires on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant with tables on the sidewalk…..absolutely beautiful
- Unfortunately we somehow missed the largest book store in the world, built inside an old theatre, called El Ateneo Grand Splendid on avenue Sante Fe in Recoleta
- Theatro Colon is also worth a visit, situated off Avenue 9 de Julio in the San Nicolas area
- In our opinion food is more expensive compared to Peru
- Carrefour supermarkets or similar recommended when staying in Airbnb / self catering accommodation
- It is easy to travel by taxi
Bottom line….Buenos Aires will see me again!
