Buenos Aires travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Buenos Aires, planned over three days
Best time to visit Buenos Aires
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring, the best season. Mild walk all day weather, jacarandas bloom in November, terraces and parks peak.
Summer, hot and humid with afternoon storms. January empties as locals leave and some smaller places close.
Autumn, the second best season. Heat breaks, parks turn amber and Colón, BAFICI and the Book Fair relaunch culture.
Winter, mild and grey. Most local season, no queues, best hotel rates and tango's high season in August.
What's on
- Argentine Open Polo November to early December
The sport's most prestigious tournament at Campo Argentino de Polo in Palermo.
- Primavera Sound Buenos Aires 28 to 29 November 2026
Two days at Club Ciudad, with Gorillaz and The Strokes headlining in 2026.
- Día de la Tradición November
Areco's gaucho festival, the year's best version of the estancia day trip.
- Buenos Aires Marathon late September
Flat, fast course through the centre, Palermo and Puerto Madero. Entries sell out months ahead.
- Buenos Aires Half Marathon August
Major city half marathon in the August to September running season.
- Tango BA Festival y Mundial August
World tango championship with free concerts, open milongas and finals.
- Carnival February to early March
Real but modest in BA, neighbourhood murga parades rather than a city stopping spectacle.
- BAFICI April
The city's big independent film festival, with cheap screenings across town and free outdoor ones.
- Buenos Aires International Book Fair late April to mid May
Feria del Libro at La Rural, one of the world's largest book fairs.
- Teatro Colón season opening March
The opera house season opens in autumn and runs roughly March to December.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Buenos Aires
La Viruta
The welcoming beginner friendly milonga in Palermo, with classes early and local dancers staying very late.
Salón Canning
Historic wooden floor hosting Milonga Parakultural, the connoisseur milonga with top live orchestras.
Teatro Colón
The city's great opera house, worth a night performance or the 50 minute guided tour through its grand interior.
Cementerio de la Recoleta
A walled city of marble mausoleums, including Eva Perón's discreet Duarte family tomb, best seen in the morning.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
Free national museum with the country's best Argentine and European collection, right by Recoleta Cemetery.
Centro Cultural Recoleta
Lively cultural centre on the Recoleta block, an easy add on between the cemetery and Bellas Artes.
Feria de San Telmo
Sunday antiques and street fair filling Defensa to Plaza Dorrego, with tango dancers in the square.
Mercado de San Telmo
The 1897 covered market in San Telmo, the lunch move for choripán, empanadas, vermouth and coffee.
Where to stay in Buenos Aires
Palermo Soho
first trip, all-round base
The restaurant and bar engine around Plaza Serrano and Plaza Armenia, and still residential on side streets.
Palermo Hollywood
dining and nightlife led trips
Across the rail lines from Soho, with many top newer restaurants and bars that run later.
Recoleta
classic, couples, quiet luxury
Paris built avenues, the cemetery and Bellas Artes, the safest feeling and calmest base, quiet at night.
San Telmo
atmosphere and value
Oldest barrio with cobbles, antiques and the Sunday fair, but block by block and quieter on weekday nights.
Puerto Madero
modern luxury and calm
Glass towers and patrolled quays with big modern rooms, but little barrio street life and a taxi to most things.
Belgrano
repeat visitors, slower local trips
Leafy and residential with Barrancas park and Chinatown, an apartment base on Subte lines.
Think twice about
- Microcentro and the Obelisco to Florida grid at night
Busy and useful by day, but empties after dark and on weekends, with street homelessness and opportunistic theft.
- La Boca
Visit Caminito by day only. Surrounding streets have a long standing reputation for robberies of straying visitors.
- Retiro bus terminal and Villa 31 edges
Transport hub and informal settlement edges with persistent street robbery and phone snatch reports in resident guidance.
- Once station area
Station district with street robbery reports and visible street homelessness and open drug use on some blocks.
Best restaurants in Buenos Aires
Don Julio
The city's number one parrilla, dry aged cuts over quebracho and a huge Argentine cellar, booked like theatre.
Aramburu
Argentina's only two star, an intimate chef's counter tasting menu in a lantern lit alley courtyard.
El Preferido de Palermo
A pink 1952 bodegón elevated by Don Julio's team, charcuterie, tortilla and milanesa at bodegón ish prices.
La Cabrera
The generous festive parrilla, huge ojo de bife to share and a procession of sides, loud and celebratory.
Mishiguene
Modern Jewish Argentine cooking, pastrami and babka reimagined in a joyful packed room beyond the beef circuit.
Trescha
Small starred chef's counter in Villa Crespo, a seasonal produce led menu at a fraction of European counter prices.
Crizia
Starred seafood restaurant with an oyster bar and the Puro Mar menu, the answer after three nights of beef.
Pizzería Güerrín
Pizza temple since 1932, order fugazzetta standing at the marble counter with a glass of moscato late at night.
Best bars in Buenos Aires
Tres Monos
World ranked Palermo bar, unpretentious room and world class drinks at the heart of the Soho night.
CoChinChina
Inés de los Santos's Franco Vietnamese cocktail bar restaurant in Palermo, a top 50 ranked night out.
Florería Atlántico
Speakeasy reached through a flower shop and down the stairs in Retiro, go early or book for drinks.
Victor Audio Bar
The city's first listening bar, from the Tres Monos and Niño Gordo team: martinis, vinyl and a headphone jukebox. Tuesday to Saturday from 8pm.
La Fuerza
Vermouth bar for the local pre dinner vermouth hour, the ritual to copy before a late dinner.
Best coffee in Buenos Aires
La Biela
Historic café under the giant gomero tree in Recoleta, the coffee stop on the cemetery and Bellas Artes block.
Café Tortoni
The 1858 Bar Notable on Avenida de Mayo, go for the room and a coffee rather than a full meal.
Confitería La Ideal
A restored Bar Notable confitería in the centre, another coffee and architecture stop rather than a meal pick.
Outdoor things to do in Buenos Aires
Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur
350 hectares of wild grassland and river paths behind Puerto Madero, free and best walked in late afternoon.
San Antonio de Areco
Preserved gaucho town 110 km out, paired with an estancia day of horses, asado and horsemanship, the best day trip.
El Ombú de Areco
Long established estancia near Areco for riding, empanadas, a full asado lunch and a sortija display.
La Porteña de Areco
The Güiraldes family's historic estancia at Areco, for small group or private gaucho days over big bus tours.
Tigre
An hour by train to the Paraná Delta, where public lanchas and boat tours run past stilt houses and rowing clubs.
Puerto de Frutos
Tigre's market on dry land, the easy add on to a delta boat day from Buenos Aires.
Campo Argentino de Polo
Palermo's polo cathedral, home to the Argentine Open in November and early December, the sport's top tournament.
Jockey Club
MacKenzie's 1930 Red and Blue courses at San Isidro, private and members only, so access comes via operators.
Best hotels in Buenos Aires
BE Jardin Escondido by Coppola
Coppola's former house turned seven room hotel around a hidden garden and small pool in Palermo Soho.
Home Hotel
The boutique original in Palermo Hollywood, with garden, small pool and spa behind the bar streets.
Fierro Hotel
Mid size boutique with a well regarded restaurant and rooftop pool, a base food travellers use in Palermo Hollywood.
Mine Hotel
Small family run boutique on Gorriti in Soho, praised as excellent value and walkable to everything.
Meridiano Hostel Boutique
Calm house hostel in Soho with curtained bunks, private rooms, roof terrace and shared kitchen.
Palacio Duhau - Park Hyatt Buenos Aires
A 1934 palace on Avenida Alvear plus a modern tower across terraced gardens, the city's address hotel.
Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires
Modern tower plus Belle Époque La Mansión, with a large outdoor pool rare in central Buenos Aires.
Alvear Palace Hotel
The 1932 palace hotel archetype in Recoleta, marble and formal afternoon tea, classic over contemporary luxury.
Is Buenos Aires expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $50 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $120 a person |
| Splurge | $280 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Salón Canning: a few days ahead
- Teatro Colón: weeks ahead
- Estadio Alberto J. Armando: weeks ahead
- Estadio Monumental: weeks ahead
- San Antonio de Areco: weeks ahead
- El Ombú de Areco: weeks ahead
- La Porteña de Areco: weeks ahead
- Campo Argentino de Polo: weeks ahead
- Don Julio the day bookings open. Aramburu, Trescha, Crizia and Mishiguene one to three weeks ahead.
- Teatro Colón performances, Argentine Open polo, hosted Boca or River matches and Tango Festival finals as early as sellers allow.
- Tres Monos and CoChinChina on weekends, the Colonia ferry and domestic flights in high season, and your chosen estancia by name.
Is Buenos Aires safe?
- Phones are target number one, snatched at street facing café tables, car windows and by passing motorbikes. Step inside to check a map.
- Watch pickpockets and the spilled something distraction scam in the San Telmo Sunday crush, on the Subte and around Retiro, Once and Constitución.
- La Boca by day on the Caminito circuit with a taxi in and out, and ride apps door to door late at night in any barrio.
- If robbed, hand it over with no resistance. Tourist police are in the Puerto Madero and Corrientes area.
Buenos Aires travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Boca match tickets from touts or resale sites: the most reported scam, with fake or mis-sold seats. Non-members get in through hosted match packages.
- Florida Street cambio men and airport exchange desks, small premium and counterfeit or short count risk.
- Dinner show tango as your only tango, and wandering beyond the Caminito circuit in La Boca.
- Café Tortoni for a full meal, random Puerto Madero dockside grills, and Buenos Aires in a day mega tours.
Getting around Buenos Aires: public transport and more
- Subte plus walking is the daytime default in the Palermo, Recoleta and centre triangle.
- Tap a contactless card or phone on Subte and buses, or get a SUBE card for stays of four days or more.
- Use Cabify or Uber at night and confirm the plate. Ezeiza airport is 45 to 60 plus minutes out, use the official taxi desk or a pre booked transfer.
- Do not rent a car in the city. Tours and trains do Areco and Tigre better.
Who Buenos Aires suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | OK |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Buenos Aires your trip
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