After a gruelling 20 hour bus journey from Puerto Madryn where we had been whale watching, we finally arrived in Buenos Aires for a family holiday with Alex’s parents. Argentina’s grand capital is a huge city of multiple barrios located on the shore of the estuary of the wide brown Rio de la Plata. If you include the province districts of greater Buenos Aires which are like cities in their own right, then the population stands at 15.5 million. As with most large cities (and a generous budget!), you could enjoy exploring for weeks. As we didn’t have either of these prerequisites, this is by no means a definitive guide. We did however feel like we covered a good part of the city and surrounding areas. The city certainly has plenty of offer in terms of culture, sights, history and places of interest and although not the biggest fans of huge metropolises (that’s why we live in London, right?!), it has probably been our favourite South American capital to date (sorry Lima!). Although we spent longer in the city, we’ve tried to summarise Buenos Aires’ highlights in 5 days.

Here are our suggestions for activities, split into days. For our separate guide to eating in and around Buenos Aires, click here.

DAY 1 – CENTRE

We stayed in the busy central business area of Montserrat. Whilst it is frantic during the week, the weekends are quieter and an excellent time to explore this area and the micro centre close by. Some of the most important historic European style public buildings are located here.

We first recommend heading for Calle Florida to change your money into Argentine pesos. You will be attacked by various blue market (illegal currency market) touts, who will then take you into a dodgy kiosk or dingy shop for the transaction to take place. As long as you are fairly discrete then it seems that the police, who are present on this street, turn a blind eye. It is worth considering using the blue market, as the rates can earn you 50% more on your money!

Be sure to notice the Obelisk which is visible from several road crossings. The obelisk is significant for Buenos Aires as it marks the foundation of the city.

Take a walk around Plaza de Mayo with its purple flowering jacaranda trees (in spring/summer) where you can find the Casa Rosada which is the office of the President. You can admire if from outside but it is also open to the public at the weekend.

Also on Plaza de Mayo is the short and stocky Metropolitan Cathedral, the former ‘home’ of Pope Francis. Inside you can see the remains and commemoration of the Argentine General San Martin, the liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru during South America’s struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire in the first half of the 1800s.

From here it is a quick walk to the recently redeveloped area of Puerto Madero. This port was only used for a short time and was a bit of a disaster as no large ships could enter into it. The warehouses lay derelict for many years until it was regenerated into an upmarket area combining apartments, offices and restaurants. As most of Buenos Aires is famously facing away from the river, it is nice to see the waterfront utilised and attractive, as it is in Europe.

DAY 2 (preferably on a Sunday) – SAN TELMO & LA BOCA

…or if you want something more off the beaten track, MATADEROS MARKET (Sundays only)

Spend a Sunday leisurely exploring the artsy Bohemian area of San Telmo and its sprawling flea/artisan/antique market. Legend has it that when the barrio’s wealthy residents moved out during a severe cholera outbreak in the late 1800s, they were in such a hurry that they left all of their belongings in their houses. The market was supposedly started by those people from poorer neighbourhoods who moved in and started selling off all of items that they had fortuitously inherited.

San Telmo has some very nice architecture, even if it is a bit crumbly and faded. It also has permanent shops and an undercover market so it is possible to visit even if the Sunday market is not on. San Telmo is a lively barrio with traditional bars, opportunities for good food and a tango show scene.

You could also add in a visit to the colourful barrio of La Boca which is where the first immigrants landed and made their homes. Caminito is the main area where you can see the style of the houses and soak up some of the culture of tango, a mix between Spanish and Italian music and dance. Although the area has clearly developed over the years into a tourist-trap it is still worth a visit to imagine how it must have been like when hordes of Italian and Spanish immigrants started new lives in the barrio. It is also home to the famous football Boca Junior’s stadium ‘La Bombonera’, effigies of national hero Maradona are pretty much ubiquitous. Do our English friends remember the ‘hand of God’?

Do not fancy the two options above? No problem, the traditional Mataderos market provides another great Sunday activity for carnivores and for the lovers of all things gaucho. Check it out in our food post.

DAY 3 – PALERMO AND RECOLETA

Palermo is a vibrant area where there are boutiques, bars and dining and some green spaces. As Palermo is sub-divided into areas of its own we didn’t explore them all. There are some nice green spaces however such as the botanic garden where we discovered to our astonishment that the ubiquitous yerba mate is not in fact a herb but comes from the leaves of a tree.

A visit to Buenos Aires wouldn’t be complete without a pilgrimage to the grave of Evita Peron in the grand Recoleta Cemetery, a who’s who of deceased Buenos Airean society. Evita was the wife of 3 times President Juan Peron and is still regarded by many as a heroine for women’s rights and the poor. Her legendary status is made all the more poignant due to her untimely death from cancer at the age of 33. The grave itself is her family’s mausoleum (under the name Duarte) and is very unassuming. It’s a little tricky to find, but as long as you take a picture of the map at the entrance, you should be fine!

Recoleta is the richest part of Buenos Aires, it contains many opulent mansions which are now used as embassies and several of the museums of the city.

DAY 4 – TIGRE ON THE PARANA DELTA

Tigre is a town 30km north of Buenos Aires and is popular as a getaway from the city. Many who work in Buenos Aires actually live here and commute using boats, the roads or the coastal train. It is here that you can take a cruise on the Parana Delta’s brown winding paths, admiring the homes of those lucky enough to be able to afford to live (or have a second home) there. It’s also a destination for picnics and asados (BBQ).

DAY 5 – SAN ANTONIO DE ARECO AND AN ESTANCIA

San Antonio de Areco is only 100km from Buenos Aires, it is the town where all things related to the gaucho (Argentinean cowboy) culture are celebrated during a yearly festival. It is nonetheless worth a visit at other times of the year to see the colonial style houses and the remaining silversmiths’ workshops. We recommend Draghi on the main square. There is a shop, a museum and access to the workshop.

San Antonio de Areco can be accompanied by a trip to a nearby estancia. Estancias were the cattle ranches of old and now most are open for tourism. You can stay at one or just buy access for a typical asado lunch (and what an asado it was, check out our foodies post here!), horse show or horse ride. We stayed in Estancia El Ombu and we could not recommend it more highly, just beware that it is expensive; luckily Alex’s lovely parents paid for us.

During our stay we took a spin on a typical gaucho’s careta, and even attempted a horse ride through the pampas. In typical gaucho style the instructions were “get on the horse and get on with it”, and so we did, and survived to tell the tale. When we weren’t terrified of being thrown to the ground when the horses started to trot, it was good fun, and the pastoral scenery was lovely. Needless to say, muscles we didn’t even know that we possessed hurt for several days afterwards!

As a side note, there is also always the option of nipping over to Uruguay from Buenos Aires. The convenient and large Buquebus catamaran has frequent sailings to Colonia del Sacramento, Montevideo and Punta del Este. We are covering Uruguay in a separate post, please click here if you are interested.

So, Buenos Aires treated us well, it kept us entertained and well fed and it is certainly not just another European style city. Those immigrants that came to Argentina may have been from the old world, but the legacy of the gaucho lifestyle and the passion of tango they have left is unique.