What to see & do in Buenos Aires

Now to the touristy part of your stay:you need to get to know a little of Buenos Aires! Here are some highlights:

1) the Obelisk: symbol of Buenos Aires, located on 9 de Julio Ave. It´s worth a look and a picture, but you cant climb it

2) Florida and Lavalle street: these are pedestrian streets. Lavalle was traditionally the cinema street, now many of these old cinemas were taken over by (cheaper) clothing and electronics stores. Florida street is beautiful to walk and will lead you on the north side to Plaza San Martin, a big park where the monumet for the Malvinas fallen soldiers is. This area is very pretty, some great souvenir shops and leather stores.

Before reaching the Plaza San Martin you´ll pass by a great mall, Galerias Pacifico, on Florida and Cordoba. Totally worth going in, if only for the artwork that is painted on the ceiling of this 19th century railroad building. In the basement there´s a decent food court.

Near the San Martin square you´ll find a few Irish pubs, like Downtown Matias (on San Martin 979), and The Kilkenny (corner of M.T. de Alvear and Reconquista street). It´s specially interesting to go there for the "happy hour": it´s when the young office crowd (about 21 to 30) stops by for a drink and some flirting, between 7 and 9 pm. If you are a woman, be aware though, that many of the men here will be married or with steady girlfriends. Legal drinking age here is 18, but nobody respect this rule and you´ll see younger kids drinking beer openly.

On the south end of Florida you reach Diagonal Norte and Avenida de Mayo. If you go down the latter you reach another must-see: Casa Rosada, the government building, standing at the end of plaza de Mayo (the place where traditionally people politically congregate). On the left there´s also the Cathedral of Buenos Aires, inside is the tomb of general San Martin, the great liberator of South America from Spanish domain.

3) Recoleta neighbourhood and cemetery: this neighbourhood is one of the most traditionals and expensive. It´s very Parisian, and the best shops (vuitton, Hermes and the like) are found here.

It´s interesting to see the cemetery, where many great figures of Argentine history are buried. The most visited tomb is probably Evita peron´s. But you´ll only see a black mausoleum. You can tour the cemetery alone (no admission fee) or, if you are interested in history, it´s best to go with a tour.

On one side of the cemetery, usually there´s an arts and crafts fair (always on weekends, sometimes weekdays too). Nice knick-knacks at prices that won´t break your budget.At night some of the restaurants get transformed to bars and it´s quite nice.

4) It´s always nice to see a Tango Dinner and Show at San Telmo, the oldest neighborhood in Buenos Aires. My personal favorite is held in the restaurant "El Querandí", Peru 302, on the internet: querandi.com.arDinner is at 20:30 and show at 22:15. I´ve taken many friends there. It´s rather expensive though.

Also in San Telmo, at the central square every sunday there´s the Antiques fair which is very interesting, as well as impromptu tango dancers on the street.Caution in San Telmo: dont walk there at night alone. Take a taxi there and when leaving, ask the people at the restaurant to call for a cab for you. The radio-taxis (the one you call) are safer at night than the ones you pcik up at the street.

5) Tigre: for this one, you can go either with a tour group or on your own taking the train Mitre from Retiro Station downtown and ending at the end station, Tigre. Then it´s a little walk to the delta. It´s the delta of the river Tigre, located north of Buenos Aires, about 1 hour from downtown. If you go with a tour, they´ll probably also offer a boat excursion on the Tigre river of about 2 hours plus a visit to puerto de frutos, the port where traditionally fruits and vegetablers (oranges specifically were grown on the islands in the delta) where sold, now there´s more crafts than food but it´s very pretty. But to get to the fruit port without a car is too complicated, so if you´re on your won better wait to have an acquaintance that can take you there.

6) If you have a whole day to venture out on the land, you should take a full day tour to an estancia. I like the estancia "La Cina-Cina", it´s on the web and they offer transportation as well: lacinacina.com.arThey offer an asado, a big argentinean meat BBQ, some traditional dances, and you can watch traditional gaucho horse games.

7) Last, the newly developed Puerto Madero area is well worth a look. The former port of Buenos Aires, it´s particularly good for a stroll but there are only restaurants and the Hilton Hotel, no other kind of shops. Nevertheless it´s great to stroll by the side of the water, watching the boats come and go. There´s also an intersting freestanding pedestrian bridge.

A good restaurant (and not too expensive) is "La Caballeriza". At night, there´s a few nice bars and discos here.

8) Another tip: go have some tea or coffee at the traditional "Richmond", Florida almost Corrientes. It´s over 100 years old and it´s still keeping the same old leather chairs. Also excellent are the cocktails here, my personal favorite: Bariloche, a fruit and cream concoction. Ask also for a "picada" with it, it´s a plate with little nibblings. They also offer lunch in the back. Downstairs is a billiard room, but it was traditionally (and until just a few years ago) reserved for men only.