Buenos Aires is a city of great contrasts, colours, and characteristics.. making it a chameleon waiting to be explored! Home to incredible street art, vibrant neighbourhoods, excellent food, sensational café scene, passionate sports experiences, lots of history.. and so much more! This isn’t a complete guide, but covers off 14 things we loved in Buenos Aires and think you should add to your itinerary!
Wander the colourful Palermo neighbourhood
Palermo is one of the must visit barrios in Buenos Aires, home to some of the best street art, café’s, artisanal shops, bars, restaurants.. plus an overall good vibe. We chose to stay in Palermo (good idea!), and spent many of our mornings (great coffee!!) and evernings (excellent bars/restaurants) here. With markets in the main square on weekends, some of the best parrilla restaurants (e.g. Don Julio), Palermo is a must visit when in Buenos Aires, either for a few hours, or as recommended, to stay in the area to soak up as much as you can! See more from our visit to Palermo here, including tips and recommendations!
Watch a Boca Juniors game at La Bombonera
Boca Juniors play at La Bombonera , rated as one of the best match day experiences in the world. The stadium is home to 55,000 passionate fans, and due to the vertical design (most vertical in the world), the viewing is excellent from every seat. This was a bucket list for Ky, and we managed to snag tickets through a tour (likely the best way to visit). Safe to say this was an experience we won’t forget and one we highly recommend if your visit aligns with the Argentine football season. See our visit to Boca Juniors here!
Visit San Telmo market
One of the more touristic things to do in Buenos Aires, but still one of the things that is worth adding to your itinerary. The historic market is home to some excellent food stalls (yes, they have amazing empanadas!), boutique shops, and the usual fare of ‘tourist trinkets’. The streets are colourful, and the main square adjacent to the market is often frequented by tango dancers. We recommend a visit to the market for a feed, before wandering into the square, grabbing a cold beverage and watching the tango dancers in action!
Transport yourself to Brooklyn at Uptown speakeasy bar
Whilst not necessarily an ‘authentic Argentinian experience’, this speak easy bar is well worth a visit. Walking along the streets of Palermo Hollywood you’ll come across a inconspicuous stairwell leading to what looks like the New York Subway. Once you pass the threshold you’ll feel as though you’ve been transported into the heart of Manhattan via the New York Subway. It’s a really cool experience and one we would recommend even if its just for one drink before hopping your way to nearby bars in the area.
Wander the eerie yet riveting Recoleta Cemetery
Walking through a cemetery isn’t often high on the list of our travel itineraries, however we made the exception for Recoleta Cemetery. This vast graveyard is big enough to be a suburb on it’s own, filled with ornate marble tombs standing 1-2 stories tall. Home to many of Argentina’s famous and infamous individuals, it truly is an experience. We recommend doing a little research before (or hiring a guide), but a visit to Eva Peron’s tomb is a must.
Enjoy exceptional steak at an Argentinian parrilla restaurant
Trying authentic Argentinean steak is another must do when visiting Buenos Aires! A staple of the Argentinean diet, steak is often grilled over live flames, regularly cooked at home or in traditional parrilla restaurants. A ‘parrilla’ is a distinctive streak restaurant, or grill-house. The parrilla restaurants are iconic to Argentina, and can be found dotted all around the city in Buenos Aires. We visited multiple parrilla during our visit, and recommend it as a top thing to do for meat lovers!
The iconic Don Julio is one of the most popular and well known parrilla restaurants, not only in Buenos Aires, but around the world! Of course, hearing the hype, recommendations, and reviews, we had to take a look for ourselves! We had an incredible experience (see our Don Julio visit here) and do recommend checking it out if your budget allows.
Enjoy the coffee culture in Palermo
The café culture in Buenos Aires definitely impressed us, no more so than the baristas in Palermo! Every corner had an artisanal coffee shop, and you know we tried as many as we could during our stay! We definitely recommend checking out Cuervo Café, Piccolino Café or LAB Coffee.. all impressed us the most from our limited sampling! There are undoubtably others that we missed, but the area of Palermo is a hotspot that coffee lovers can’t miss.
Take a day trip to Colonia Del Sacramento
Located a short 1-1.5 hour ferry from Buenos Aires is the charming, sleepy Uruguayan town of Colonia Del Sacramento. This town is a photographers paradise, with bursting colour of bougainvillea, brightly painted colonial houses, and leafy green tree-lined streets. Adding to the picturesque nature of the town is the ‘foodie culture’ in the town. In particular, eateries like Bohemia Bistro and Charco offer exceptional food right on the water. This was one of our favourite days from our Buenos Aires stay, and we definitely recommend a little trip over to Uruguay for the day. See our day trip here!
Explore the city’s iconic historical monuments and buildings
Buenos Aires is not short on history, or beautiful historical monuments and buildings. Scattered across the city, but in higher density in the ‘centro’ area are attractions like congress building, the opera house, the Obelisque, parliament building, the historical railway station, and Puente de la Muyer (Women’s bridge). You can easily spend half a day wandering around admiring the monuments and the architecture.
Don’t miss one of the world’s most beautiful bookshops
Located in the Recolatta barrio is one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world. Situated in a beautiful old theatre is the gorgeous El Ateneo bookshop. We were impressed how they have converted it into one of the most picturesque bookstores we’ve ever seen! Definitely worth a visit.
Eat your fill of delicious empanadas
The humble empanada is one of the tastiest street food items found on most menus! You know we tried our fair share, and we have to say the slow cooked ‘carne’ (beef) empanadas from Picsa in Palermo were definitely our favourite. There’s also highly rated empanadas in the San Telmo Market (El Hornero), at 1810 Cocina Regional, La Cocina, Peron Peron, La Imperfecta & El Gauchito. We didn’t get to try all of them, and there are definitely more great options, but regardless of where you go, make sure you try some of our favourite Argentinean street food.. the empanada!
Walk the ‘local feel’ promenade in Puerto Madero
One of our favourite things to do in a new city is head outside of the ‘tourist centre’ and head to where the locals like to relax. Tess’s Argentinean-Italian cousins took us on a wonderful adventure through the city (see the fun tour here!), with one of the stops being a walk along the Av. Dr. Tristan Achaval Rodrigues promenade in the Puerto Madero district near Costanera Sur. The lakeside area was lined with little parrilla and sandwich food trucks. A small market popped up along the walkway selling handmade and artisanal products. Locals relaxed at the eateries, drank beers in the sun, and generally just looked like they were enjoying their weekend. There was also a distinct lack of tourists, something we found refreshing. If the sun is out on the weekend, this is a great addition to your Buenos Aires plans!
Sit on a corner and ‘people watch’
One of the best things to do in Buenos Aires is find a restaurant or bar located along a busy corner, or street, and watch the world go by. Palmero is home to many great options, as we found out when we visited Picsa, an Argentinian/Italian fusion restaurant. Perfectly located on the corner of busy yet somehow calm Palermo streets, it makes the perfect place to grab one of their famous empanadas, their home brewed Aquis Pomelo, and people watch!
Note: a friendly reminder that when in South America, don’t leave your phone’s or valuables on the table.. these can be the target of opportunistic individuals, even in safe neighbourhoods like Palermo.
Try the ice cream in Buenos Aires
The locals tell us apparently Argentineans eat more ice cream than most countries in the world. Such is their love, many will eat it out multiple times per week. Of course, with such lofty praise for the quality of their product, we had to try some! Located on many corners of popular neighbourhoods are artisanal ice creameries.. there’s a lot to choose from. Under recommendation from Tess’s Argentinean-Italian family, we happily tried the popular Rapanui.
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