Buenos Aires

Piazzolla Tango

At first sight, this huge entertainment venue will impress you with its outstanding Art Noveau architecture. But even more stunning are the top quality shows you can enjoy while you dine in this palace of tango with its excellent acoustics. Or you can opt for the intimacy and romanticism of its boxes. The shows include music and dancing, all accompanied by an exquisite selection of dishes. The music ranges from the more popular styles of tango to more refined versions, such as that of the composer whom this place is named after.

 Calle Florida 165, Perón. Tel: 11/4344-8201. www.piazzollatango.com

Bar 12 de Octubre

This small bar with its Gardelian and bohemian atmosphere, once a cellar, is a popular haunt among the locals. The inside is almost entirely made of wood, with a floor of worn-out mosaics and its impressive collection of bottles, all of which come together to generate an ambience of harmony, melody and color. Live music is performed Tuesday to Thursday between 11 pm and 3 am.

Bulnes 331, Palermo. Tel: 11/4862-0415. www.barderoberto.com.ar

Cossab

This bar is a haven for beer fans. It has over 80 varieties with different colors, textures and flavors, including national and imported beers as well as some that are brewed specially for this venue. All of them are ideal for washing down some of Cossab’s pizza. This traditional night spot, which was founded in 1927, is characterized by its uncomplicated atmosphere set amid wooden chairs.

Carlos Calvo 4199. Tel: 11/4925-2505. www.pubcossab.com.ar

La Bourgogne

This stylish restaurant located inside the Alvear Palace hotel offers an excellent array of French dishes. Chef Jean Paul Bondoux was awarded the Order of Merit by the French Ministry of Agriculture for his efforts to promote French cuisine in South America. The restaurant’s menu features gastronomic delights such as king prawn in crunchy coconut served on pineapple carpaccio, scallop ravioli garnished with herbs, fresh oscietra caviar and French vodka, fish of the day served in an infusion of king prawns with citrus fruits and fresh basil coulis, venison steaks with red fruits, and lamb in parsley and garlic juice, to name but a few of its mouth-watering delicacies. The restaurant is tastefully decorated with softly-toned colors and is a truly excellent place for lovers of good food and good wine.

Av. Alvear 1891, Ayacucho, en el Hotel Alvear Palace. Tel: 11/4805-3857. www.alvearpalace.com

La Cabrera

This is a small restaurant with grand dishes: delicious grills with a whole range of sauces and dressings, goat’s cheese provoleta with dried tomatoes, ojo de bife steaks, ground zucchini with raisins, chorizo sausage, gammon steaks with a hint of thyme, chicken skewers with orange and vodka. Whether this is a French experiment with Argentine gastronomy or vice-versa, the fact of the matter is that each mouthful is simply divine and a good bottle of wine will make the experience complete.

Cabrera 5099, C1414BGQ. Tel: 54-11-4831-7002

El Obrero

This restaurant offers of delicious menu of typical dishes from Buenos Aires. Its specialties include eggplant in marinade, Basque-style white sea bass, and provoleta or rice with prawns or mussels, while the desserts are just exquisite. This is a small and simple place (cash only), but it really is one of a kind with its traditional and popular atmosphere and wonderful home cooking. Its prices are very affordable and the food plentiful. It is in fact one of the best and most famous restaurants in town. The quality and variety of its dishes won it the 2008 International Hotel and Gastronomy Tournament in Madrid.

Agustin R. Caffarena 64, La Boca. Tel: 11/4362-9912

Buenos Aires Park Hyatt

This new five-star hotel opened in 2006 and offers guests the full gamut of modern services. It comprises two buildings, one of which is the recently opened one, while the other is the former Duhau Palace. They are interconnected through a spacious garden with age-old trees, flower beds, a terrace, a tunnel lit up by daylight and an art gallery featuring works by artists from Argentina and other Latin American countries. Its large rooms boast between 33 and 40 m2 of space, include king size beds and are decorated in a tasteful modern but simple style afforded by the former mansion’s splendid combination of classical and contemporary touches. The hotel also has a swimming pool, a spa, four restaurants and a bar, each fitted out in their own style. This is the ideal place for all types of visitors, whether you are here on business, for pleasure, alone, accompanied or with your family.

Av. Alvear 1661, 1014, Montevideo. Tel: 11/5171-1234. www.buenosaires.park.hyatt.com

Soho All Suites

It is by no means easy to find a hotel where everything looks very functional but at the same time elegant and pleasing on the eye. This hotel boutique embodies the minimalist style in terms of its colors, elemental shapes, lighting and open spaces. It has 21 suites of different sizes and facilities (extra room, balcony, leather sofas and a range of designer items), all of which offer the full array of services to ensure comfort and wellbeing during your stay in Buenos Aires. The hotel’s small apartments have kitchens with everything you might need from plates to a microwave oven. The bar is also a very comfortable and pleasant place with attentive staff, while the patio is a venue for parties and special events.

Honduras 4762, 1414.  Tel: 11/4832-3000. www.sohoallsuites.com.ar

Lina's Tango Guesthouse

This is the place if you feel like something different and, above all, want to learn to dance the tango and explore its history. This guest house is located in the heart of the Barrio de San Telmo district, and is perfect if you want to experience Buenos Aires and its popular history in a neighborhood brimming with restaurants, cafes, galleries and workshops. But you will need to make a reservation or be very lucky to find a vacancy here, because it only has five rooms. Friendly owner Lina Acuña had the great idea of turning this residence into a place where visitors can find out about the true traditions of Argentina and it is like a small international community centered on this exploration. The comforts you’ll find here include wireless internet, a telephone in each room, cooking and laundry facilities and a bookstore.

Estados Unidos, Piedras. Tel: 11/4361-6817; 11/4300-7367. www.linatango.com

Casa de Cultura and Palacio de Gobierno

 

Puerto Madero

 

La Recoleta

San Telmo

This quarter was home to the Nineteenth Century aristocracy. It is rich in colonial architectural and its original style is very much intact, with cobbled streets running between its old buildings such as the Museo Penitenciario (Penitentiary Museum), which displays the instruments of Argentina’s penal system of years gone by, the Church of San Pedro Telmo and the Rawson School, the first school of medicine in the country. This district exudes traditional tango and milonga music from every pore, and there is no end of bars and cafes where you can experience them live. One place you cannot leave this area without visiting is the San Telmo market, which is over one hundred years old and housed in a spectacular building. Here you can find a whole host of items ranging from basic ingredients for cooking to curious antiques that hold the key to a great many of the city’s secrets.

La Boca

The port of this district is where the founder of Buenos Aires, Pedro de Mendoza, arried in the Sixteenth Century. It is a tourist attraction because of the highly original manner in which it has conserved Argentine traditions. It is also the most colorful part of town, probably because it was an immigrant area, and it features many interesting spots such as El Caminito, frequented by Juan de Dios Filiberto, who composed a tango for this small flowery street, and the legendary Bombonera stadium, home to soccer giants Boca Juniors.

The Botanical Gardens of Buenos Aires

Among the fine sculptures and buildings of this huge park there are more than 5,000 different plant species waiting to be discovered. It is also a meeting point for the nation’s young artists who put on shows for passers-by and a wonderful place for a stroll for couples or people on their own for whom their pets are a great way of breaking the ice and meeting people.

Jardín Japonés (Japanese Garden)

This truly majestic garden, flanked by the Zoo and the Botanical Gardens, was opened in 1969 in honor of a visit by the Princess of Japan. Here you will simply forget you’re in the city, while the exquisite details of its flower beds, bridges and rocks adorning the small lake and streams will whisk you away to the Far East. Next to the garden is the Cultural Center, with its vast array of Japanese shows and events such as dance and music, the tea ceremony and Martial Arts day, offering a wholesome tribute to the traditional culture of Japan right here in South America.

Av. Figueroa Alcorta, esq. Av. Casares. Tel: 11/4807-7843. www.jardinjapones.com