Buenos Aires – quick travel guide

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Vibrant LATAM big city with a mix of Latin, European, and [some] Asian & African cultural influences.

Buenos Aires is incredible. Popular favorite city by those who like a high-energy fast-pace city…like New York or Paris, BA is LATAM’s equivalent. One of the biggest mega-cities in the world. Used to be much cheaper due to the crazy inflation, and still cheap-ish (for outsiders). But I agree with what many people say now, which is “MANNNNN, BUENOS AIRES IS EXPENSIVE!”, especially when compared to what it was just some years ago (before Milei was elected).

Every vibe is here…posh, hipster, etc. So many things to do, so many neighborhoods to hangout in. In Latin America, it always feels like I have a ton of friends in town when I pop in Mexico City or Buenos Aires.

You could probably experience most things within 5 days and move on to something else. It’s always worth making more time as it probably took you a long travel time to reach BA from wherever else you were. From BA, you can easily cross the water into Uruguay for a few days as well.

Where to stay:

  • Palermo – #1 tourist/expat epicenter of Buenos Aires, with many shops, restaurants, cafes, bars and nightlife, fashion boutiques, and most English-friendly area of BA. Palermo is a huge neighborhood with many sub-neighborhoods. Used to be a bohemian part of town then became trendy and more expensive. (People who know BA well and can speak Spanish, will choose other neighborhoods that are also nice but far less costly.)
    • Palermo sub-neighborhoods:
      • 1st-time visitors, I absolutely recommend Palermo SOHO because it’s more developed with more shops and bars, etc. The busier areas would be anywhere between Plaza Armenia and Plaza Serrano (FYI Plaza Serrano is noisy/rowdy at night). Second best is Palermo Hollywood which is more residential but still lively vibe with shops and cafes, still has everything you need.
      • Most people recommend Palermo SOHO for short stays, and then Palermo Hollywood if you’re staying longer than 2 weeks. Going between them is very doable 10min walk or cheap taxi/rideshare. For longer stays, many people recommend to choose the best accommodation you can find (for maximum comfort) and then walk or use taxi to get around.
      • Other Palermo neighborhoods – you’ll hear many people recommend Las Canitas and such because of it having a nice vibe, safe, and still walkable to the busier parts of Palermo…I honestly wouldn’t recommend because you’re too far out of the main areas. They might be nice to stay for extended time but not for short visits where you should be as close as possible for convenience.
    • Villa Crespo – south adjacent of Palermo (Hollywood & SOHO). Formerly a very local working-class neighborhood, with more locals and few tourists, resulting in its own authentic charm. But today, is rapidly rebuilt in the likes of Palermo. Many hip bars, restaurants, shops, and lots of more locals seeking to be in Palermo at a lower price. Stay on the northeast side of Villa Crespo to stay within the “Palermo hipster vibe”.
    • Almagro – southeast adjacent of Palermo SOHO, and similar idea of extending the Palermo vibe at a lower price points. Feels more peaceful, yet still vibrant. Beware of constant street noise around the bigger streets.
    • Colegiales – another Palermo-adjacent, just southwest of Palermo Hollywood. Becoming more popular with tourists and expats.
    • Chacarita – right by the cemetary but more importantly, is also just west of Palermo Hollywood and therefore becoming more trendy and tourist-friendly.
    • Belgrano – nice neighborhood bordering northwest Palermo, further away from tourist stuff, but still a nice area and English-friendly. Also has a very vibrant Chinatown there, with many different Asian shops and restaurants.
  • Recoleta – upscale and trendy, parks and green spaces, peaceful, known as a rich snobs area. Also English-friendly. Great location central to most tourist things, lots of public transpo. A good option if you see yourself only doing tourist things, and/or want to be closer to more tango events. But it’s more expensive to be here.
    • Balvanera – more affordable area in excellent central location (to tourist stuff and other key neighborhoods). Busy and safe enough if you’re near the north areas. Lots of phone-grabbing type of crimes.
    • Retiro – next to Recoleta. I haven’t spent much time here but it appears to be a more affordable area in the center, and has some sketch areas to watch out for.
  • San Telmo – beautiful historic area and also near the water and walkable to many tourist things. Vibrant with many bars restaurants and nightlife, colorful and has its charm in being rundown at some points. Safe during the day, some people feel it’s unsafe at night (especially south of Plaza Dorrego). I also hear it’s harder to get a rideshare in this area. Good option for walking around at day and coming home early at night, or if you plan to taxi out at nights.
    • Puerto Madero – typical sterile boring commercial area with 5-star hotels along the water. Everything expensive and zero charm. Maybe you’ll go here to eat at a fancy steakhouse. But I don’t see any point in wasting time here…none of the hip BA vibe is here. It’s also far from public transpo.
    • La Boca – poor neighborhood, largely considered dangerous and unsafe area. Do not stay here. Come during the day and stick within only the main colorful tourist areas, but be careful!

Main things to consider:

  • If it’s your first time – you should only consider Palermo or Villa Crespo. Ideally, I liked the quieter streets between them 2 but as close as possible to Armenia Park, and Armenian or Malabia streets (but not literally on these streets), as that’s where the action is. I definitely would not stay anywhere else as they won’t be as pretty or fun.
  • Safety & English-speaking – safest are Palermo and Recoleta, Belgrano would qualify as well. Those 3 are also the most English-friendly. Going to any other neighborhood requires more Spanish-speaking ability to feel comfortable.
  • Daytime walking areas – get as close as possible to Plaza Armenia.
  • Nightlife – get as close as possible to Plaza Serrano but not right next to it. Of course, there are many other neighborhoods for nightlife but this one is best for first-timers.
  • Tourist activities – if you only care for going to tourist buildings and historical sights, etc…Recoleta or Balvanera is the winner.
  • Tango – if you’re here for tango dancing,Balvanera and Recoleta are closest to the popular milongas. Of course, La Viruta and several others are still in Palermo…but most milongas tend to be more east. Either way, you’ll use taxi all the time anyway so it doesn’t matter. Most visiting tango dancers still primarily choose Palermo or Villa Crespo since they’re nicer/safer neighborhoods to be in. Those staying longterm, will spread out more.
  • When choosing AirBnB – avoid noisy construction blocks. Lots of neighborhoods are developing and it seems the locals here have a much higher tolerance for it than a foreigner would. I would also steer clear of old buildings with many floors and old elevators as those are so annoying to use during certain hours of the day. It’s not THAT bad but certainly feels like you’re losing 2-5 mins of your life every time you want to use the elevator.

Hostels & Hotels:

  • Funny that I haven’t tried any but there are many great ones here.

Neighborhoods, walking areas, public squares:

  • Palermo SOHO (neighborhood) – especially by Armenia Park. Lots of people walking around and enjoying the scene. I recommend exploring cute coffee shops and maybe art events.
  • La Boca (neighborhood) – touristy area with colorful buildings and murals. Go during daytime and stay only on the busy tourist streets. This neighborhood is known as dangerous, so don’t bring valuables.
  • San Telmo (neigborhood) – walk the busy safe areas at day. Around Plaza Dorrego and north of that, but don’t go south of Plaza Dorrego.
  • Avenida Corrientes – start from say Callao and walk towards the Obelisk all the way into the water. This will feel something like Broadway St in Manhattan (New York).
  • Pink House & Puerto Madero (bridge & waterpoints) – walk around and take photos. Good at daytime and also night. Stop by a fancy restaurant along the water.

Activities to do:

  • Viewpoints, landmarks, sunsets, hikes:
  • Buildings & architecture:
  • Parks, gardens, green spaces:
    • Check GoogleMaps reviews before randomly visiting any park. Some parks are dangerous areas (especially at night).
    • Touristy north-side area
      • Parque Almirante Gonzalez Fernandez – big park of many parks. Check photos and reviews on GoogleMaps to see which fits your vibe.
      • Ecoparque Buenos Aires – think of it like a small free zoo. Nice to hang out and see wild animals for free. I believe it’s a sanctuary and the animals will be soon phased out but I don’t know when. I saw big rodents, giraffes, tapirs, condors, flamingos, etc. There’s usually many people and kids (especially on weekends) so it’s not like a chill place to picnic, but a nice “shady park” to walk through on your way to somewhere else.
      • Jardin Botanico Carlos Thays – botanical garden
    • South side
      • Parque Centenario – nice park and big water fountain. Lots of people and birds.
  • Beaches, bridges, water-points:
    • Puerto Madero
  • Arts, museums, culture:
  • Markets, shopping:
    • Boutiques – Palermo SOHO neighborhood is definitely the place for boutique shops.
  • Tours:
    • Walking tours – lots of cool neighborhoods to explore by feet. Some of them are dangerous and in sketchy areas, so make sure you take a guided tour for maximum guidance and safety in neighbors.
    • Hop-on Hop-off bus – great way to quickly cover this big city, and from an elevated viewpoint.
  • Busy areas (day or night) –
  • Afternoon and evening walk – walk from the Pink House (Casa Rosada) over to the Puerto Madero area. Take some photos by the water, bridge, pink structures. Expensive restaurants (for fancy dates or old people) can be found here. This area honestly ain’t my vibe but some people may like it.
  • Go to Bariloche – very pretty town that I didn’t go to but heard lots about. You can spend a nice 3-day detour here from BA. Look up the pretty photos and check it out.
  • Go to Uruguay – only a 2-3 hour ferry ride away (using Buquebus). You can check out Colonia and Montevideo. Make sure you not only have the documents for entering Uruguay, but also for exiting Argentina. Not knowing about the latter caused me to miss the ferry. (Although a ticket exchange for later time was easily done.)
  • Downtown area – not my vibe at all. I found them boring and not fun. Also, can feel sketchy. In the right places though, there does exist fancy clubs and bars. But it’s more like you have to know which ones and you go inside, it’s not like a bar hopping where you walk around and see what you like.
  • Bars & Clubs – typical noisy club area with lots of youngsters all over the streets is Plaza Serrano. The classier stuff tend to be around Palermo or in specific places in other neighborhoods if you know exactly where. There are many good spots that I can’t recommend specific ones.

Restaurants & Cafes:

  • Palermo – many great restaurants, cafes, bars, vibrant nightlife.
    • CHS Burger – really good burgers!
    • La Alacena – cheap tasty pasta place.
    • Il Quotidiano – popular beautiful cafe with big open space and plants. Good food and service, lots of seating.
    • Reviro – heard lots of great things.
  • Belgrano – wide cultural mix and Asian foods.
  • Recoleta –
    • Bao Kitchen

Bars, clubs, and nightlife:

  • Plaza Serrano – loud crazy rowdy area. Look elsewhere for classier stuff.

Dancing tango:

  • Many people think of trying tango because it comes from Argentina and that’s valid, but make sure you go to some real tango places…not the cheesy tourist ones. There you’ll see much more authentic shows and alongside a crowd of real tango dancers many of whom are also super famous.
  • Beginner tango tourist – there are 3 options you should check out…Salon Canning (nicest one), La Nacional (most traditional one), La Viruta (grimiest one). All 3 give you different slices of the tango scene here. FYI: tango dance clubs are called “milongas”.
  • Viewing hours – Depending on the night you go, they will have a nice performance around 12:30-1:30am and lasts about 20 minutes. I recommend you go early like 11pm for nice seats/table, order drinks and light food, and leave after the performance. If you want to learn tango, you can look up the available classes at those places.
  • REAL underground tango scene – you’ll have to look up tango groups in Facebook and see where the crowd is going. It changes from year to year.
    • Popular tango clubs – aka “milongas”. Check their Instagram to know their weekly schedules, and checkout different nights of the week as the organizer and crowd demographic varies (beginners vs pros, young vs old, friendly vs snobby, formal vs casual, relaxed vs aggressive). Teatro La Comedia, El Zorzal, El Beso, La Nacional, La Viruta, La Baldosa, Villa Malcolm, Salon Marabu, El Rodriguez.
  • Learning tango – the best classes for beginner tango tourists IMO is La Viruta.

Miscellaneous tips:

  • Getting cash:
    • One of the most important topics for being in Argentina. Cash is absolute king. For years, they had a black market rate (officially called “blue market”) where you got twice as much cash if you exchanged money at unofficial places rather than using the official exchange rate (which is what’s charged when using credit card). You had to go to underground money exchange places or know a contact or somebody who can exchange the money for you at this blue market rate.
    • Never pay the “official” exchange rate. Instead, you should always pay the “blue market” exchange rate, which gets you double the official rate. Most of my friends will bring US dollars and then exchange it Argentina. Others who run out of cash will send themselves money via Western Union (which also gives the blue rate).
      • Exchanging money here has 2 options: you can go to any exchange place or there are also services that will bring the money to you (at 1-2% commission rate or free delivery for a certain amount like over $300 USD). This money exchange situation also means you should always try to do everything in cash (instead of using your card or ATM).
      • The delivery guys I used are WA +54 9 11 6353-4620 and require minimum of $300 USD exchange for free delivery, or else you pay 300 pesos for delivery.
      • When sending cash to yourself, it’s common that many places you go to will run out of cash (especially during beginning and end of month) and you have to go to another one. For this reason, I recommend using Western Union because they have many places. My favorite Western Union on Vidt 2116.
      • You can also get the phone number of places and then call them to ask for cash availability before going to their location. I did this with Giros More Libertad +54 9 11 5620-2419 or +54 9 11 2152-7840. Or you can just go to Western Union and ask in person and only IF they have cash, they send yourself money right there from your phone.
    • I also recommend checking exchange rate trends before you come and that way you can gauge whether to exchange money when you arrive vs only as you need. If inflation keeps going up (which is usual), I try to send money last minute.
    • As of Feb 2025, most places charge close to the blue rate and many foreigners use their VISA card everywhere. Cash isn’t as prioritized anymore but still there is often a 10-15% discount when using cash (ask at each place and use card if they don’t offer it). Either way, I recommend you get cash!
  • Transportation:
    • All public transportation is done using SUBE card, which can bought and refilled at any kiosk, many stores or commercial places, or metro/train station.
    • Subway – very cheap, can be much faster during traffic hours. Unless I’m right next to a metro station, I prefer to be above ground to observe this massive city.
    • Bus – cheap.
    • Rideshare – Cabify, Didi, or Uber. Prices fluctuate often, some ppl check all apps then call cheapest one. I noticed Uber is usually cheaper by a little but when Cabify is cheaper, it can be up to 50% less. I generally pick Cabify because I hate supporting Google’s empire. At certain hours of the day, rideshare wait times can be up to 10mins even when you pick the fastest option, so I choose the cheapest one anyway. Also beware of the “cancel wars”.
    • Taxi – often preferred by locals over rideshare because they’re easily found (no wait needed) and cheap enough. Local tip for taxi: put your arm out to the side but angled DOWN for taxi, and angled UP for the bus. Helps differentiate for bus/taxi drivers when you’re hailing bus stop corner. I don’t care and just flail wildly at any taxi, though. (Big issue with taxi, is that they usually scam foreigners.)
      • Taxi scams – if the meter jumps up way too fast, you can call it out right away or if it’s the end of the ride, tell him the number is not correct. And that you want his name and taxi ID, etc. This will scare him and you can then dictate your own price to pay. If the meter was too high, I suggest paying only 50-60% of that price and just get out.
  • Safety – everyone warns me to be careful in Buenos Aires. And it’s always by other Latin Americans, like Mexicans or Colombians. Hahaha. I’ve never had issues but did hear many instances about people getting shot or stabbed for their valuables. It’s quite alarming as I’ve been to many other places that were considered more dangerous yet nobody warned me about them as much as BA. Piranha attacks are common.
  • Racism – I have heard about many incidents of racism in BA to acquaintances and also friends. They tend to treat you better if you look white European, or are a foreigner speaking good English. If you’re from other countries in Latin America, or Asian/Black appearance…try to speak English or you may experience lesser treatment in stores, taxis, restaurants. Personally though, I’ve never encountered any racism here.

Itinerary:

  • DAY 1 –

Nearby towns:

  • Uruguay – just across the water and easily reachable via Buquebus ferry service. Look up their times and make sure you go early enough ahead of time to do all the paperwork. Do not miss any of the paperwork or else you won’t be allowed to board and will have to wait for the next one (and also pay addition cost).
    • Montevideo –
    • Colonia del Sacramento
  • Tigre – cool nearby town. Check out areas around the water and the Museu de Arte de Tigre (in a nice palace building).

Unfiltered notes:

Things I don’t like about Buenos Aires

This is so you get a clean context of whether my guide would benefit you or not. I would hate to steer you off something you might have liked. I’m not here to be negative but explain honestly how I felt about certain places. I aim to be honest, whether good or bad. Regardless…don’t worry, you will have fun.

  • Not pretty – the city isn’t pretty (appearance-wise). Aesthetically gray, dull, and boring compared to many other more colorful picturesque destinations in Latin America or Europe. There’s also not a lot of outdoor/adventure stuff to do or see in this city. If you’re here, it’s because you want to enjoy a chill/cheap metropolitan city. Because I doubt anyone would be here if it cost 2-3 times as much.
  • Superficial – I find Portenos/Portenas (Argentineans from BA) to be a bit materialistic and superficial compared to others. Of course, nice people with great personalities are everywhere and you shouldn’t generalize a place based on a few instances. But over my 10+ years of knowing many Argentineans (I’m a tango dancer), I find them nowhere near as warm and authentically friendly as other Latin Americans (like Mexicans, which I grew up around). I also don’t like their arrogance about feeling they are better than all Latin Americans. With that said…they (as a whole) are simply not my vibe, BUT I do have some good Argentinean friends whom I have lots of fun around. And maybe if you’re the type of fast-paced metropolitan energy person (like a New York, Paris, Milan kinda person)…perhaps you too will like the Portenos.
  • Food sucks – Argentineans argue with me all the time when I say this but I strongly feel Argentinean food (culture) is easily the weaker ones of countries I’ve been to. It’s not that I don’t like traditional Argentinean dishes. I meant their restaurant scene, and dining culture is heavily lacking. Food quality and waiter attention is usually bad. Their ethnic (non-Argentinean) food is bad, too; very weak flavors and inauthentic preparation. Tons of restaurants here with 4-5 star ratings that would be more like a 3-star place anywhere else. Come see for yourself. Yes there are great restaurants, but not as plentiful as I’ve found in other places. Whereas in every other country, I find great ones every day. When in doubt…pricey touristy restaurant easily beats cheap local restaurant. The cheap local restaurants are usually not good quality.
  • Weak internet – this is the case for regular household internet or mobile carrier internet. When it’s not cutting out intermittently, it’s kinda slow. Not a big deal if you’re not on the internet all the time but definitely annoying if you got regular conference calls or heavy streaming. Of course…some neighborhoods have more updated lines and seem more reliable.

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