Buenos Aires

If you want to read about my adventures in the city, read these.

Hello! I spent ~1.5 months living in Buenos Aires. From that time and from the recommendations of locals, I have put together a google maps link of my favorite places to eat/drink/visit (which you can also find on my page of Google Map links, and the following (still being updated):

Things to do in Buenos Aires, Argentina

*Favorites

Things to do in the city

  • Discover different neighborhoods
    • Palermo very popular pet of the city where many young people like to live. Full of instagrammanle cafes, modern chic restaurants, fun bars, speakeasy’s and overal the city’s nightlife
      • Mall nearby with music and lights en Palermo 
    • Abasto is a part of the city that tourists do NOT typically go to. It has a good mall and food (link to lower part of article where I reference these)
    • La Boca: It’s very touristy, not my favorite, read my reviews on what’s overhyped in BA here
    • *San Telmo
      • Has some of the best parillas and the San Telmo market which is especially popular on the weekend
  • For Tango
  • Free things to do
    • Things to see
      • Palacio San Martin 
      • Casa Rosada
      • La Boca
    • *EcoParque
    • Picnic in one of the many gorgeous parks in the city
      • BsAs is a city full of greenery, and they have many large parks
    • Walk around San Telmo Market 
      • Warning: while walking around the market itself is free, you likely will end of spending money either buying trinkets, clothes, or food in this great part of town
  • Things that costs money
    • Tierrasanta/Holy Land theme park
    • The Palacio Barolo – take a tour of the “levels of hell” in a building inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy
    • Teatro Cervantes 
    • Teatro Colón
    • Japonés Garden
    • Go to a Fútbol match
    • Watch a Tango show at Tango Porteno
      • Purchase tickets online. You can choose the “show only” option to avoid high costs. Seating seems to be on a first come first serve basis. If the show time is 9pm, expect the show to actually start about an hour + later. They do ask for identification upon entrance so don’t try to sneak the local Argentinian price. There’s no intermission. They tend to seat couples across from one another instead of next to one another (not my favorite).
    • Book shopping at old bookstores
      • El Ateneo splendid
      • The oldest bookstore
    • Go watch and dance to live music at La Bomba de Tiempo
      • A drumming show at Cuidades cultural Konex every Monday night
  • Take a trip out of the city
    • Tigre
      • Quickest and cheapest way to get to Tigre is by taking the train from the retiro train station
      • You can take a scenic route via the Tren de la costa

Food

If you think you’ll be there for a long time, join the Foodies WhatApp group. They are great at giving recommendations and reviewing restaurants, and they are very social! 

Cheap: <1000 pesos

Expensive <5000 pesos

Foods to try in Argentina: https://blog.amigofoods.com/index.php/argentine-foods/argentine-food-dishes

  • Parillas/Choripans
    • Parrilla La Brigada (San Telmo) (more expensive)
    • Nuestra Parilla (San Telmo)
    • Parilla Del Carmen (San Telmo)
    • *La Parri (San Telmo)
    • *La Aldea de San Telmo (San Telmo)
    • Don Niceto
    • Chori (Palermo) – only for choripans
  • BBQ
    • Bulls BBQ & Smoke House (Palermo)
  • Hamburgers
    • *The Burger Joint (Palermo)
  • Empanadas
    • EL Hornero (San Telmo market)
    • *Gauchitos ( San Telmo) – Especially recommend the fried carne
    • Pertutti (around the city)
  • Pizza
    • *El Cuartito – a top place for argentine pizza
    • PIZZA DATA – not “Argentine” pizza per say, but delicious
    • Pizzería Güerrín – according to locals this is the #1 Argentine pizza in the city
  • Pasta
    • Salgado Alimentos really good homemade pasta need to go early for dinner (6/7pm), and great prices
  • Gelato
    • *Rappa Nui – gelato
    • Creamolati gelato
  • Non-Argentine food
    • Israeli restaurant: Eretz La Bait Lerma 525, • Buenos Aires
    • The Stand (Palermo soho)
    • Best tacos: La fabrica del Taco (Gorriti 5062) is the best taco here
    • Al Zein (Comida Arabe)
    • Tapas bar! (Plus the area around here) La Perinola
    • Chan Chan super good cheap Peruvian food
    • La Catedral del Pisco amazing peruvian
    • Roux (Latin-Mediterranean food)
  • Other
    • Jorge Luis Borges 2108, C1425 FFD, Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Catalino’s
    • Salgado Alimentos
    • Boca Nada
    • La Bodeguita del Medio also all the restaurants in this area are cute
    • La Cabrera (go in “early”, order one plate anddddd they will bring in many many sides
    • Maru Botana in Belgrano
    • Sushi is different in Argentina. They put cream cheese, like A LOT of cream cheese

Drinks

  • *Strange Brewing (Colegiales)
  • Floreria Atlántico is a speakeasy in the back room of a flower shop. It’s highly rated but I think overtime it’s become less impressive than it used to be, read my reviews on what’s overhyped in BA here:
  • Tres Monos Bar in Palermo
  • Verne Club
  • Bueno vino barra:

Shopping

  • San Telmo Market on Sunday
  • Abasto de Buenos Aires—a typical mall similar to what we would find in America. Not overly impressed but according to locals this is a typical local mall where you will not find tourists: also there is good food in the area of Abasto, definitely you’ll find tango here
  • Coto – one stop grocery store you’ll find all over the city

Day trips out of Buenos Aires

  • Tigre
  • Boat to Colonia del Sacramento (Uruguay) 
  • Salta and Jujol
  • Mendoza
  • Iguazú 

Getting around the city

We found the subway to be the most reliable mode of transportation around the city. The subways (Subte) come often, are fast, and cheap. The main problem is that the subways mainly work West-East. So if you want to go North-South, you either need to walk or take a bus. We initially had problems with the buses, they either would never show up, show up early/late, or come but not stop to pick us up. We eventually found the app Moovit which was specifically built to help time use of the buses in BsAs (los collectivos).

Trains:

  • Trains run 5am-10:30pm every day but Sunday when they run 8am-10pm. Very frequent (<5min) on weekdays, less frequent on weekends

Uber/Taxi:

  • Uber is a thing and cheaper than taxis
  • The local Uber app is called Cabify, but Uber works fine as well
  • If you take a taxi make sure it has a meter and track where they are supposed to take you to ensure they are going the most direct route and not overcharging you. Recommend

Buying a Sube card

You can buy a Sube card at almost any subway station and you can re-fill it at subway stations or at most kiosks.

Cost of Public Transportation

Cheap! The subway cost ~0.10 USD a trip!

Other

Wifi in Argentina goes by the following:

  • Username = “Red”
  • Password = “Contraseña”