Luxury hotels in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires guide

Buenos Aires: tango, Recoleta and the parrilla

A city of grand avenues and late nights, from a milonga to the best steak of your life.

Tango is the most cited experience in Buenos Aires. A show is the easy introduction, but a milonga, where locals dance late into the night, shows the real thing, and a private lesson beforehand makes it more fun. San Telmo's Sunday market and the colours of La Boca complete the tango history.

In Recoleta, the cemetery where Eva Perón rests is a city of marble mausoleums, near the Fine Arts Museum and the Teatro Colón, one of the great opera houses. Dinner starts late, ideally at a parrilla with a bottle of Malbec, and spring, from October to December, is the loveliest season.

Recoleta Cemetery and the grand avenues

Recoleta Cemetery, a city of marble mausoleums where Eva Perón is buried, is one of the most cited sights in Buenos Aires, and the surrounding Recoleta district, with the Avenida Alvear and its French-style palaces, shows the city's Belle Époque grandeur.

The Teatro Colón, one of the world's great opera houses, offers guided tours and a season of opera and ballet, and the El Ateneo Grand Splendid, a bookshop in an old theatre, is a few blocks away. The National Museum of Fine Arts is free.

San Telmo, La Boca and the tango

San Telmo, the oldest neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, is one of its most cited areas, especially on Sundays, when the Feria de San Telmo fills Defensa Street with antiques and tango dancers. La Boca, nearby, has the colourful houses of Caminito and the Boca Juniors stadium.

At night, a tango show at a historic venue or, better still, a milonga, where porteños dance until late, is the essential experience. A private lesson before going out helps visitors join in.