With a population approaching 20 million, Buenos Aires is Argentina’s enormous capital. It is the birthplace of tango. It boasts rich architectural and cultural heritage. It has a vibrant arts scene. It is formed from a multitude of cultures. It is football crazy. The list could go on and on.
We arrived to Buenos Aires with much enthusiasm after close to 6 months on the road. For a variety of reasons, we decided to rent apartments for our 3 weeks in the city, so that we would not have to think about the camper van for the duration of our visit.
The apartments we rented were all located in the Palermo neighbourhood in the city. This is known as being a safe yet lively area with plenty to occupy the locals. It certainly lived up to its reputation, being full of trendy restaurants, cafes and bars, and within a relatively short distance of some of the cities main tourist attractions.
Our first week was relatively low key. Having travelled pretty quickly over the previous few weeks, we managed to pick up a vomiting bug that slowly worked its way through the whole family during our first week. This resulted in most of the cities sights remaining out of sight, as Netflix plugged the entertainment gap for those well enough to stomach it (excuse the pun!).
The second week brought renewed health and we hit the cities sights in anger. The Parque 3 de Febrero and its surroundings was walked on more than one occasion. There is so much for visitors to do there, including just stopping and watching the world whizzing by. We brought the kids to the Natural History Museum on an afternoon when temperatures topped out over 40 degrees. Given the museums lack of air conditioning, our memory of the trip will unfortunately not be focused on the wonderful animals and artefacts on show. The Palermo and Palermo Soho neighbourhoods were frequented. They are really wonderful places to pass a couple of hours strolling around and dining happily. Central Buenos Aires was also marked off our list, including the Obelisco and Avenida 9 de Julio. Being the widest avenue in the world, the scale of the city really hits home when you see each traffic lane and footpath full to the brim.
Our final week in the capital saw no let up to our travels. We spent an afternoon in San Telmo, visiting the famous Mafalda cartoon statue, watching tango, and eating lots of delicious alfajores (a local dessert delight). At the Children’s Museum we enjoyed plenty of entertainment and learning, for both young and old. A day trip to the town of Tigre and its hugely impressive delta was had, something that we can recommend to anyone looking for something to do slightly outside of the city itself. The upmarket neighbourhood of Recoleta was explored, as was its legendary cemetery. We visited the famous Boca neighbourhood and the Caminito walk. The colours and friendliness of the locals made this a very enjoyable day out. Our last day in the city saw us split into two separate groups. Mother and visiting grandmother headed to the modern cosmopolitan Puerto Madero neighbourhood. There they strolled the well presented streets and dined in one of its upmarket establishments. I went a different route, taking both kids to La Bombonera Stadium to see a Boca Juniors league match. The streets were not well presented, the establishments could not be defined as upmarket, but that in no way took from the excitement and enjoyment we had that evening. While not everyones cup of tea, experiencing an atmosphere like this is something I would encourage everyone to experience at least once in their lives.
Buenos Aires is an amazing place, full of life, action and noise everywhere you turn. Whatever you are looking for, the city has it in abundance. My feeling leaving was that you could spend a year there and not do the same thing twice. We only had three weeks (if you count week one of Netflix watching that is) and left feeling there were so many things we had wanted to enjoy but did not get to. However, I think its best to leave somewhere you like with some things yet to experience, as this gives you a great excuse to return one day.
Hasta pronto Buenos Aires…
Click here to read the “Northern Argentina” travel guide
English