Itinerary
We spent three weeks in Argentina, starting in the capital, Buenos Aires. In total, we were actually based in Buenos Aires for five days; three exploring the city itself and two on day trips further afield. Below, is the itinerary of the three days we spent in Buenos Aires. I can thoroughly recommend adding some side trips, though. We took a boat trip up the Rio Grande to Tigre and across the Rio Grande to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay.
| Day 1 | Fly to Buenos Aires Casa Rosada Hotel 474 Buenos Aires |
| Day 2 | Catedral Metropolitana Parque 3 de Febrero MALBA Floralis Generica Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes Cementerio de la Recoleta Dinner at Buller Pub & Brewery |
| Day 3 | Palacio Barolo Puente de la Mujer Galerias Pacifico |
Attractions
| 1 | Casa Rosada |
| 2 | Catedral Metropolitana |
| 3 | Parque 3 de Febrero |
| 4 | MALBA |
| 5 | Floralis Generica |
| 6 | Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes |
| 7 | Cementerio de la Recoleta |
| 8 | Palacio Barolo |
| 9 | Puente de la Mujer |
| 10 | Galerias Pacifico |
Buenos Aires Day 1
This morning, we are up at 3 am for our flight 700 miles south to Buenos Aires. The day does not start well with the old man vomiting between the hotel and the taxi. Once at the airport, my first challenge of the day; to spend our remaining £20 worth of Guarani in the departure lounge. I depart Paraguay clutching two glass chickens, a cap and a healthy breakfast combo of empanadas and Pringles.
In the plane I have an emergency exit seat. The steward explains that sitting here requires being able to follow crew instructions. He sounds fairly unconvinced that I’m up to the job. The flight arrives without incident and we are at our hotel in Buenos Aires by 9 am. Much to our relief, we are able to check in to our room straight away to shower and regroup.
Casa Rosada
At midday, we are sufficiently recovered to join our Casa Rosada guided tour. This is the Argentinian presidency; the place where Eva Peron sings ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’ from the balcony in the movie Evita.
Note: It’s a very popular tour, with online booking required, so places need to be reserved well in advance.
The tour is supposed to take an hour, but the guide seems to love the sound of his own voice and goes on and on. Tours are 15 minutes apart, so they are soon backing up behind us. It doesn’t help that some of the Americans in our group refuse to do stairs and we have to wait while a separate staff member escorts them via the elevator.
Finally, we reach the bit we’ve been waiting for – the iconic balcony. We patiently wait our turn to go out, but the guard decides our group’s time is up and starts herding us towards the exit. It’s such an anticlimax. Our tour of a few rooms has taken two hours and we have missed the highlight. I make a break for it and manage to grab a balcony photo before being ushered out.
Once the tour finally ends, we head for the Museum which contains a potted history of Argentina, plus articles relating to the life of the Perons.
We queue for another guided tour; David Siqueieros’ mural Ejercicio Plástico. Again the tour way outlasts my attention span. It’s some naked ladies in a box – Next!
I’m still sulking from the lack of balcony time and the old man is not feeling well, so we decide to call it a day.
Hotel 474 Buenos Aires
We return to the very pleasant Hotel 474 Buenos Aires for an early night before a full sightseeing onslaught in the morning. The hotel is situated in the financial district, thus cheaper than more touristy areas but still conveniently situated. One disadvantage; the area is like a ghost town at weekends and most bars and restaurants are closed.
Buenos Aires Day 2
Catedral Metropolitana
Today we are going sightseeing in Buenos Aires. There will be no guided tours, just us and my well annotated copy of Lonely Planet. We start with the cathedral, former manor of the Pope.
We miss it first time round, as the exterior looks more like a museum than a cathedral. However, inside it looks like most South American churches, with lots and lots of gold stuff.
Then we try to get a tube from Catedral underground station. It sounds fool-proof, seeing as we’re already at the cathedral. But somehow we manage to overshoot and end up at Peru, which is on a different line. By the time we realise, we’ve already passed through the barrier so have to retrace our steps, buy more tickets and try again.
Second time lucky, we find the station and catch the tube to Palermo. This morning is all about parks. We walk through the Eco Parque, with its cute maras grazing by the lake, to reach the Parque 3 de Febrero.
Parque 3 de Febrero
This huge park is heaving on a Sunday morning; walkers, joggers, cyclists, skaters, yoga, aerobics, weightlifting. It’s all going on here, there’s even a man playing the bagpipes.
There’s so much to see and do here, but for me the highlights are the Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden.
MALBA
Next, we visit the Museum of Latin American Art (MALBA). As the name suggests, it’s a collection of art by Latin American artists. The old man is not a great art lover, but there is some great stuff here. Even he is impressed.
The temporary exhibition is by Pablo Suarez. His work is clever and a little bit crazy, which is just how I like things.
Floralis Generica
We stop briefly at the Floralis Generica, a huge metal flower sculpture that opens in the sunlight. It sits in a pool of water and reflects the nearby buildings in its silver petals.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
Next is the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. This has some South American and plenty of European art. The temporary exhibition is by Turner, on loan from the Tate, so ironically we have paid to see something in Argentina that we could see in England for free.
Cementerio de la Recoleta
Last stop is the Recoleta, the cemetery of the rich and famous. It’s like a huge city of the dead. The cemetery only has one entrance. Somehow, we manage to walk round all four sides before locating the gate some 350 degrees from where we started.
Dinner at Buller Pub & Brewery
We complete our wander round the inside of the cemetery. Tired and hungry after a long day, we spot a microbrewery opposite the exit; Buller Pub & Brewery. Unfortunately, we are by the coach drop off point where buses leave their engines running to maintain the a/c at the required temperature for their passengers. So we drink very good beer and eat enormous burgers surrounded by more diesel fuel than I’d like before dragging ourselves back across town thus completing our ten hour sightseeing extravaganza.
Buenos Aires Day 3
Today is rather disjointed as many tourist attractions are closed on Mondays. This morning the area around our hotel is heaving and all the shops and cafes are open, not just McDonalds, where we had to resort to breakfast yesterday. This is a problem, as the old man doesn’t cope well with choice and we have to study numerous menus before we are finally able to sit down and order some actual food.
Most of the morning we wander around Buenos Aires admiring the city’s architecture, such as the Teatro Colon and taking an obligatory selfie in front of the Obelisk
Palacio Barolo
Then, a guided tour of the Palacio Barolo; an Art Deco tower block where each floor represents a different verse of Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Note: This is another popular tour best booked in advance.
You start in the foyer (hell) then work your way up through purgatory to heaven. Ironically, you can reach purgatory by lift, but the final 8 floors to heaven have to be climbed on foot.
It’s an amazing building with the added bonus of great views across the city to the River Plate. We climb into to the glass domed lighthouse at the top for a stunning, if vertiginous view.
Once we have descended from heaven, we walk as far as the Congress Building, which is situated in a park surrounded by sculptures and dog poo.
Puente de la Mujer
Then we return to our hotel via the renovated waterfront area of Puerto Madero with its Puente de la Mujer swing bridge, boats and trendy cafes.
Galerias Pacifico
In the afternoon, we go to Galerias Pacifico; it’s primarily a shopping mall, however its domed ceiling is the work 5 prominent muralists.
We had planned to eat in the food court but three full circuits of the hall determines that there is nothing on any of the menus acceptable to the old man. Apparently, he wants to be healthy and have a salad. So we find a nearby restaurant and he orders a salad which includes fried fish in batter, cheese, ham and eggs. He also orders a beer which comes with 3 bowls of nuts. So not all that healthy…
Trip taken: January 2019
Updated: September 2022
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