LAX_Esq

We had 3 nights in BA at the end of a hiking trip in Patagonia, and we had a great time. The highlights for us were the food, the wine, the tango, and the relaxing atmosphere. BA lacks some of the world-renowned "sites" you'd get in other popular urban destinations, so it's more of a place to visit for a fun experience than checklist tourism.

Staying in San Temo:

- We chose San Telmo, and we loved it. We're a young couple, and San Telmo was very much our style. It's a bit grungy, but it has character and charm. It's also a really central and convenient location for sightseeing on a first-time trip to BA. We also liked that San Telmo had everything in terms of food and nightlife; after a day of sightseeing, there were tons of bars, restaurants, cafes, etc. within a short walk from us.

- Safety: We debated between San Telmo and Palermo / Recoleta, and read plenty of trip reports questioning the safety of San Telmo. We did make sure to confirm with locals that our AirBnB was in a "good" part of San Telmo. It felt totally safe during the daytime; at night, we were extra careful and took the usual precautions, and we didn't have any problems.

- AirBnB: We booked a 1 BR on AirBnB. The location was great, and it's nice having the space of a 1 BR rather than a hotel room. The place had lots of good reviews, but the owner was pretty sleazy and the place wasn't up to snuff. We spoke to another tourist who had a similar experience with sleazy owners in two different AirBnB's in BA.

Sites:

- As mentioned in the introduction, we didn't find the sites in BA to be anything to write home about. We enjoyed the walking around and seeing the different neighborhoods and seeing the architecture and getting in some people watching and sitting in the parks -- much more than we enjoyed the major "sites."

- If you've previously been around Latin America, you'll find the usual plazas and statues and churches and colonial buildings in BA. Nothing too memorable.

- Recoleta seems a bit overrated. There are other cemeteries like this in Latin America, and even in other parts of the world. Definitely worth seeing, but if this is BA's #1 tourist attraction, then BA's strong suit is other things besides "sites."

- If you're a big walker, you can cover a lot of ground and see much of the city by foot. In 3 days, we covered all the major neighborhoods on our self-guided walking tours.

- We had a volunteer private tour of Jewish Buenos Aires with "Cicerones Buenos Aires Greeters." Our guide was amazing, and took us to the site of the Israeli embassy bombing, the AMIA building, around the "Once" Jewish neighborhood.

- El Caminito makes for some pretty pictures, but it's a total tourist trap. We went late in the day to avoid the tourists, but the vendors and touts were quite annoying.

Foo & Drink:

- Cafes are plentiful and have a nice atmosphere. Stop and have coffee or "alfajores" (a cookie with dulce de leche) and do some people watching.

- Steak is obviously a BA highlight. We avoided the expensive parillas; from the reviews, they seemed like overpriced tourist traps and offering nothing better than a random local parilla. We had lunch at a random no-frills parilla we happened to walk by that was totally a blue-collar workman's hangout, and it was excellent. "El Desnivel" is written up in all the books as a cheaper but great parilla, and we has an excellent meal there.

- San Telmo has a huge "hipster" scene and, if you get away from the main tourist streets and look carefully, you will discover some really good local bars and restaurants where only the locals hang out.

Tango:

- I'd highly recommend experiencing tango at a "milonga," which is an authentic place where real locals actually do tango. We were totally turned off by the idea of a "tango show," as we do not like fake made-for-tourists sorts of things. A milonga schedule can be found here: http://www.hoy-milonga.com/buenos-aires/en

- We chose to do tango at "Maldita Milonga" in San Telmo and had an excellent time. It worked well for us because it was "tourist friendly" while still a "real" tango, i.e., not a tourist trap. There's a group lesson at 9pm. And, at 11pm the locals start showing up and doing tango on the dance floor -- you can either join them, or sit back and watch. It's great because the locals are actually doing tango for themselves; they're not putting on a show for tourists and coming by with a hat for money. Plus, there was an excellent band that played. The cover charge was AR$160.

Some random notes:

- Taxis/Uber: We flew into AEP and out of EZE. We used a pre-paid taxi at AEP, and used Uber to get from the city to EZE. Uber to EZE was AR$339 from San Telmo.

- Money: ATMs are everywhere. CC's are widely accepted, but a few restaurants were cash only so make sure you ask before you dine if you're low on cash.

- The "Portenos" were really nice and "chill" people. We had good experience with almost everyone we met, and several locals did various nice things for us. We started the trip in Santiago, where we found the people to be quite mean folk for the most part, so BA was a welcoming contrast.

HIDDY

I think your review is a fair one.

I remember my first visit to Buenos Aires thinking the tourist sites weren't all that remarkable but then again the pyramids at Giza didn't impress me either. Unlike you I do think the architecture in Buenos Aires is very impressive and is what gives it its charm.

dddc

Interesting the comments on AirBB. I booked a "boutique" hotel for what I considered a fair price when I went a few years ago and I loved it. It had a pool, sauna, gym that I never had the opportunity to use, although we did come close to using the spa after a day of hard sightseeing - but that other bottle of wine was just too tempting along with the nibbles the hotel had in its lounge at all times. Great Breakfast each day. Good cheap laundry service too! The staff at the hotel made it special too (think the personality of the TV character, Ugly Betty). The room was of a decent size, not a shoe box like a chain hotel. I don't know what the price difference this is to an Airbb place, but I know that I should hopefully be covered by the local health and safety standards- in particular fire ones.

I often think "sites" are over rated in tourist towns. Sydney is a prime example. Harbour Bridge, The Harbour, Bondi Beach. Yawn. Ok, maybe I'm I bit harsh on the Harbour itself but what they've put around it, and Bondi, ruin it. Walking around Sydney didn't excite me as much as walking around Buenos Aires and I found it a fabulous place to walk around and soak up the atmosphere.

Food obviously makes up big influence on how good a trip is and all bar one of meals were in the great/excellent categories. The steak and Italian influenced meals along with the local delicacies still make my mouth water after all these years!!

HIDDY

I agree....they're usually full of annoying tourists anyway.

BA is a great city for wandering about on foot. I try and avoid doing it during the heat of summer though.

Gaucho100K

Thanks for your report !!! ^

mapboyPHL

This is a great report. Quick question: no problems taking money out at ATMs? Other threads seem to suggest daily limits and machines running out of money.

Eastbay1K

There are daily limits, but most machines, save a strike or holiday weekend, seem to have been better keeping cash in the till.

LAX_Esq

I only used Citi ATMs (which are all over) since I bank with Citi in the US. We only needed small amounts at a time (maybe $100/day max), and didn't have any problems with limits or cash shortages.

mapboyPHL

great to hear ^^ We are going this (Northern Hemisphere) summer and would not need more than that daily. Thanks again!

Gaucho100K

Please note that Citibank is no longer here.... they sold their entire retail banking operations to Santander Rio. You may still find the odd Citi labeled ATM but those will be re-labeled over the next few weeks.