We live in Miami and are trying to plan a trip to BA. We have set aside a week in March, and would love some advice to plan an itinerary. Do we need a week in BA, or should we plan on taking some day trips from BA and or/short flight to somewhere not too far away for a couple of nights? I just ordered Fodor's Argentina, but find advice from FT forums to be the best!

Any help would be appreciated.

If all you have is one week, I'd plan on staying in BA, there's more than enough to keep you busy, and should you decide to, you can always take a day trip planned at last minute out to something like an estancia (ranch), or across the river to Colonia, or other ideas along those lines - those things don't need to be organized in advance.

I agree with Saltshaker. You may want to research options for a second trip to include a visit some other area, perhaps Iguazu, Cordoba, Bariloche, Salta, Mendoza, etc. In fact you can start your planning immediately after exiting the customs area in Ezeiza; there is a tourist booth there with plenty of brochures.

If you are into art galleries, museums, etc. then 1 week is just about a minimum to cover Buenos Aires properly.

Thank you for the nice words about FT. I do think we have a large wealth of information that we love to share. We don't know who you are and what you like to do so it is harder to give advice.

If you have only one week I would make Buenos Aires your base. Depending on how much you like to "cram" into one week, you could do some day trips. March is the end of summer so days are longer and warmer without being too hot (most years).
Buenos Aires is big with many attractions. I agree with Gaucho about galleries and museums (house of Carlos Gardel, Musuem of Evita Peron, the Japanese Gardens, Teatro Colon). There is amazing food and cafes to just sit around and hang out. If you speak spanish, the book stores are incredible, if not then there is tons of shopping. Plan on spending Sunday at San Telmo where there is a huge, albeit too commercial and touristy, market.
Day trips may include a trip to a ranch, called Estancias where you spend a day looking at a working ranch, music, dances and good food. You could also take a day trip to Colonia de Sacramento which is a ferry trip away in Uruguay or even venture to Montevideo in Uruguay. Since you will be there in summer, you can do a day or two day trip to Mar de Plata ("the" beach resort of Argentina)
If you are very restless and cannot relax in one place, try a 2-3 day side trip to Bariloche (a ski resort but very interesting in the summer), Mendoza (wine capital of South America) or Iguazu or Ushuaia.

My recommendation: Stay in Buenos Aires. All your side trips can be planned at the last moment. I buy my side trips at a travel company that is called Les Amis. They have several places in central Buenos Aires and their prices (for the same tours) are up to 30-40% cheaper than if you buy them in the hotel.
http://www.lesamis.com.ar/

Please read some of our threads. They are full of great information. Feel free to PM me if I can help. Enjoy your trip and please come back and tell us how things worked out for you.

Thank you all for your great advice. I think we will plan to stay in BA for the week and decide on side trips after we get there and are able to gauge our time better.

I appreciate the name of the travel agency in BA. Sounds like we have a lot of choices if we do want to venture out of BA for a day or two.

I appreciate the help!

Since most of the flights back to the US are evening (even late evening) departures .. you have that whole last day to kill. And the hotel likes to kick you out too early or pay for late checkout.

I took an all day (like 9am to 6pm) Gaucho BBQ tour with a smaller company and really enjoyed the day.

You drive out, see them riding horses and all, have a really nice meal and then come back.

I planned spare travel clothes and changed at the hotel, then had my transportation to the airport and the flight. Great day and a good meal.