Five Days in Buenos Aires — an Itinerary
Argentina’s Buenos Aires had been on my bucket list for a long time, and when we started planning our world trip, it seemed to be on everyone’s list of places for digital nomads. A unique and beautiful mixture of all things European and Latin American, it really rewards a longer stay, but you can see and enjoy the highlights of the city in five days. Come in early or late summer to avoid the hottest times and to be surrounded by the lush green parks of the city.
Itinerary
Day 1. See the city landmarks in San Nicolas neighborhood
Spend the first day in the center of the city, seeing its current and historical landmarks:
Plaza de Mayo - The city’ s central square, it marks the occasion of the May Revolution of 1811, when the Spanish colonies declared independence (prompted by Napoleon’s seizure of Spain) and hosts the Piramide de Mayo, Buenos Aires' first national monument. See the president’s house (pink mansion) and the BA Cathedral, housing the tomb of Jose de San Martin, the “liberator” of Argentina
From there, walk to Palacio Barolo, a landmark piece of architecture
The Palace has a cafe with a stunning view on top. Be aware though that it has incredibly finicky hours (only in the evening) and requires reservation for a timed entry. Despite spending a month in BA, we weren't able to organize ourselves enough to go.
Continue just a block further to the Plaza de los dos Congressos leading to the stunning building of Argentina’s Congress
From the Plaza, take a 20 minute walk to Teatro Colón - an opulent (still functioning) opera house that boasts some of the worlds finest acoustics.
Tickets for a performance must be booked many months in advance, but taking the hour-long English-speaking tour of the theatre is also totally worth it. You can book one about a week in advance online. Our daughter happened to love it, as you get to imagine yourself transported to the past and get a feel for the theater from the lavish silk cushions of the Loge Boxes
From Teatro Colon, another 20 minute walk will take you to your last destination of the day, El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookstore, housed in a converted theater. The stage hosts a surprisingly decent restaurant where you can get a snack to tide you over until dinner, which is unlikely to start until 9pm, given the Argentine penchant for pushing things as late as possible.
Have dinner at one of these amazing restaurants.
Day 2. Enjoy the Palermo district, eat at Fogon, and visit La Boca
Start the day by exploring Palermo Soho, the chic part of town. Have a coffee at one of the fantastic local cafes like Moshu Treehouse, or a whole spread with a beautiful plate of fruit
Then stroll through the free Eco park — sprinkled with animal enclosures throughout (it’s essentially a free zoo). Find all 24 animal enclosures and take home a free giraffe (just kidding). And if you have kids, the playground in the Eco park is pretty great on weekday and packed on weekends.
Not a fan of zoos? Walk instead around to the next door botanical gardens or explore more of the Palermo neighborhood and survey the extensive street art that can be found throughout
Enjoy the city’s love affair with tree-lined streets, which are especially beautiful in Palermo
Once you’ve had your fill of the streets, treat yourself to lunch at Fogon (prior reservation required and easier/cheaper for a weekday lunch)! This is not just “lunch,” though, but an Asada experience, a sequence of meat dishes, which can sometimes run from noon to midnight (Fogon is more reasonable). Not to be missed for the meat lover!
Not in the mood for steak? Some might say “Why are you in Argentina”"? Yet, in Buenos Aires, you can sit down to lunch at the vegetarian Chui — that’s why! Chui knocks it out of the park by embracing non-meat ingredients and making vegetables and home-grown mushrooms the stars. Best vegetarian restaurant we’ve been to, by far!
After lunch, take a bus or car out to La Boca, a working class neighborhood renowned for its colorful houses. Originally a tenement neighborhood of poor immigrants in the early 20th centuries, its history still peers through today’s more tourist-friendly veneer
Budget about an hour to walk around the main block (where the colors are fresh). Parts of La Boca is known to be a bit… shady, so stick to this main tourist section between the colorful houses and stadium. Or, consider taking a walking tour with AirBnB Experiences or other tour. Don’t forget to buy an alfajor from one of the many vendors nearby
If you haven’t yet caught on, they are all about Messi and Maradona in Argentina, especially in La Boca, which houses one of the city’s two major Football stadiums
If you want and are there at the right time, you can round out the day with a visit to BA’s legendary soccer games. The tickets are on the pricey side, but we’re told it’s worth it. The two major stadiums/teams are La Boca and River Plate — and the locals are split on their favorite. Our guide suggested checking out the River Plate games since the stadium is larger, making tickets half the price of La Boca (where most seats are season passes held by families for generations). Plan ahead for a game if you want to go.
Day 3. Recoleta, San Telmo, Flamenco
What does one do on a sunny day in Buenos Aires? Go to the cemetery! But not just any cemetery. The Recoleta cemetery hosts the remains of Argentina’s most reknowned scions like Jorge Luis Borges and Eva “Evita” Peron. Consult the map up front to plan your path
From there, walk down the posh Avenida del Libertador toward the national museum of fine arts, and enjoy BA’s renowned massive and amazingly green boulevards and beautiful buildings. Buenos Aires is known as the Paris of South America for its broad avenues and European architecture. Thus, one of the best things to do in BA is just walking around its gorgeous streets
Tour the Museo Nacional De Bellas Artes for free! Although the collection is not as extensive as that of European capital museums, it’s comprehensive and offers really interesting views into Argentina’s history along with a bit of the classic masterpieces
After the museum, break for lunch. Ideally, this day lands on a Sunday, in which case you can then head over to the immense San Telmo Sunday market (plan 20-30 min for the trip). Although it has a fair share of tourists, and stalls for tourists, prices are reasonable and there are lots of inventive, fun (and random) items there, so definitely worth a visit!
In the evening check out an Argentinian Tango show. We booked online tickets to Tango Porteno — which is a big outfit with an impressive show. Although our seating wasn’t the best, we appreciated that there was variety in the show to make the hour and a half pass in a blink. If you want better seats, book the tickets with dinner included and have dinner there.
If you didn’t eat at the Tango show, finish with a dinner at one of BA’s fashionable steak houses, such as the famous Don Julio or El Preferido… or if you like Italian, check out one of the many options in town. (P.S. For Don Julio make sure you book at least 3-4 weeks in advance and for El Preferido at least 1-2 weeks. Lunch reservations are easier to get.)
Day 4. Getting out of the city
Although Buenos Aires has an incredible amount to offer any visitor (we spent nearly a month without leaving!), there are tons of opportunities for great day trips. Some suggestions would be
Visit an Estancia (ranch) in the nearby Pampas. Some options are a polo-training day at Puesto Viejo or a day learning about stud horse breeding and racing, plus lots of other animals and a horse-ride at Haras Chenaut (book via AirBnB experiences)
Check out Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. A cobblestoned Barrio Histórico, with a well-preserved Portuguese history, it makes a great day trip via ferry from BA. Leave at 9 and come back to the city by 7.
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Relax in the Tigre Delta. Especially in the summer, this is a great place as it is where you find Parque de la Costa, a traditional roller coast park, a water park , and excellent kayaking opportunities
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Logistics
Where to stay
Visitors to Buenos Aires are typically recommended to stay in either Palermo, Recoleta, or City center neighborhoods. Collegiales is another up and coming neighborhood with a more relaxed vibe. We saw a number of reasonably priced options in all of these neighborhoods on Booking.com. For a detailed look at the options check out our this post, but we were happy with our selection of the more local Palermo Soho. Keep in mind that getting around the city can be slow, so the choice of city center vs. the other three (which are close together) can make a big difference to what you see in a short stay.
Where to eat
We got you covered on this front — check out our post that covers some of the highlights of the culinary scene at all price points.
Getting around Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires has a substantial and incredibly cheap metro system (something like $.25 per ride). It’s a great way to get from eastern Palermo to Plaza de Mayo. However, BA is a large city and coverage is limited, so you will often have to make do with travel by road.
Taxis in BA are plentiful and reasonably priced (keep some cash on hand). In less busy neighborhoods, you can use apps like Uber or Cabify. For longer distances, apps will usually yield lower prices than just catching a cab on the street.
However, when planning your day, take into account BA’s notorious traffic which stems from a lack of good travel corridors, which means you will often be driving on packed minor streets with red lights on every short block, even outside rush hours. This is why travel time estimates (of Cabify at least) are often way off.
Cash is King
This bit of advice may get dated fast, but as of spring 2024 it was still true. This means that as a visitor, you won’t be able to to rely on credit cards in many cases AND you can’t expect to rely on ATMs (in fact we didn’t use an ATM our whole month there). Instead, you need to bring cash in major currencies (dollars, euros), to exchange at a favorable rate in one of the exchanges around the city (just consult Google maps). It used to be that the blue rate would be twice the official rate, but Milei has brought the two much closer together. Finally, you may get away with a Western Union situation, but we heard stories about lines and other less favorable experiences — so really try to bring hard currency.
The Mosquitoes
Although, again, this is a bit of an anomaly and may not apply to you, this year brought storms (quite literally) of mosquitoes to Argentina. Buenos Aires and the surrounding Pampas were badly affected. For all that, Buenos Aires was still well worth it, just make sure to bring your own mosquito repellant with you in the summer season — just in case.
Buenos Aires is one of the best places in the world for a short stay. Its mix of all things European and Latin American is unique, comforting, beautiful and delicious. Although it is often just a gateway to the rest of Argentina’s sites, like Iguazu and Patagonia, Buenos Aires is definitely also a destination in its own right. Come and see for yourself!
