Buenos Aires

From Plaza de Mayo to the Obelisco

Plaza de Mayo is home to the pink government house, Casa Rosada, and the Metropolitan Cathedral, where the future Pope Francis said Mass for more than 20 years. Since 1977, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, searching for children who disappeared under the military dictatorship, have gathered in this square every Thursday. Walk west along Avenida de Mayo and you'll reach Café Tortoni, which opened in 1858 and was once a haunt of Borges and Gardel. A little farther on is Avenida 9 de Julio, often called the widest avenue in the world. On it stands the 67.5m Obelisco, built in 1936 to mark 400 years since the city was first founded.

San Telmo Sundays, La Boca's lane

In San Telmo, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, an antiques fair that's been running since 1970 sets up in Plaza Dorrego every Sunday, and the same square hosts the Patio de Tango. When you get peckish, grab a bite at the nearby Mercado San Telmo. Caminito, in La Boca, was originally a stretch of the railway to Ensenada. When the line closed in 1928 it became an abandoned alley, and only in 1959 was it reborn as a pedestrian street. Its roughly 150m is lined with houses whose tin walls are painted in bright colors. The neighborhood's character came from the Italian immigrants who settled in La Boca. The name comes from the tango "Caminito", but the lyrics have nothing to do with this street.

A cemetery, a theater and a bookstore

Recoleta Cemetery opened in 1822 as the city's first public cemetery. Of the family vaults that line its paths like little streets, more than 90 are national historic monuments, and one of the most visited graves is Evita's (Eva Perón). It's open daily from 9am to 5pm. Teatro Colón opened on May 25, 1908, with a performance of Verdi's Aida. A guided tour of about 50 minutes takes you inside, and English tours run only at 11am, 12pm, 1pm and 3pm (general tour ticket ARS 34,000; changes often). El Ateneo Grand Splendid is a theater that opened in 1919 and became a bookstore in 2000. There's a bar on the old stage, its velvet curtain half drawn back, where you can settle in with a book.

Late dinners and the parrilla

Locals tide themselves over until a late dinner with merienda in the late afternoon: coffee with medialunas, small croissants. Make one dinner a parrilla, a grill house serving asado. First time? Bife de chorizo, a strip loin cut, and provoleta, cheese melted over the coals, are safe bets. Choripán, a sausage in bread, and empanadas, baked and filled with meat or cheese, make lighter meals, and the standard dessert is an alfajor filled with dulce de leche, milk slowly cooked down. For wine, have a Malbec.

Tango: the stage and the milonga

UNESCO inscribed tango as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. There are stage shows to watch over dinner, but go at least once to a milonga, where locals come to dance themselves. At Club Gricel in Almagro, a class comes first at 7:30pm on Fridays, and the milonga opens at 9pm. La Viruta in Palermo runs on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Where stage tango dazzles, at a milonga your eyes stay on an older couple dancing a whole song in silence.

Palermo and an afternoon by the water

Palermo, the city's largest neighborhood, holds its biggest green space, the Bosques de Palermo. Inside, El Rosedal grows more than 18,000 rose bushes, at their peak in October. The nearby Jardín Japonés was built in 1967 for the visit of then Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko, and MALBA, the Latin American art museum, is in the same neighborhood. Around sunset, head to Puerto Madero, a redeveloped old port. Puente de la Mujer, designed by Santiago Calatrava and opened in December 2001, is a footbridge modeled on a couple dancing tango. When boats come through, its central span rotates to open the channel.

Suggested itinerary: 4 nights, 5 days

Day 1 — Ezeiza International Airport (32km from the city, about 50 minutes) → El Ateneo bookstore → 9pm dinner at a parrilla Day 2 — Plaza de Mayo and the cathedral → Café Tortoni → Obelisco → Teatro Colón tour → milonga Day 3 — Recoleta Cemetery → Palermo's rose garden and Japanese garden → MALBA → Puerto Madero at sunset Day 4 — Ferry day trip to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay (1 hr 15 min each way on Colonia Express) Day 5 — San Telmo antiques fair → Caminito in La Boca → airport Shuffle the days so you're in San Telmo on a Sunday, when the antiques fair is on.

What to eat

• Asado and bife de chorizo (parrilla grill)
• Empanadas (baked half-moon pastries)
• Medialunas (small croissants for merienda)
• Alfajores (dulce de leche sandwich cookies)

Handy tips

• South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a level 2 travel advisory (avoid non-essential travel) for Argentina. Around tourist spots such as Caminito in La Boca, a frequently reported trick is to smear something on your clothes, then make a show of helping while your bag or camera disappears. If a stranger offers to wipe you down, walk away.
• The Subte (metro) takes NFC-enabled credit and debit cards right at the gate. Buses (colectivos) need a rechargeable SUBE card, so pick one up in advance at a kiosk or metro station.
• Pay for your lodging with a foreign-issued credit card or a transfer from a foreign bank, confirm you're a foreign visitor with your passport, and you won't pay the 21% VAT (IVA) on accommodation. Make sure you show your passport at check-in.