Things to do in Buenos Aires.

Typical visits and attractions:

 Calle Florida. Architecture buffs will love the opulent, early 20th-century buildings that line this mile-long pedestrian mall, popular for its gem, leather and fur stores.

Palermo. The open spaces of this barrio, a legacy of caudillo Juan Manuel de Rosas who was overthrown in 1852, made possible the Jardín Botánico Carlos Thays the Jardín Zoológico the Rosedal or rose garden the Hipódromo and the Planetarium.

Museo Historico Nacional. Housed in a former mansion, this museum highlights a series of battlefield paintings by artist Candido Lopez and tells the story of Argentine history through paintings and artifacts.

El viejo Almacen. Housed in a 200-year-old building, Argentina’s most famous tango club features an Argentine-style tango considered to be more authentic than others. Built in 1798, it started out as a general store and then converted into a hospital. In the early 1900s, the building was transformed into a tango bar. The love of tango has kept this bar open. Tango star Edmundo Rivero bought the building in 1969 and through his fame, the bar has become even more popular. 

Esquina Carlos Gardel. Named after the singer who popularized tango -and credited for creating tango with lyrics-, this 1940s-style club provides a delicious dinner and superbly choreographed tango entertainment. 

Plaza San Martin. A popular lunchtime respite for business folk, this lovely park is bordered by the San Martin Palace and the Plaza Hotel, and includes a huge monument to General Jose de San Martin.

Confiteria Ideal. A sense of nostalgia pervades this aging but elegant club where the tango brings locals and tourists together. Afternoon lessons are a prelude to evening dance parties.

Jardin Botanico. This garden is a fairy-tale haven scattered with romantic twisting pathways, statues hiding around corners, babbling brooks, dragonflies and floral treasures from all over the world.

Cabildo. Opposite the Casa Rosada on the Plaza de Mayo is the resplendent former Spanish town hall, the Cabildo, a fascinating old colonial building fronted by arches that once encircled the plaza, back during the May Revolution in 1810. The guards outside the building are members of the revered Regimiento de Patricios which was formed in 1806. They still wear their traditional uniforms, designed nearly 200 years ago. 

San Telmo flea market. Do learn to dance the tango, or at least watch others dance it. One of the best spots for admiring tango couples, or for receiving an impromptu lesson, is at the San Telmo flea market on Sundays in Buenos Aires. 

Galeria Pacifico. Large Buenos Aires shopping mall fashioned after Milan's Gallerie Vittorio Emanuele shopping center.

La Manzana de Las Luces.

Reserva Ecologica.

Malambo music.

Cementerio de la Recoleta. The most celebrated Argentineans, including Eva Peron and her family, are buried at this elaborate cemetery, where mausoleums replicate chapels, pyramids and Greek temples.

La Recoleta. A contrast to La Boca, this upscale expensive neighborhood is where the city's wealthy congregate. Elegant and refined, this barrio is built around the huge Recoleta cemetery where Eva Peron is buried amidst those who disdained her. Here also are outdoor cafes, distinctive homes, and the telos hotels renting rooms by the hour. The Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Pilar located here is a national monument.
The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes contains many works of famed European artists.

Teatro Colon. One of the top opera houses in the world, this lavish, seven-floor Italianate building has superb acoustics for listening to the fine performers that grace its stage. It's easy to find, right on 9 de Julio, the widest street in the world. It is the only huge old piece of classic architecture on the street.

La Boca. This working class area originally populated by Italian dock workers has bloomed into a colorful center of art, restaurants and the colorful metal houses which present a refreshing change from the rest of the city.
The colors come from the brightly painted houses on the Caminito a pedestrain walk named for the tango of the same name and the waters of the Riachuelo stained by oil sludges.
The painter Benito Quinquela Martín was a leading influence in the use of color and his home, now the Museo de Bellas Artes de La Boca, displays his paintings of dock workers.

Cafe Tortoni. Do have a coffee at the famous Cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires. Cafes are a way of life in B.A., but Tortoni is perhaps the most famous cafe in all of Argentina, patronized by celebrities since 1858.

San Telmo. This section of the city retains some of the colonial flavor of past years and is steeped in the city's history. It was a fashionable district for years until a yellow fever epidemic drove the inhabitants north into what is now the Recoleta, and the lower classes and immigrants moved in.
It has cobblestoned streets, low buildings, antique shops and the famed Sunday antique market in the main square of the barrio.
San Telmo's tango bars are an excellent place to learn and dance the tango.

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. There’s no fee to enter this fine museum housing significant works of the European masters from pre-Renaissance days to the present and a vast collection of 19th- and 20th-century Argentine sculptures and paintings.

Puerto Madero. By day, this riverfront area is a booming business and shopping district and by night, a hip neighborhood with pricey restaurants and fashionable clubs. Close to Retiro: train station regularly. Wooden ferries will take you further into the tree-lined delta. Puerto Madero Reclaiming this port area for residential and commercial use, the city is creating a planned development of restaurants, businesses homes the Catholic University and office buildings.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW:

1. Do try yerba mate, an herbal drink similar to tea. It's not just the national drink—it's a cultural ritual as well. The mate is passed clockwise and shared as a sign of friendship and acceptance.

2. Do try to see a polo match. Argentina is known for having polo players who are among the best (and best-looking) in the world.

3. Do pick up a copy of The Buenos Aires Herald, an English-language newspaper that has excellent coverage of local and international news.

4. Don't expect to be completely understood if you have studied other forms of Spanish. Although this is seldom a problem, some words may have different meanings in different spanish-speaking countries.