Buenos Aires

About Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires grew rich on beef and grain in the late nineteenth century and spent its fortune on Parisian boulevards, opera houses and grand cafes, which is why the Argentine capital still feels like a European city transplanted to the banks of the Rio de la Plata. Each barrio has its own personality, from the cobbled antique lanes of San Telmo and the painted tin houses of La Boca to the leafy parks and design shops of Palermo.

Political history plays out around Plaza de Mayo and the pink Casa Rosada, while Recoleta Cemetery, where Eva Peron is buried, is a city of marble mausoleums. The Teatro Colon ranks among the world's great opera houses, and the city is famous for its bookshops, El Ateneo Grand Splendid being the most theatrical.

This is the home of tango, played in dance halls called milongas late into the night, and of a serious appetite: steak at a parrilla, empanadas, medialunas with coffee and dulce de leche in everything. Dinner rarely starts before nine. Ferries cross the river to Colonia in Uruguay, and the Tigre delta is an easy train ride north.