Recommended areas and tips
Buenos Aires is huge, and each neighbourhood feels like a different city. Choosing the right base saves a lot of travelling: most visitors stay in Palermo, Recoleta or San Telmo.
🏘️ The neighbourhoods
Palermo (Soho and Hollywood) 🌳
The most popular area with visitors: tree-lined streets, design shops, the city's best restaurants and bars, and the large parks of the Bosques de Palermo.
- ✅ Endless choice for eating and going out
- ✅ Safe and pleasant to walk around
- ❌ Noisy on weekend nights
- ❌ 20–30 minutes by underground or taxi from the historic centre
Recoleta 🏛️
The most Parisian side of Buenos Aires: palaces, elegant avenues, Recoleta Cemetery and the National Museum of Fine Arts.
- ✅ Very safe and well placed between the centre and Palermo
- ✅ Lovely for strolling
- ❌ More expensive, with little nightlife
San Telmo 💃
The oldest neighbourhood: cobbled streets, colonial houses, antique shops, the Sunday market and tango in the squares.
- ✅ Full of charm, with good prices
- ✅ Close to Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada
- ❌ Some streets are deserted at night, so take a taxi or Uber
- ❌ Older buildings, sometimes without a lift
Puerto Madero 🌉
Former docks turned into skyscrapers, five-star hotels and waterfront restaurants, next to the Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve.
- ✅ The safest area in the city
- ✅ Riverside walks and views
- ❌ Little local life and no underground station nearby
Retiro and Microcentro 🏢
The business district, close to Teatro Colón, the Obelisco and Calle Florida. Well connected, with plenty of hotels.
- ✅ Central, with a wide choice of hotels
- ❌ Empties out at night and at weekends
- ❌ Unsafe areas around Retiro station
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