Why go to Paris? Try Buenos Aires Instead!
Written: Sep 15 '07 (Updated Sep 16 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Mix of Europe and Manhattan at a 50% to 75% discount. Friendly and safe.
Cons: Somewhat difficult to get to places outside of BA. Limited flights.
The Bottom Line: Highly recommended while the exchange rate holds up.
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| rockhopper46038's Full Review: Buenos Aires |
Buenos Aires. The name conjures up the thoughts of gauchos, beautiful leather goods, and that most sensual of dances, the tango. Buenos Aires is all of that, but so much more.
We have had Buenos Aires on the list of destinations for some time, but the opportunity recently presented itself to take some time away from work and pick somewhere interesting to explore. Buenos Aires got the nod through a combination of factors including the time of the year (Argentina is just coming into their Spring), the fact that neither I nor my wife had ever been there before (a condition we had set prior to investigating intriguing destinations), and lastly, my proclivity toward cheapness!
(In a world where the dollar is suffering badly against other currencies, Argentina remains an incredible value with 1 dollar $US buying the equivalent of roughly 3.18 pesos Argentine.)
Our search for a deal was not difficult. We used a favorite site of our, lastminute.com, to secure round trip reservations on Delta and 7 nights accommodations at the Concord Callao Suite apartments for about $1000.00 each. International flights arrive at Ezieza International Airport (EZE), which is on the outskirts of the city. The easiest way into the city proper is to arrange for a minivan at the central desk in the main hall after clearing customs and the first hall of rent-a-cars, taxi stands and currency exchange booths. A one-way trip to your hotel or apartment for you and your travelling companions anywhere in the city center or neighborhoods surrounding it will set you back about 70 pesos, or $25 US including tip. (By the way, don't exchange funds at the very visible currency exchange booth right in the baggage claim area. There is a Bank of Argentina located just outside of Customs that offers an exchange rate far superior, and it is literally 40 steps further through the Customs area, and it was open Saturday morning when we landed.)
We liked the idea of an apartment over a hotel for the extra space and the kitchenette that allowed us the freedom of preparing some meals ourselves during our trip. Apartments in Buenos Aires also go for about half the daily rate of the 4 star hotels in town, which is a nice bonus. The Concord Callao comes with daily maid service, on-site concierge, laundry and fitness center (although the fitness center is small) and a pool, if you happen to visit during the warmer months. The concierge will check you in and provide you with city maps, suggested excursions, even a transformer to convert your 115V appliances to the local 220V power sources. (Speaking of maps, there is a locally published map obtainable at most hotels and some restaurants and cafes called the Golden Map, or "plano de oro", that will highlight many of the must-see historical and touristy spots within the center city area).
Buenos Aires is made up of a number of distinctly different neighborhoods, each with a different vibe. (Think New York City.) Our apartment was in Recoleta, which is regarded as the most upscale neighborhood in BA, but you can choose from Recoleta, Puerto Madero, Palermo (with its subsets of SoHo, Hollywood and Chico), Barrio Norte, Microcentro, San Telmo, Once, La Boca, and a few others, each with their own feel. Recoleta is residential, with lots of cafes and restaurants, but perhaps limited shopping opportunities compared to some of the others. It does contain the famous Recoleta Cemetary, which, aside from containing the oft visited tomb of Eva Peron ("Evita"), also displays some amazing examples of architecture, albeit in what was for me a rather creepy setting. My wife loved the place though, with its colony of feral cats that are fed by a group of local ladies who provide health care to the colony with money from donations solicited at the cemetary entrance. Puerto Madero is a reclaimed waterfront district, with high end restaurants, new office buildings, and a Nature Preserve that sprung, serendipitiously (wow, is that a word?), from the reclamation project when concrete, sand, wood and other demolition debris was dumped into the river lowlands and created a habitat for wildlife and vegetation that grew into a rough park, of sorts, now protected from further development by the local and national authorities. Palermo is the young, hip, trendy neighborhood rife with boutiques, cafes, and storefronts selling clothes from local designers that took over the fashion scene in BA when the peso crisis of several years back put the cost of international designer labels out of the reach of all but the wealthiest Portenos (the local term for a BA native). Palermo is also where you will find the the formal Botanical Gardens, and the BA Zoo. Microcentro contains many of the historical monuments, buildings and spaces of BA, as well as the tourist shopping Mecca of Calle Florida and Calle Lavalle. More on those later. San Telmo is the oldest neighborhood, and La Boca is the seediest, but I leave those to the reader to explore, as we didn't spend any time this trip exploring the stomping grounds of Maradona in La Boca, or the famous San Telmo market.
We arrived on our overnight flight from Atlanta at about 8am and immediately proceeded to our lodging, We checked in, collected a map, and struck out in search of some breakfast. In Recoleta you can't walk 50 feet without running across a cafe, so we stopped at the first one we came across and had a couple of coffees and the local equivalent of a tray of croissants (called medialunas) for about 4 bucks US. This would be a taste of things to come, as it would prove incredibly difficult to spend more than $5 for breakfast for two, and $10 for lunch for two during our entire trip. Coffee is very European, if unspecified you get an espresso; otherwise you can order Americano, or Cafe con Leche, or any of a wide variety of coffee concoctions. Those of you who regularly visit Starbucks will probably feel right at home; for me, I'm only interested in espresso; anything else is a bit frou-frou. Your first coffee in BA will also likely introduce you to a local delicacy called "dolce de leche". Most cups of coffee will come out to you with both a small tumbler of mineral water and a cookie/biscuit/confection that is a combination of cookie wafers and a caramel filling. Get used to them, you'll see them everywhere. It being our first day, we sampled several cafes, and grabbed lunch at one of them, before heading back to our apartment for a mid-day siesta. A cafe lunch in BA can be just about anything you want, but the staples on any menu are going to be empanadas, pizzas, panina-style sandwiches called "tostadas", and "minutes", which are breaded cutlets of beef or veal served with a variety of sauces side dishes. This is probably an appropriate place to say that the meals alone are ample excuse to fly to Buenos Aires, and that food played no small part in our decision to visit. Argentina is a carnivorous culture though, and although vegetarian fare is available you shouldn't count on many establishments providing a variety of options for the grass-eaters among us. (Argentines are more used to putting grass-eaters ON the menu, an exercise at which they singularly excel). Our first full-on meal experience was at La Cabana steakhouse in Recoleta, and it would set the stage for the days and nights to come. We ordered a sausage appetizer, which the restaurant brought out with sevaral small accompanyments, and then my wife had a filet mignon ("Lomo de Bife"), and I had a ribeye ("Ojo de Bife"). On the side we requested steak fries ("papas frites"), and we washed it all down with a bottle of Trumpeter Malbec and a few bottles of spring water. It wasn't the best meal we were to have in Argentina, but it was awfully good. Total bill: about $US70 with tip.
Second day, we needed to find a hair dryer for Megan, my wife. Started with cafe of course, and a few medialuna. Decided that it was most likely we could find a hair dryer over at the biggest mall in BA or the commercial district around it, so we headed over to Microcentro and the Galerias Pacifico. The mall itself was surprisingly pedestrian, although the architecture was amazing and one could only wish that US malls could boast food courts as diverse and upscale as the one in the Galeria's lower level. Worth a visit, if only to see the paintings on the underside of the Galerias dome. Once there, the streets of Florida and Lavalle beckon, and you shouldn't resist walking their lengths past shops of every type and description hawking leather goods, jewelry, clothing, all types of Argentine trinkets, and, of course, cafes and restaurants. (I was reminded of St. Thomas in USVI in some ways, although the bargains in BA are better.) Also, local artisans have their wares spread out on blankets in the middle of the pedestrians only thoroughfare, and amidst the usual tourist junk were some quite talented artists. (In particular there was a gentleman freehand spraypainting on canvas that was producing some really cool stuff that I cannot fathom how he could exhibit such tight control with the tool he was using.) In any case, we were able to find a hairdryer; and on our walk we discovered another charming BA peculiarity; when you order a beer at a cafe you will invariably be presented with a small tray of three different munchies along with your beer. This is a practise we could use more of here in the States! A word about the local beer: its called Quilmes, it comes in about 4 varieties, its only moderately tasty as beers go, but its cheaper than water. Literally. A liter will set you back 9 pesos, 3/4 liters about 7. (Roughly $2.75 and $2, respectively). Full disclosure, you can get Budweiser, Guinness, Stella Artois, Heineken, and a host of other beers, but they cost so much more than the local variety (about the same as they would cost in the States) that we rarely did.
It might seem like we didn't do much this second day in-country, but as I look at our little travel notebook, along with the shopping we stopped at 7 cafes on our way to dinner at a place called Il Gatto. Dinner in BA usually doesn't start until at least 10pm, so our schedule soon followed a pattern of sleeping in from the night before, getting up for breakfast and seeing new things until around noon; having lunch then strolling around again until 6 or so, then catching a nap until it was time to go out for dinner at 10 or 11pm.
Il Gatto that night was nice in that it gave us a taste of the strong italian influence a wave of immigrants have had in Argentina, and in BA in particular. It's as common to find a restaurant that serves antipasto and homemade pasta in BA as it is in Rome, or Bologna. Pasta, pizza and wine...tasty no matter what country you're in. As a matter of fact, fresh pasta to go is a concept we saw a lot of in BA, with people stopping to select several pastas and sauces to take with them back to their homes to heat and serve. (We did this ourselves one night in our kitchenette; I wish there were a local spot here at home serving up the same.)
Next day we chose to explore Palermo for the first time, and walked from our apartment into this district of parks and gardens that contains a horsetrack, polo grounds, the Botanical gardens, Japanese gardens, and the Zoo. The polo grounds are apparently world famous, and attract European royalty each year when the season is in session. We confined ourselves to the northern end of Palermo, saving the more boutiquey SoHo and Hollywood sections for later in the trip. Today was Empanada Day! These tasty little pastry packets stuffed with meats, cheeses and token bits of vegetables can be found on pretty much every menu and are a perfect little snack to sit and eat while enjoying a beer or coffee, and watching the people walk by. Carne (minced beef with olives) is the most popular, followed by jamon y queso (ham and cheese), and then pollo (chicken with various vegetables). We got a little lost this day, and ended up over by the Avenue 9 de Julio at the end of the night, which is a very wide (supposedly widest in the world) multilane street that cuts through Microcentro and intersects with the Avenue de Mayo near many of the most historic sites of Buenos Aires. We found ourselves at the extreme north end of Ave 9 de Julio in a small subdistrict known as La Recova, which had been essentially abandoned with the construction of the Avenue and the overpass that connects it to the highway leading out of BA. Recently this area has been "recovered" (hence, La Recova) and is now a thriving district of restaurants and nightclubs. We stumbled over a small restaurant in the bottom of an old orphanage building called "Juana M" that is a great deal, even by BA standards, and is decorated in art by local artists that you can buy directly off the wall. The clients here were mostly young and the atmosphere was boistrous, and our standard meal of two steaks, appetizer, papas frites, salads and a bottle of wine came to about 35$US.
Look for Buenos Aires, Part II tomorrow, where we go to Uruguay, explore some other neighborhoods in BA, and experience what might be the best steak dinner we've ever had...
Ok, fourth day in BA...we chose to begin our day by touring the Recoleta Cemetary. (After the requisite cafe and pastry, of course.) The cemetary is located between Ave. Pueyrredon and Calle Junin, south of one of BA's major thoroughfares, Ave. del Libertador. It is the size of several city blocks, and appears prominently on most any map of BA you will be given. The entrance to the cemetary is situated across from a green area that is used as a fair/flea market/general gathering place. Its an opportunity to buy some trinkets if you like, and a nice place to sit and peoplewatch. As you enter the cemetary through its large entry gallery you will most likely be approached by someone selling a map of a suggested route through the necrpoplis that will help you identify some of the more ornate tombs, as well as ensure you don't miss the tomb of Evita. Buy it or don't buy it; its difficult to miss Evita's tomb as there will be more than one group of people looking for it at any given time; but the map is less than US$1.50 and the proceeds go to maintaining the tombs of those whose descendents no longer live or provide upkeep, as well as helping the woman provide food and care for the colony of cats that make their home in the Recoleta Cemetary. I can't do justice to the architecture of the tombs with words, I can just say that walking the streets and squares of this mini-city within the city was a one of the most memorable events of our trip, and shouldn't be missed.
Just outside the walls of the cemetary, south of the green space, is a plaza that is lined with restaurants, cafes and shops that is a convenient place to grab some lunch or dinner while you are in this vicinity. We chose to explore some of the parks north and west the Recoleta area where the National Fine Arts Museum, the National Library, and other important government buildings are located. Before leaving the locale however, if you happen to be into home design and decor there is a small mall called Buenos Aires Design Recoleta right next to the cemetary that is well worth a stop. The shops in this mall are small, but full of high-quality, high-design items produced almost exclusively within Argentina.
The triangle defined by Aves. Pte. Figueroa Alcorta and Libertador as you stroll west occupied our afternoon. We didn't go in many of the buildings but it was interesting to see the architecture of the area. (Although I will point out that admission to the National Fine Arts Museum is free, so if you just want to stick your head in and peek around you don't have to feel like you need to devote a day to it.) The green spaces were filled with people, mostly students I suspect, as the area is also home to a university. Our real reason for investigating this area was to see the sculpture of a flower that opens at sunrise and closes at sunset that I had been intrigued by. I thought it was cool, my wife maybe not so much; so I recommend it mostly to either fans of modern sculpture, or engineering types that would find the mechanism fascinating. Also in this area is a cafe/museum dedicated to the design of Modena, Italy, and Ferrari. More expensive than almost any other cafe, you're paying for the high-tech vibe and the gift store (or maybe for the individual video monitors mounted above each urinal in the men's room). Dinner was takeout from a local pizza place, along with a bottle of wine. We had walked a long way today, and were a bit tired!
We thought the next day (Day 5) we would re-visit Palermo, and spend time in the Hollywood district among the cafe and shops there, making a side trip to the leather district along Calle Murillo. We pretty much spent the day popping in and out of different establishments (our notebook says 8 cafe stops) and checking out the leather products for sale. If you're in the market for a leather bag or coat, this is the place you'll want to buy it. Just about any kind of leather good you could imagine can be purchased, and at mostly excellent prices. This is maybe a good place to point out that anything you purchase in Argentina that will be taken with you out of country is eligible for a tax rebate of about 21%. You have to ask for it if the special rebate cheque isn't provided (look for the blue "tax free" logo), and you'll have to remember to stop by the rebate center at the airport before going through security, but the program is a nice little bonus on top of already great buying opportunities. Once you have exhausted your proclivity for shopping, you're in a perfect place to sit down and try another specialty of BA, the "submarino". I tried mine at a little place called Bar el Taller, and was brought a glass of hot milk and a chocolate bar, which, as the name would suggest, was placed into the milk to melt. I don't know why this was cooler than stirring two teaspoons of Nestle Quik or Swiss Miss into a cup of microwaved milk, but it most certainly was. I would also like to recommend wholeheartedly a particular steakhouse in Palermo called La Cabrerra. Aside from magnificent beef, this restaurant differentiates itself by including with the cost of the meal a sampler of what must be 12 different condiments and side dishes to try alongside the steak. Tasty indeed!
This is the first time we chose to take a taxi back to our apartment instead of walking, and we found it to be relatively painless. Fares are cheap, and although we had been told that a "taxi mafia" is rampant in BA and that tourists need to be careful that they aren't taken way out of their way in order to inflate the fares, we didn't encounter any of these issues. Its possible that our extensive walking tours we had taken prior to hailing our first cab had granted us enough familiarity with the city that we knew what route should be taken; but probably we were just lucky. On the flip side, unless the taxi were to take you from Recoleta to Puerto Madero via Ushuaia, the fare isn't going to amount to much, anyway.
Day 6 in BA we needed to obtain our tickets to Uraguay, so we decided to walk to Puerto Madero, stopping by the ferry terminal on the way. I'm not going to detail the process of securing passage on the fast jet ferry to Colonia; suffice to say that we were traumatized for the next several hours afterwards, but in retrospect it would have been a rather straightforward process if the past, present and future tenses of several verbs pertaining to nautical travel hadn't been mangled in translation.
Puerto Madero is another "reclaimed" area that has experienced renewal and is now one of the must visit neighborhoods of the city. Encompassing both sides of the waterway bordering the city on its east side, Puerto Madero is almost exclusively restaurants and cafes on the ground floor of reclaimed dockside warehouses, and office buildings put up recently by multinational corporations. There is also a large marina filled with sailboats and yachts home-ported all over the world, testifying to the appeal of this city as a place to stay while the weather warms up in the northern hemisphere. You can also board a sailing frigate permanently moored alongside the docks, and walk across the Bridge of Woman, a Santiago Calatrava creation meant to both convey the form of the tango, while commemorating the Madres de Plazo de Mayo, a group of woman who march each week in memory of the up to 30,000 mostly young people who vanished between 1976 and 1982 while a military government was in power and set about ridding itself of perceived political enemies. Puerto Madero is also the home of probably the best steakhouse in Argentina, Cabana Las Liles, which I'll tell you more about later. Aside from Las Liles, I'd like to point out Los Immortales as an excellent place to have a meal in this district. Or if you wish, you can go to Hooter's, which has a restaurant here as well...
While in Puerto Madero, it is only a short walk to the Plazo De Mayo, the Casa Rosada (Argentina's White House), and the Metropolitan Cathedral, as well as a large variety of government buildings, museums and memorials. I leave it to the reader to explore these sights as they wish.
Friday we took the ferry over to Colonia del Sacrementa, Urugauy. The fast passenger ferry takes about 50 minutes to make the crossing, and costs about $35US. You can buy food and drink on the ferry, and can even shop at the duty-free store, if you are so inclined. Colonia is a UNESCO World Heritage City and the Historic District remains pretty mush how it was in the 17th century when it was founded. Small shops, churches and cafes dot the area around the remnants of the original city wall and battlements long since destroyed or dismantled. Shopkeepers seem to accept curency from the US, Argentina or Uruguay, but you can exchange currency at the terminal building or right next door if you wish. We walked from the terminal to the Historic District, but you can rent scooters, buggies, or take a guided bus tour if you like. This excursion was another highlight of our trip, and I highly recommend it, but it is more about seeing and reflecting than about any particular activity you can participate in. If you leave the Historic District you will find ample shopping and dining opportunities in Colonia proper, with even casino gambling available for those who want to try their luck. Ferry schedules are posted at the terminal, and probably obtainable at any hotel you might be staying in. Our ferry left BA at 12:00 noon, and returned at 8:00pm. Be aware there is an hour difference between BA and Colonia.
We returned to BA with time to walk from the ferry terminal to Puerto Madero and secure a spot at Cabana Las Liles for dinner. This would prove to be our most expensive dinner of the trip, but also the best. We sat in the bar enjoying several cocktails while we waited for a table, and enjoyed a few of the complimentary empanadas that the bartenders will dispense hot out of the oven. After being taken to our table, we were given a wine list with a huge variety of both domestic and imported wines, of which we chose an Argentine Malbec for about 60 pesos (maybe $US18) that would probably run 5 times that here in the States. Sausage appetizer, small plate of assorted tidbits (smoked salmon, beef carpaccio, empanadas) that was included in the table service, 2 perfectly prepared steaks (Argentine beef seems to tend to be prepared a little more done than a correponding degree here in the States, so if you like Medium-rare, ask for Rare. We had learned by this time, so ours were perfect.), and a pair of Grappa apertifs to complete the meal. Total bill: 280 pesos, or a little under $US100. Magnificent!
Last day in BA. The flights to the States leave late in the evening (ours was at 8:50pm) so we had the day to knock about and get our last taste of the culture. Our apartment building stored our bags for us, so we ran about looking for interesting souvenirs to bring to our friends back home. Another pass through the tourist district on Calle Florida, a turn past the Obelisko monument that is the symbol of BA, a stop at a cafe here and a cafe there, and it before we were ready it was time to catch a taxi to the airport and go through the long security lines. Ezieza airport offers a service I had not seen before which is to wrap your bags in a blue stretchwrap plastic, apparently to prevent the BA baggage handlers from rifling through your stuff. We weren't sure how that would work for us when we cleared Customs, so we didnt use it, but the rate appeared to be about $US9 per passengers luggage. Happily, we did not have any issues, wrap or no wrap, but it didn't appear to cause issues in Customs for those passengers travelling with us who did buy the service.
So, back in the States with a few more stamps in our passports and some incredible memories and pictures of a beautiful city in a beautiful country that we fully intend to visit again in the future, and highly recommend to others looking for a vacation a little off the beaten path, but with the feel of a truly cosmopolitan destination and an extremely agreeable cost of travelling.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Friends
Best Time to Travel Here: Sep - Nov
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Epinions.com ID:
rockhopper46038
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Member: Erik Saur
Reviews written: 44
Trusted by: 23 members
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