29 Best Nightlife in Buenos Aires, Argentina

One of the city's best venues for two decades features everything from demure indie rock to the outrageous and legendary Club 69 on Thursday (think underdressed cross-dressers). Check out live bands and dancing on the A Side, while something contrasting and chill simultaneously takes place in the back B Side room.

Several milongas call this large dance hall home. The coolest is Parakultural, which takes place late on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Reservations are essential for the last of these—the dance floor is totally packed by midnight, so get here early. Originally an alternative, "underground" milonga, it now attracts large numbers of porteños, as well as longtime expats.

Cobweb-covered bottles line the walls of this tiny venue, with maybe the most authentic tango music in town. It's known by all as "El Boliche de Roberto" after its owner, who presides from behind the heavy wooden bar. When the singing gets going at 2 or 3 am, it's usually so packed there's no room to breathe, but the guitar-and-voice duos manage gritty, emotional versions of tango classics all the same.

This sheik—er, chic and stylish—party palace is located in a former bank, and the Funky Room is where beautiful, tightly clothed youth groove to pop, rock, and funk, while the basement Excess Room has electronic beats and dizzying wall visuals. For a more sophisticated dinner-before-dancing vibe, head upstairs to the Yellow Room. This is a great spot to catch local DJs, though there are also big nights with international artists.

Once a bohemian haunt, this bar went international after serving as a major location for Wong Kar-Wai's cult indie film Happy Together. The move to the mainstream has led to glitzier dancing, as well as increasingly bad food and indifferent service. Still, the worn checkered floor and Old World bar make a charming backdrop.

Rousing live orchestras keep even nondancers entertained at the nontraditional milongas that are this club's hallmark. La Orquesta Típica el Afronte provides the music for Maldita Milonga ( 11/2189–7747) on Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday, while El Toque Cimarron Salsa ( 11–15/5891–4421) takes charge on Thursday. Tuesday's Tango Queer ( 11–15/3252–6894  www.tangoqueer.com) draws both gay and straight dancers looking to escape the confines of more conservative dance floors; and Friday takes a different turn with Latin American music.

Classic trios and quartets share the stage with young musicians performing hip tango and folk sets here. There are also milongas on weekends.

A serious party crowd is found at Club Aráoz. Bump and grind it at Thursday's block-rocking hip-hop night; Friday and Saturday see DJs spinning rock and electronic dance music for a relatively laid-back bunch of Buenos Aires youth.

The creative force behind this laidback venue is the eponymous Orquesta Típica Fernández Fierro—a scruffy young tango collective known for its rock-like take on the 2/4 beat. You can usually catch the orquesta at least one night a week; edgy musicians and the occasional classic quartet perform other nights.

This happening spot enjoys cult status in both the straight and gay communities. Upstairs is a diverse art gallery big on young locals; downstairs, underground house and techno drives one of the city's darkest dance floors, while DJs with huge followings are frequently on rotation.

Soaring columns, tarnished mirrors, and ancient chandeliers are part of Confitería Ideal's crumbling Old World glamour, along with a rather pungent musty smell. The former homewares store that reinvented itself as a tearoom now hosts milongas organized by different groups in its first-floor dance hall every day of the week. Some are held during the afternoon and evening, others late at night.

With frequent visits from "superstar DJs" and a dependable line-up of local party starters, this is the Buenos Aires base of the international Crobar club brand. There's lots of space plus the obligatory VIP lounges, and proximity to the transvestite zone means that leaving the club in the morning can get as interesting as the time spent inside.

The standard of dancing is usually high at this club, which belongs to La Academia del Tango Milonguero, one of the city's best tango schools. Beginners should consult the online schedule for classes.

The polished shows at this classic café trace the history of the tango. The dancing and costumes are great, although the stagy interludes might make you wince.

When the most beautiful of people feel like dancing with a bottle of Champagne at 4 am, they come here. Things get even more glamorous a few hours later, when the dawn breaks through the river and the yacht club is revealed. International DJs drop by to entertain the super-swanky set.

Right in the heart of Palermo and next door to Congo Club Cultural, Kika is much bigger than you'd guess from the outside. Thanks to its funky musical orientation, its two dance floors fill up quickly. The back room sometimes hosts live bands while Tuesdays are all about Hype, an all-in-one electro, hip-hop, indie, and dubstep night that gets the student-heavy crowd moving till dawn.

In the heart of the low-key Boedo neighborhood, 30 blocks west of San Telmo, La Esquina was once a traditional café favored by the barrio's old men: in fact, the famous 1948 tango Sur begins by mentioning its location on the corner of San Juan and Boedo. After getting the Disney-tango treatment, it's now a kind of 1940s concept bar—though its checkered floor and original bar remain. Performances are showy but reasonably priced.

For tango alfresco, drop by the bandstand of this Belgrano park on Saturday and Sunday evenings year-round. Classes run from 4:30 to 6:30, then the milonga proper starts at 7. Expect lots of old-timers dancing low-key steps. The event is canceled only during heavy rain; call ahead if you're unsure.

A refreshing exception to the sometimes suffocatingly macho world of tango, this is the gay milonga. The main night is Friday, when a cool set of guys and girls, both gay and straight, look to break with the "he leads, she follows" doctrine.

Milongas Wednesday through Sunday make this the place for a very long weekend. Classes at different levels precede them. The vibe on the floor is friendly and rather chaotic, and dancing standards are low, so it's a good place for beginners to get in some practice. DJs mix tango with rock, salsa, and cumbia.

Attracting electronic music lovers keen on catching big names from out of town, Liv has slowly captured the market that the larger Crobar can’t muster. A more relaxed club than some of its Palermo counterparts, Liv also caters to those who want the full VIP booth-and-Champagne treatment.

Local businesspeople looking to impress international clients invariably choose this showy concept restaurant. A night here may break the bank, but you get varied, highly professional performances sometimes starring Argentine celebrities. Prices vary depending on how close you are to the stage.

The unashamedly theatrical show at this tango-concept hotel dances you through the history of tango. It's a fascinating look at how the dance evolved, and the hotel's art nouveau architecture is pretty fantastic, too.

Clocking up plenty of years on the electro scene, this multilevel, riverside behemoth pulls in big names and bigger crowds. Total sensory overload is the name of the game. In summer, watch the sun ease its way up over the river from one of the best vantage points in the city.

Located slap bang in the middle of Palermo Soho, this place promises a good mix of locals and students. The dark ground-floor bar plays rock and serves stiff drinks (happy hour runs from 9 pm to 1 am). Upstairs in the disco, dance-friendly music is pumped into the psychedelic setting: wear white to be especially eye-catching under the neon lights.

This Cuban restaurant-bar may get a little wild on weekends but never out of hand: the bouncers look like NFL players. It's a popular spot for birthday parties and great mojitos. After the nightly live dance show, DJs crank up the Cuban rhythms; you're likely to learn some sexy new moves.

It doesn't get much glitzier—or much tackier. Performed daily, the unashamedly tourist-oriented shows are so eager to cash in on stereotypes that they even include a number from Evita (shock, horror). Still, you can't fault the fishnetted dancers on their footwork. Rather less glam is its location south of San Telmo, in the Barracas neighborhood, which can be sketchy: take a taxi here and back.

Owned by an Irish father-and-son duo, this vibrant downstairs nightspot is popular with expats and young upwardly mobile porteño party people. Stop first for a pint at the ground floor Shamrock pub, where you can yap away in English and easily forget you’re in South America; then, following the techno beats, descend to the dance club where Argentina’s finest DJs burn up the decks.

The self-styled club and music warehouse on the cool northern edge of Palermo Hollywood offers up a large dance floor and plenty of European beats, as well as Britpop, indie nights, and digital cumbia. Fresh from a face-lift, Voodoo aims to strike a balance between trendy cocktails and move-inducing music.