I waited too long to get use my miles and have to fly out to BA a day later than I originally planned. I now have only 5 days and 5 nights in BA - one day being Xmas. I had really hoped to spend a day and a night in Colonia Del Sacramento, Uruguay but now am worried I will be short changing myself in BA.

Just looking for peoples thoughts and experiences - in the end, I'll still have to decide

We are going to Salta and the NW and some people think that Colonia might be "repetitive" since we will be seeing small colonial towns there? I will mention, I am sort of a sucker for small, quiet, old towns (never met an Italian Hill Town I didn't like) and I know there have been times I wished I had spent the night in similar places.

Also, however, I want so see all the top sites in BA and I do love to shop so a bit of my time will be spent doing that. I know one of the top museums will actually be closed over Xmas so that is one less "to do" and also I heard tours of Theatre Colon might also be suspended as well?

Anyway love to here all thoughts on the subject.

Thanx

We stayed for 4/5 days in Colonia and loved the place. It is very compact and you could easily see the interesting bits in one day (there is pass you can buy which covers all the museums and places of interst. We also went to Salta and the NW (amazing place!!!)and Colonia is nothing like the towns in that region. With 5 days and 5 nights IMHO a day in Colonia is well worth the effort.

Do you think I should make an effort to spend the night? I could try staying our very last day and night there and take a boat back in time to make a flight to Iguazu?

oops - Im guessing, since it is all in Spanish, that there isnt any early ferries FROM Colonia to BA that would make it in time for either of the LAN chilie flights - except for a 3 hour ferry at 4:30 in the morning

The possibilities in BA are endless and dont worry about things being closed there are lots of outdoors activities! It completely depends on your budget and interests, but... top sights and must dos in Buenos Aires are... Tango at La Ventana, a walk around La Boca (in the day) - a quaint neighbourhood of colored houses, art market and live Tango, National Arts museum, Plaza de Mayo (central square) and then for outdoors you could go to San Isidro, wander around the parks alongside Avenue Libertador or visit the crafts markets in San Telmo. And dont worry about not knowing much Spanish, BA is a very touristy city and if you feel unsure about the language or anxious about your time you can always use a local tour operator and really make the most of your stay!
Have fun!

Thanx - Im sure I will stay busy in BA - my question is should I give up a day and night to go to Colonia?

Here is alink to our blog with some photo which may help you decide
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...7680/tpod.html

There is a huge amount to see and do in BA but Colonia is a lot different and makes for a change of pace. Colonia is very quite during teh week but very busy at weekends, what it will be like over the christmas period is anyones guess..

We were in BA over the Xmas period and it was very quiet on the 25th and the shops closed early on the 24th but apart from that it seemed like business as normal.

Thanx for the link! It would be ideal to spend our last day there and head directly to the airport - but I dont think we could make it Your comment about 80's music in Argentina cracked me up. Every day we spent in Dubrovnik, Croatia we went to this awesome bar on the other side of the city walls - and every day, they cranked 80's music!

You can spend a day in Colonia and be back in BA for dinner and a full night ahead of you.
But with the other towns you will be visiting, it is possible that you can skip it and concentrate on just being in Buenos Aires.
You could do almost a neighborhood a day and see a good bit of town.
Puerto Madero can be combined with San Telmo and the Palermos would be a day or two and Recoleta is a day .. a Museum a day ..
Make a big calendar and start making lists of what you want to do and see then plan it out on the calendar ... this helps keep you from running from one end of town to the other and wasting time in taxis or walking too many miles a day. Which you will walk anyway.
Remember, it will be hot then, which will make you want to go slower sometimes and stop more often for drinks and cooling off.

Thank you Scarlett! Good suggestion on the calendar - I have already started something similar so I dont miss out because of museum closing days etc. We have a pool at the hotel so I figured that is where we can rest up and cool down before the late dinner hour!
What are the shopping hours like and the smaller boutiques? Almost as important as museum hours
Since everything will be shut Xmas day - I thought that might be a perfect day for the cemetary and wondering the microcenter etc when it is quiet? What do you think.
My BF and I would love to add another stamp to the passport - so maybe a day trip to Colonia - well go week day when it is less crowded!
Im so excited for my first trip to south america!

I have been to Colonia, and it is nice; however, if you just have one day trip, I would not miss San Antonio de Areco, home of author Ricardo Guiraldes who wrote Don Segundo Sombra, a novel about the disappearing gaucho. I really enjoyed it; however, I would stay in town and not at an "estancia" where some guests ended up in bunk beds for high prices.

Hello again, I would definitely go for Colonia, its a perfectly doable day trip, its a beautiful colonial town and its really satisfying to feel you've experienced a taste of Uruguay! There are lots of day tours from Buenos Aires, it takes around 3 hours to get there, a day tour to Montevideo is also another excellent possibility you ought to consider...

Have a great trip!