goddesstogo

We're aiming to be in BA for about 2 weeks at the beginning of May (we're limited to those two weeks). I'm almost ready to book a hotel and flight and then leave the what-to-do, where-to-go questions till later.

I do have a few questions now though and hope you BA experts can help:

1) Weather -- I know it will be fall but can you give me some idea of the temps in early May? Sunny? Rainy?

2) We like an interesting but not crazy-touristy neighbourhood (e.g. in NYC I'd rather be on the uppper west side than Times Square). We like to walk so I'd like a safe neighbourhood within walking distance of some of the more interesting sights. I'm leaning towards hotels in Recoleta. Am I right? What about Palermo? That might be my other choice.

3) Here's the list of hotels I'm considering, all in our price range and so far, all in Recoleta. If you know any of them, I'd love your comments, or if you can suggest some I haven't got listed that would be great. We'd like a nice, clean (of course) hotel in a safe area. Two important things: it would be nice to have a quiet hotel (and I do know BA is a noisy city) and my SO definitely needs a treadmill (it's a health thing) so I've eliminated a few places that don't mention fitness facilities. So here we go:

Casa Sur Art Hotel
Loi Suites Recoleta (are they really suites?)
Melia Recoleta Plaza
Serena Hotel
Buenos Aires Grand Horwl

Thanks very much for your help.
gtg

HappyTrvlr

We had a wonderful experience at Melia Recoleta Plaza, well appointed, large and very, very quiet room, helpful staff who went the extra mile for us, plentiful and varied breakfast. Location was great and we could walk to many excellent restaurants. Recoleta is safe, nice walking in the area. One of our better hotel experiences. Full service laundry around the corner. I do not remember specifics of exercice equipment. For quiet room, ask for one of the middle buildings as hotel is a series of connected bldgs.

kodi

I have stayed in Recoleta and Palermo and I'd say Palermo is a bit more funky . For me it was more of a neighbourhood feel .
Hopefully MarnieWDC and others will help out here

MarnieWDC

Hey there Kodi.

Yes, we have stayed in Recoleta and Palermo(Botanco)and love them both. They are not far apart in terms of convenience, and many areas of both barrios are quite safe, charming and replete with restaurants, parks, sites etc. For upper east side = Recoleta for upper west side - well, maybe Recoleta again.

I agree with HappyTrvlr that the Melia Recoleta is a lovely place to stay and very well located. The neighborhood is fantastic, but not overly noisy. I don't remember an exercise room either, but we stayed there 6 years ago.

Other hotels on you list are also well located, but I will leave the particulars to those who have actually stayed there.

Enjoy the planning.

goddesstogo

Thanks everyone.

Now I'm going to reconsider Palermo. I do like the upper west side better than (my limited experience of) the upper east side.

kodi, you know Toronto -- would you say Recoleta is more like Yorkville and Palermo more like Queen West? Or what other neighbourhoods would you compare them to?

Still hoping for some comments on my hotel list but I might add some Palermo ones now.

Where are avrooster and scarlett when you need them!

kodi

Oh gtg this is tough . Not Yorkville .
Recoleta maybe like Church and Front . ... Not as upscale as Yorkville , but very nice . Maybe like Yonge and Lawrence too

Palermo maybe like The Beaches, or even little areas like Kensington . Tree lined streets with little shops and cafes. Or like Mount Pleasant south of Eglington

I hope this helps . I've only been there twice ...
If you settle on an area, I'm sure Marnie would be able to tell you what it's like . She's very familiar with the areas .

Right Marnie ??

goddesstogo

Well, that's interesting, kodi, because while Yorkville is very upscale, I think it's gotten pretty boring. But I do love the Church & Front area.

OK, I'm going to look at Palermo hotels. Any suggestions, Marnie?

MarnieWDC

Palermo is great, but it is a vast area divided into sub areas: what you would be interested in, I think, would be Palermo Viejo (Soho) or Palermo Botanico (where we stay, but fewer hotel options).

Check out these boutique hotels in Palermo: The BoBo Hotel (with a great restaurant) Glu, Malabia House, Home Hotel, Legado Mitico and several others. All good. But, as boutiue hotels, I am unsure about their having a tread mill, but you could ask them if they do - or if there is a gym nearby that permits short-term use. There definitely are some. By the way, I love Palermo, but I have to say that Recoleta is a wonderful barrio to stay in - especially for a first visit.

goddesstogo

Thanks so much. I'm going to be house-bound tomorrow because of the snow so I'm going to stay in my flannel jammies all day and look at BA hotels! I hope to have a plan in place by the end of the weekend.

kodi

Gtg, I agree with Marnie, who knows better than me .. You'd like Recoleta too .. The area where I stayed was a bit boring , but Marnie has stayed in more interesting areas.

Good luck with the planning and good luck with the storm . Stay in your Jammies

HappyTrvlr

Recoleta reminded us of the Gold Coast in Chicago, Art Deco buildings, etc.

goddesstogo

Oh HappyTrvlr, that's great -- I know that part of Chicago and that gives me a really good picture!

Guenmai

"Melia Recoleta Plaza"

I stayed there in Dec 2008 and loved it. I'd definitely stay there again. While in Buenos Aires, I rented an apartment first and loved both the apartment and the area (Hollywood Palermo), but it was noisy as a train track was a block away and the train seemed to run all night. I've been in a lot of cities around the world, but have never been in one as noisy as Buenos Aires. When I got over to the Melia Recoleta Plaza, it was pin-drop quiet and I finally got some sound sleep. And I always travel with earplugs.

Happy Travels!

goddesstogo

Guenmai, were you in one of the middle buildings, as HT suggests?

Guenmai

Goddesstogo: I was just rereading my report. As to what building I stayed in, I don't know if it was the middle building or not. I really didn't realize how the building was divided up. But, I was in the room next door to the Ella Fitzgerald room. All of the rooms had names to them. I had a small standard room and I think it was in the area, a floor or so, above the lobby. I just remembered that it was quiet. When I was at the apartment, although I had to sleep, I wasn't in a sound sleep, due to the noise of the train and the city. But, I slept like a baby at the Melia Recoleta Plaza Hotel.

I wrote a very detailed trip report that I'll post for you here as I think it will be quite helpful to you. I originally posted it on the Asia forum as I'm a regular there and personally know a lot of the posters there. Plus, they wanted me to let them know about Buenos Aires. I also wrote a trip report on the South America forum, but a bit of a different style trip report. I'll give you the one from the Asia forum as that group is very active and had a lot of questions and comments and some had been to Buenos Aires and others were going.

Have a great time in BA!

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...rip-report.cfm

Happy Travels!

Guenmai

I just noticed that you will be in Buenos Aires for 2 weeks. If I had two weeks, I'd stay in either 2-3 different hotels and in different parts of the city or a week in one hotel and a week in an apartment. I do that a lot when I'm in other cities of the world.

As for Buenos Aires, I'd pick Palermo Hollywood or Palermo Soho as the first choice. Then second would be Recoleta, and the third area would be Puerto Madero, as it's hip and upcoming.

If I were only going to stay in two different areas, then it would be Palermo Soho or Palermo Hollywood and either Recoleta or Porte Madera.

When I was planning my trip to BA, I was to initially go in our summer as I spend some of winter in Bangkok. But, due to the political turmoil that transpired right before I was to leave for Bangkok, I cancelled the trip and had about a couple weeks, I think it was, to plan a whole new vacation. So, I shifted BA to December. I had already done all of the research, for the summer trip, so I just took the notes out and very quickly planned for December.

The apartment building where I had planned to stay in the summer, just happened to pop up on Expedia, so I went for it. I had initially planned to have gone through the agency www.buenosaireshabitat.com . They offered apartments in the same building. I had researched many agencies and they had gotten the highest ratings.

Happy Travels!

HappyTrvlr

We loved Recoleta, the feel but more importantly the great dining in walking distance. We liked one area of Palermo too, can't recall it's name. You really can't go wrong.
PS.To confuse you even more, loved living in the Gold Coast in Chicago but I don't really like the Upper West Side of Manhattan too much, prefer W. Chelsea, W. Village.

annetti

Recoletta is pretty - lots of beaux arts bldgs, whereas Palermo has lots of high rises built in the 60s and 70s with an occasional architecturally interesting bldg. We stayed in Palermo, a good choice for us, since we used public transit a lot. If I recall correctly, there are no subte (subway) connections in Recoletta. Taxis are cheap or at least were when we were there, but I did not enjoy using taxis, the drivers were often reckless and not very pleasant. I felt more comfortable using the buses and subways. We picked up a transit book at one of the magazine kiosks and negoiated the bus system. We speak some Spanish and were able to get around pretty easily. People were always helpful. So you might think about your transportation preferences when you choose one neighborhood over another. Both neighborhoods abound with cafes and restaurants.

annetti

Regarding treadmills - a hotel may list a gym among their amenities, but you may be very disappointed when you see the offerings. It may be an outdated treadmill or worse yet, inoperable. You might find a gym nearby a better alternative. I would question them closely regarding their gym equipment.

Susan7

There is a subte connection in Recoleta if that's consideration.