On the way to Patagonia, we will have one full day in Buenos Aires.
This will be our first time in this city, and we will need to come back sometime in futur, but for this trip, we will only have one day. We will be staying Palermo area at Fierro Hotel.

As for all of my trips, I am looking for Fodorites recommendations on how to spend this one precious day (it will be Monday).

We are not interested in taking any sightseeing tours, or hop on/hop off buses.

I would love to see La Recoleta Cemetery, and spend time walking around one/or two of the more interesting neighborhoods,

And we really want to see some tango, but can not decide whether to see any professional show or spend a night at one the milongas

Being recently in Rio, we have chosen to go a samba club, instead of seeing a professional show., and loved it. However, in BA these professional shows look very attractive like La Roja (though expensive!)

On the other side, looking at milongas - they look attractive as well, like this Parakultural one (and supposedly active on Mondays).

So, looking for your opinions and suggestions! And thank you in advance!

Forgot to say - we do not dance, just want to observe. And I meant Salon Canning for milonga.

I was surprised to find that most people I've met in Buenos Aires have zero interest in tango. It seems to be largely a tourist thing. Of course some people dance it, but it's nowhere near as widespread as I thought (not like salsa in Colombia, for example). I imagine the professional shows might be overpriced tourist traps. I have actually just asked a friend of a friend, the only person I've met who dances tango, if he could recommend a milonga for me. If all goes well, I'll visit it this week or next and I'll let you know!

"Being recently in Rio, we have chosen to go a samba club, instead of seeing a professional show., and loved it."

Good choice.
The Plataforma show and the one other tourist show are tacky.
Which club did you go to? Carioca da Gema? Scenarium? Other?

Helen :
maybe your best bet would be to go to the San Telmo district where there are many people tango-ing on the streets,...not so sure about Mondays...but here are some pics taken on a Sunday.*(see below)

These views take in BA and the falls as well....first ten or so are taken in the mentioned San Telmo district

https://goo.gl/photos/7yc5sRUWSfVFP1mw9

The milongas are full every night and they dance in the streets in San Telmo so I have no idea where the idea came from that there is "zero interest in Tango".
There probably is more of a zero interest in taking tourists to a milonga or bringing non-Tango dancers to a milonga.
A milonga is not for entertaining onlookers .. or tourists for that matter, unless they are good dancers.

Go to San Telmo on a Sunday or look around in Recoleta in the parks on Sunday .. you will probably get to see some dancing.
We lived a couple of blocks from the Recoleta parks and there was always Tango happening in the parks.

Mondays in San Telmo is not a good idea, everyone is open all weekend, they close on Mondays.

I went to a milonga this past Thursday. They had a beginner dance class at 8 pm, intermediate class around 9:30 followed by a short teacher performance then dancing to live music. The class was 100 pesos and there was a small bar and a few food items you could buy.

This was an absolutely amazing experience. As one of four tourists attending I felt very welcome and very much a part of the experience. About 12 people (all attended without partners and mostly men) took the beginner class including the four tourists. About 15 took the intermediate class and they were all good to advanced dancers. This was very interesting and enjoyable to watch and was very casual, no one in costumes. The intermediate teacher, Rodrigo Palacios, is a professional and it was amazing to watch him instruct and dance with the students. Just beauty in motion.

We were very welcomed in the venue, to dance in the beginner class and to watch afterward. I believe they only have this program on Thursdays but there are milongas throughout the week that I'm sure you could enjoy a similar experience.

Here's the link to the venue we attended.

oliverio girondo espacio cultural

My daughters co-worker in BA took us here. I know there was at least one other milonga she wanted to take us to. I will get in touch with her and see if I can get her recommendations and maybe one has something going on on Monday.

I agree with Scarlett - the milonga we attended was not about entertaining tourists but tourists were welcome to enjoy the beauty of this cultural experience.

Fodorites, thank you so much for all your responses! Unfortunately, I received them after we left for that trip. Oh well, I should of post earlier!
Anyway, we did hire a private guide from Buenos Tours, and he took us for a high level overview of BA neighborhoods. We visited La Boca, San Telmo, Microcentro, the Bookstore converted from a theater, Recoleta cemetery and stopped for a quick lunch at Cafe Tortoni (not really great food, but just wanted to see this cafe). Too little time. The guide was nice and knowledgeable, but he was an American living in BA, and I would rather have an Argentinian person. Anyway, it was nice.

There was a bit of dancing at La Boca, but nothing in San Telmo.

We had a dinner at Hotel Fierro where we were staying, that was very nice.

And we went to Salon Canning milonga in Palermo. We came there around 11:30 pm, and stayed until around 3:00 in the morning. It was great! We both loved it. People were dancing, and they had a small show as well around 2:00 am. Around 1:00 am milonga was full. Great experience!

Samba, we have chosen to go to a samba club vs show in Rio, and were very happy with it! I know you like Carioca da Gema, but we went to Scenarium. Actually, we were thinking of going to Carioca on our last day as well, but my husband did not feel well, so we did not.

All in all, it was a very full and a great day in BA, and will need to come back to really explore the city.

Thank you, helen63!

Come back to BA real soon!

Glad to hear you had a nice time. I took a tour of La Boca and San Telmo with Buenos Tours while I was there also with an American. It was nice.

Buenos is owned by British person, so all of their guides are British or American. Ours was very nice and knew a lot, so no complaining, but I always prefer someone local who grew up in that city.

"The milongas are full every night and they dance in the streets in San Telmo so I have no idea where the idea came from that there is "zero interest in Tango".
There probably is more of a zero interest in taking tourists to a milonga or bringing non-Tango dancers to a milonga.
A milonga is not for entertaining onlookers .. or tourists for that matter, unless they are good dancers."

Sure, but I don't personally know a single person who dances tango or has any interest in it. Anyone I've asked simply says 'it's for old people'. I'm not saying nobody dances tango, but it's nowhere near as mainstream as I imagined it would be. I know plenty of people who dance salsa, but not tango.

Cannot comment much on how popular tango is in BA, but the milonga we visited was full of people of different ages. There were a lot of young (or relatively young) dancing. As for Scarlett comments, I am not sure why anyone would be against a couple of tourist watching and enjoying, but not dancing.