Buenos Aires Free (Or Almost Free)

With so many world-class galleries and museums, Buenos Aires can put a dent in your wallet. But the good news is that even the city’s top spots for art have days when you can visit for little or nothing. And some of the favorite pastimes, including wandering around the Cementerio de la Recoleta or finding a bargain in the flea market at San Telmo, are always gratis.

Art and Archtecture

It costs absolutely nothing to visit what is arguably the best collection of Argentine art in the world: Recoleta's Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes is free all week. Entrance to most other state-run museums is less than a dollar or two.

Take in art both old and new on Tuesday, when you can gaze for free at the antique furnishings of the Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo and the contemporary works at the Museo de Arte Moderno, also free on Thursday. Wednesday, go for handicrafts and 19th-century painting at the Museo de Artes Plásticas Eduardo Sívori; it's in the middle of the Parque Tres de Febrero.

Check out colonial art downtown in Retiro free of charge on Tuesday and Thursday at the Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernández Blanco. The one serious artistic saving you can make is at Palermo’s Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, which reduces its 50-peso entry fee to 25 pesos on Wednesday—expect to compete for floor space, though.

History Lesson

It costs thousands to spend an afterlife in the Cementerio de la Recoleta, but nothing to spend a morning or afternoon there. San Telmo is the best barrio for a free local history lesson: churches and traditional houses (many now antiques shops) are some of the historic buildings open to the public.

Seeing the City

You can pay as little—or as much—as you want on the popular Buenos Aires Local Tours (www.buenosaireslocaltours.com), which use city buses to keep its overhead low. You will want to tip the enthusiastic young guides at the end, however. Tours take place on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, usually in the morning. To take part, register online as early as possible.

Enthusiastic local volunteers are your guides on the free city tours run by Cicerones de Buenos Aires (www.cicerones.org.ar). You can see the city on two wheels for free by checking out one of bicycles that are part of a city program called EcoBici (www.ecobici.buenosaires.gob.ar). Take your passport and a photocopy of it to any bike station to register. (Locations are listed online). Check your bike and helmet back into any other station within an hour.

Cheap Entertainment

During January and February there are free outdoor concerts and festivals in parks around the city. Wednesday is reduced-price day at every cinema in town; many also do discount tickets Monday through Thursday and for the first screening of each day.

Instead of forking out hundreds at a fancy "for export" tango show, head to a low-key milonga. The cover charge is usually only around 50 pesos, drinks are cheap, and the dancing is excellent. Tangoing street performers also abound on Calle Florida, in plazas Dorrego and Serrano, and around the Caminito.