49 Best Sights in Buenos Aires, Argentina

A heap of history is packed into this single block of buildings southwest of Plaza de Mayo. Its name, "the Block of Illumination," is a metaphorical nod to the "illuminated" scholars who once worked within. Guided tours are led by excellent historians, and though regular tours are in Spanish, English summaries are offered at each stage.

The site's earliest occupant was the controversial Jesuit order, which began construction in 1661. The only surviving building from then is the galleried Procuraduría, the colonial administrative headquarters for the Jesuits' land holdings. Secret tunnels linked it to area churches, the Cabildo, and the port. After the Jesuits' expulsion from Argentina in 1767 (the simple brick-and-mud structure housed the city's first school of medicine and then the University of Buenos Aires). Fully restored, it's now home to a school for stringed instrument makers and a somewhat tacky crafts market.

The Jesuits honored their patron saint at the Iglesia de San Ignacio de Loyola (Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola), at the intersection of Alsina and Bolívar. You can visit without taking a tour.

Argentina's first congress convened in another building on the site, the Casas Virreinales (Viceroyal Residences)—ironic, given that it was built to house colonial civil servants. The remaining historic building is the neoclassical Colegio Nacional, a high-caliber public school that replaced a Jesuit-built structure. The president often attends graduation ceremonies, and Einstein gave a lecture here in 1925.

On the edge of Palermo Hollywood lies the large warehouse sheltering the Mercado de las Pulgas, packed with furniture on its second—or third or fourth—time around. You won't come across any Louis XV, but original pieces from the 1940s, '50s, and '60s may turn out to be (relative) bargains. Lighting up your life is a cinch: choose from the many Venetian-glass chandeliers, or go for a chrome-and-acrylic mushroom lamp. If your taste is more rustic, there's also a sizable selection of hefty farmhouse-style tables and cabinets in oak and pine. Don't be deceived by the stalls' simple-looking set-up: vendors are used to dealing with big-name local customers, and can often arrange overseas shipping.

Hard-core tango fans must visit the home of tango's greatest hero, Carlos Gardel. The front rooms of this once-crumbling casa chorizo (sausage house—that is, a long, narrow house) contain extensive displays of Gardel paraphernalia—LPs, photos, and old posters. The maestro's greatest hits play in the background. The back of the house has been restored with the aim of re-creating as closely as possible the way the house would have looked when Gardel and his mother lived here, right down to the placement of birdcages on the patio. Concise but informative texts in Spanish and English talk you through the rooms and the history of tango in general. Guided visits are available in Spanish Wednesdays and Fridays at 12 and 4, and on weekends at 12, 2, 4 and 6. English tours are usually available on request on weekdays.

Geometric abstraction is the guiding principle for both the collection and the construction of Buenos Aires' contemporary arts museum. Sharply sloped walkways connect four floors of concrete-walled galleries, creating an austere backdrop for the bright lines and shapes of local financier Aldo Rubin's private collection. Regularly changing exhibitions may include pieces by contemporary local stars like Pablo Siquier and Guillermo Kuitca.

The distinctive Peruvian neocolonial-style Palacio Noel is the perfect backdrop for this colonial art and craft museum, which was built in 1920 as the residence of architect Martín Noel. He and museum founder, Fernández Blanco, donated most of the exquisite silver items, religious wood carvings, inlaid furnishings, and paintings from the Spanish colonial period that are on display. Guided tours in English can be arranged by calling ahead. Shaded benches in the lush walled gardens are a welcome respite, and the rustling leaves and birdcalls almost filter out the busy Retiro traffic noise.

Some 7,000 contemporary artworks make up the permanent collection at this block-long museum. Formerly the site of a tobacco company, the MAMBA retains its original exposed-brick facade and fabulous wooden doors with wrought-iron fixtures. Inside, galleries showcasing a carefully curated selection of paintings, sculptures, and new media are complemented by large temporary exhibitions of local or Latin American works as well as smaller installations. Highlights include the unusual portraits of superstar collective Grupo Mondongo, who eschew paint in favor of materials like crackers, sliced ham, and chewing gum.

If you're looking for a respite from the sun or sports in Parque Tres de Febrero, check out this sedate museum. Focused on 19th- and 20th-century Argentine art, the collection includes paintings by local masters like Emilio Petorutti, Lino Eneo Spilimbergo, Antonio Berni, and the museum's namesake Sívori. The shaded sculpture garden is the perfect combination of art and park.

Inside Estadio Boca Juniors (aka La Bombonera or "the candy box"), this modern, two-floor museum is heaven for fútbol fans. It chronicles Boca's rise from a neighborhood club in 1905 to its current position as one of the best teams in the world. Among the innovative exhibits is a giant soccer ball that plays 360-degree footage of an adrenaline-fueled match, recreating all the excitement (and the screaming) for those too faint-hearted to attend the real thing. A huge mural of the late Maradona (the club's most revered player), a hall of fame, jerseys, and trophies complete the circuit. For the full-blown experience, buy a combo ticket that includes museum entry plus an extensive tour of the beloved stadium. Lighthearted exhibits take you all over the stands as well as to press boxes, locker rooms, underground tunnels, and the emerald grass of the field itself. Everything you need to Boca up your life—from official team shirts to school folders—is available in the on-site gift store (shops outside La Bombonera sell cheaper copies).

Eva Duarte de Perón, known as Evita, was the wife of populist president Juan Domingo Perón. Revered by working-class followers and despised by the Anglophile oligarchy, the Museo Evita shies from pop culture clichés and conveys facts about Evita's life and works. Exhibits include family photos that document Evita's humble origins, and mannequins wearing some of her fabulous designer outfits. The Evita myth can be baffling to the uninitiated but excellent guided visits shed light on the phenomenon and are available in English for groups of six or more, but must be arranged by phone in advance. Exhibits include 1952 film footage showing hundreds of thousands of mourners lined up to view their idol's body, family photos that document Evita's humble origins and time as a B-list actress, and a set of mannequins wearing some of her fabulous designer outfits. A video chronicles the fate of Evita's cadaver after dying of cancer at age 33: embalmed by Perón, stolen by political opponents, and moved and hidden for 17 years before being returned to Argentina, where it now rests in Recoleta Cemetery. Knowledgeable staffers are on hand to answer questions. Book a table at the on-site restaurant, whose checkered floors and glossy black tables are as stylish as the great lady herself. 

What better place for the National History Museum than overlooking the spot where the city was supposedly founded? Once owned by entrepreneur and horticulturalist Gregorio Lezama, the beautiful chestnut-and-white Italianate mansion that houses it also did duty as a quarantine station during the San Telmo cholera and yellow-fever epidemics before it became a museum in 1922. Personal possessions and thoughtful explanations (in Spanish) chronicle the rise and fall of Argentina's liberator José de San Martín. Other galleries celebrate the heroes of independence and foreign forces' unsuccessful attempts to invade Argentina.

Plaza de Mayo's only remaining colonial edifice was built in 1765 as the meeting place for the city council, now based in the ornate wedge-shaped building on the southwest corner of the square. The epicenter of the May Revolution of 1810, where patriotic citizens gathered to vote against Napoleonic rule, the hall is one of Argentina's national shrines. However, this hasn't stopped successive renovations to its detriment, including the demolition of the whole right end of the structure to make way for the new Avenida de Mayo in 1894 and of the left end for Diagonal Julio Roca in 1931. The small museum of artifacts and documents pertaining to the events of the May Revolution is less of an attraction than the building itself. Thursday and Friday from 11 to 6, a tiny craft market takes place on the patio behind the building.

The harmonious, French neoclassical mansion that houses the National Museum of Decorative Art is as much a reason to visit as the period furnishings, porcelain, and silver within it. Ornate wooden paneling in the Regency ballroom, the imposing Louis XIV red-and-black-marble dining room, and a lofty Renaissance-style great hall are some of the highlights in the only home of its kind open to the public here. There are excellent English descriptions of each room, and they include gossipy details about the original inhabitants, the well-to-do Errázuriz-Alvear family. The museum also contains some Chinese art. Guided tours include the Zubov Collection of miniatures from Imperial Russia.

Between 1969 and 1983, 30,000 civilians were illegally detained, tortured, and "disappeared" in Argentina by the military dictatorship and the paramilitary operations that preceded their coup. The 35-acre site of the country's first memorial park was chosen because it borders the River Plate, into which many of the desaparecidos (disappeared) were thrown—heavily drugged but still alive—from military aircraft. The park is designed to look toward the city skyline as a reminder of citizens' widespread collusion with the government. The chilling stone walls slicing down through the park to the river form the Monumento a las Víctimas del Terrorismo del Estado (Monument to the Victims of State-Organized Terrorism). Engraved on it are the names and ages of roughly 9,000 identified victims, organized by the year they vanished. You reach the park and the monument via a square containing sculptures such as Roberto Aizenberg's untitled piece representing his three disappeared stepchildren, and Dennis Oppenheim's Monument to Escape. The small information booth usually has leaflets in English.

The Museo Histórico Nacional (National History Museum) sits in the shade of enormous magnolia, palm, cedar, and elm trees on the sloping hillside of Parque Lezama. Bronze statues of Greek heroes, stone urns, and an imposing fountain shipped from Paris hint at former glory. Patchy grass, cracked paths, and unpainted benches are a nod to more recent times. A monument in the northwestern corner celebrates conquistador Pedro de Mendoza, said to have founded Buenos Aires on this spot. Watching over the park are the onion-shaped domes of the Catedral Santísima Trinidad Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa (Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church) immortalized by Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato in his novel Sobre Héroes y Tumbas (Of Heroes and Tombs).

Known locally as Los Bosques de Palermo (Palermo Woods), this 400-acre green space is actually a crazy quilt of smaller parks. A stroll along the paths takes you through the Jardín de los Poetas (Poets' Garden), dotted with statues of literary figures, and to the enchanting Patio Andaluz (Andalusian Patio), where majolica tiles and Spanish mosaics sit under a vine-covered pergola. Near the lakes in the northwestern part, some 12,000 rosebushes (more than 1,000 different species) bloom seasonally in the Paseo El Rosedal.

You can jog or rent bikes, in-line skates, and pedal boats. The park gets crowded on sunny weekends, as this is where families come to play and have picnics. If you like the idea of the latter, take advantage of the street vendors who sell refreshments and choripán (chorizo sausage in a bread roll) within the park. There are also several posh cafés lining the Paseo de la Infanta (running from Libertador toward Sarmiento in the park).

Wandering through this well-preserved house affords a glimpse of life in San Telmo's golden era. Behind an elegant but narrow stone facade, the building extends deep into the block, around a series of internal courtyards. This type of elongated construction—known as a casa chorizo or "sausage house"—is typical of San Telmo. Once the private residence of the well-to-do Ezeiza family, it became a conventillo (tenement), but is now a picturesque spot for antiques and curio shopping.

One of the city's most iconic buildings, the Planetario Galileo Galilei is a great orb positioned on a massive concrete tripod in the middle of Palermo's Parque Tres de Febrero. Built in the early 1960s, it looks like something out of Close Encounters of the Third Kind—especially at night, when the dome glows with eerie blue and red lighting. Tickets for the twice-daily sky shows (five times on weekends), narrated in Spanish, go on sale at 9:30 am Tuesday through Friday and at noon on weekends; note that they usually sell out fast. Three meteorites that landed in northern Argentina 4,000 years ago guard the entrance. The nearby pond with swans, geese, and ducks (also lit up at night) is always a hit with kids.

During the week a handful of craftspeople and a few scruffy pigeons are the only ones enjoying the shade from the stately trees in the city's second-oldest square. Sunday couldn't be more different: scores of stalls selling antiques and collectibles move in to form the Feria de San Pedro Telmo (San Pedro Telmo Fair). Tango dancers take to the cobbles come late afternoon, as do hundreds of shoppers (mostly tourists) browsing the tango memorabilia, antique silver, brass, crystal, and Argentine curios. Note that prices are high at stalls on the square and astronomical in the shops surrounding it.

More affordable offerings—mostly handicrafts and local artists' work—are on the ever-growing web of stalls along Calle Defensa.

Be sure to look up as you wander Plaza Dorrego, as the surrounding architecture provides an overview of the influences—Spanish colonial, French classical, and ornate Italian masonry—that shaped the city in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Pickpockets work as hard as stall owners on Sundays, so keep a firm hold on bags and purses or—wiser still—leave them at home.

Built over a landfill, the 865-acre Ecological Reserve is home to more than 500 species of birds and a variety of flora and fauna. On weekends, thousands of porteños vie for a spot on the grass, so come midweek if you want to bird-watch, sunbathe, or use the jogging and cycling tracks in peace. A monthly guided "Walking under the Full Moon" tour in Spanish begins at 7:30 pm April through October and at 8:30 pm November through March. Even if you don't speak Spanish it's still a great way to get back to nature at night; otherwise avoid the area after sunset. (There are guided daytime visits in Spanish on weekends at 10:30 and 3:30.) The main entrance and visitor center is across from the traffic circle where Avenida Tristán Achával Rodríguez intersects with Avenida Elvira Rawson de Dellepiane, a short walk from the south end of Puerto Madero; you can also enter and leave the reserve at its northern end, across from the intersection of Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson and Avenida Hernán M. Giralt.