TANGO:
A trip to Buenos Aires is not complete without some sort of experience of the Tango, national dance of Argentina.
Tango is best experienced not in La Boca and on Calle Florida, but in the "Milongas". A milonga is both a place where a Tango dance will take place, as well as a specific type of tango dance. A good place for beginners to check out authentic tango is at Confiteria Idéal at Suipacha 384 (just off of Corrientes, near Calle Florida). Parts of Evita were filmed here. The ground floor is a confitéria with overpriced and bad tasting food. However at night several times a week they have magnificent, authentic shows for no more than 30 pesos. There is usually someone around who speaks english if you don't understand the shows.
Upstairs there is a dance floor where you can see people dancing tango. They come to the Milongas to dance. Entrance is usually around 10 or 15 pesos. It is worth it just to watch the older "milongueros" dance. Many have been coming regularly for over 30. Quick warning... If you don't want to dance be careful of the eye contact you make. Here, you will not see men physically getting up to ask a woman to dance. He will get her attention with his eyes, nod or make a "lets go" move with his head. If she accepts she will nod and smile, and they will both meet on the dance floor. The locals here are very friendly and if you are interested in learning tango, asking around for local instructors is the best bet.
EXPLORE:
Buenos Aires is definitely a walking city, with many diverse areas and attractions all within close range of each other. Therefore an excellent way to explore the city is on foot.
A really good hint to get to know the city of Buenos Aires in a different way is Cicerones de Buenos Aires, a nonprofit organization that provides free tours and travel assistance to visitors. During a tour, you´re accompanied by a resident of Buenos Aires who can show you the popular spots of the city, as well as unique, less-traveled ones.
BUY:
If you are interested in buying goods, you have a lot of shops in the downtown area, and many shopping centers, but be aware of the price difference. Certain tourist havens have inflated prices for staple products, such as leather wallets.
The most popular souvenirs are:
The mate: It is a sort of cup made from different materials, commonly from a dessicated vegetal core, sometimes with silver or gold ornaments; which is used to drink mate, the most traditional social non-alcoholic beverage. The mate is drunk in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and southern Brazil.
Other gaucho items: Traditional clothes, knives, etc.
Leather items: The cow is totally used here: meat, milk, sausages, and leather; all of that is high quality. You can find excellent coates and other leather products in Murillo street.
Alfajores: These traditional cookies, often containing dulce de leche, are delicious.
Florida Street and Lavalle Street (from 500 up to 1000) are for pedestrians only, where the main tourist's shops in MicroCentro (downtown) are located. At the intersection of these two pedestrian streets, there is often some sort of interesting street performance going on, especially at night. The Palermo Viejo district of Buenos Aires has many shops that will appeal to young or artsy people (think New York's SoHo). Nearby is Murillo Street, a block full of leather houses.
There are many artisans' fairs, most notably the weekend Recoleta fair located in the Francia park, near Recoleta cemetery (which is an excellent place for photography) and on Sundays the San Telmo market. In every fair you will find some excellent hand made products, but beware, also there are industrialized products disguised as "hand made". This is one of the most likely places one would find a pot dealer.
In the Corrientes Ave. from the Obelisco (big obelisk landed in the intersection with 9 de Julio avenue) up to Callao Ave., you will find a lot of cheap bookstores where you can find many books mostly in Spanish. "El Ateneo," a massive bookstore with a reasonable offering of books in English, is at Santa Fe 1860.
The Último Taller at Jorge L. Borges 1975 (between Soler and Nicaragua streets) sells funky candles and street address plates and markers; there are charming cats, and photos can be etched onto these plates as well. The shop is open Monday to Saturday 10am-9pm; and its telephone number is 4831-4135. There are other stores that sell nice candles in this area as well.
EAT:
If you're not vegetarian, you will want to try asado (beef/steak barbecue). In addition, if you want to try the meat specialities on offer, you should go to a parrilla, one of those are restaurants that specialize in roasted meats. There are fancy expensive parrillas, and more simple ones. Everybody eats a lot of meat here and the way that it is prepared makes it very tasty. The bife de lomo (tenderloin) is unbelievably tender in comparison to US beef and is more reminiscent of European cuts.
The Italian and Spanish food are almost native here, as the cultural heritage heralds in great part from these two countries. Other popular meals are pizzas and empanadas (traditional meal, small self-contained pastries, stuffed with various ingredients; the traditional one is the meat empanada), you will find it comes in many varieties. They are quite a popular home delivery or takeaway/takeout option
The pizza is excellent in Buenos Aires, due to the Italian immigrant heritage. Pizza comes al molde (cooked in a pan, usually medium to thick crust), a la piedra (baked in a stone oven, usually thin to medium crust), and a la parilla (cooked on a parilla grill, very thin, crispy crust). Many people say that Guerrin is the best place to eat Pizza in Buenos Aires.
DRINK:
The main areas to go out are: Puerto Madero, close to the Casa Rosada, renovated harbour full of restaurants, some hotels and nice for a walk. Safe during the day and night. Recoleta area close to the famous cemetery, restaurants, bars, cinema complex, used to be trendy, now mainly for tourists. Palermo SoHo and Palermo Hollywood, full of trendy stores, restaurants, and bars; young and trendy, nice for a walk, eating and drinking. Palermo Las Cañitas is another nice area close to the Polo stadium.
Buenos Aires has a popular cafe culture.
* Cafe Tortoni Avenida de Mayo 829 between Piedras and Tacuari. Opened in 1858. The hot chocolate is incredible.
* Confiteria Richmond Florida 468 between Lavalle and Corrientes. Mentioned in Graham Greene' The Honorary Consul. Opened in 1913. It has been modified.
* La Biela Quintana 596 nand RM Ortiz. Luxurious. You can sit outside underneath a huge ancient rubber tree for a little bit extra.
* Confiteria Ideal is ancient and less modified. It is located on Suipacha.
* The unidentified cafe on the corner of Uriarte and Honduras in Palermo viejo (towards Santa Fe) has an incredible European ambiance with good food and lots of newspapers and magazines to read. Also try the community centre across the street named "Club Eros" that serves great lunches and dinners for ridiculously low prices (expect to pay 6 pesos for a menu including steak, salad, glass of wine).
* "La Violeta" is also a lovely cafe, a bit off the beaten (tourist) path but you can take the oldest subway line in the city, Linea A, to get there. Well worth the trip.
You may want to try lágrima, a "tear" of coffee on a cup of milk.
CLUBS & NIGHTLIFE:
For many, Buenos Aires has the best nightlife in the world, a great variety of bars, clubs and discos, that are opened until late hours (6am or 7am). For more info on open clubs, check the city government official webpage.
Try the Niceto Club, Cocoliche, Pacha, Opera bay, Amerika, Bahrein, Mint, Lost, and El Living. Other popular hangouts are the omnipresent Irish pubs. You can try Kilkenny´s in Reconquista 600 in the Retiro area or The Shamrock in Rodriguez Peña 1200, in the Recoleta area. These places are very popular with local and foreign crowds. El Milion, in Parana, between Santa Fe and Marcelo T. de Alvear is a very nice upscale bar. It is located in a refurbished petite palais from the beginning of the century. It is also very popular with foreigners.
Sonoman Bar y Resto Fitz Roy 1655 @ Honduras - Pretty hip and trendy bar with loads of Argentines dancing and drinking the night away till around 6am on weekends (maybe later who knows). There's a restaurant as well as an outside area, but you can smoke inside and outside, so prepare! Bartenders are nice and check out the disco ball, it's not like any other. Music is a mixture of beloved 80s and dance. The drinks ain't cheap either! The Palermo Barrios (SoHo, Hollywood, Las Canita or simply "PalVo") have many fantastic restaurants that turn into bars as it gets later. New bars are always opening, so look for an updated map or guidebook when you arrive. "Bar Uriarte" is always a favorite, though.
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