Commonly known as BA but who knew that the correct pronunciation is Bwenos Eye-Rez?

Before booking our flights to Argentina’s capital we’d learned that BA has 2 airports – one in the city and the other many miles away – and purchased tickets from Salta to the CORRECT airport (AEP, Aeroparque) with Fly Bondi, at a brilliant price and decent flight time. And then the airline changed the flight to the other airport, landing at midnight! So we took a refund and booked an alternative flight with Jet Smart, sadly at a much higher price. The airport was indeed well located for the city, just 3 miles and a £7 Uber ride from our Airbnb in the Palermo Soho district. We’d debated where to stay – BA is a huge city and it’s a bit like choosing where’s best to base yourself for a first visit to London. Chat GPT had recommended Palermo Soho but Debbie had wondered whether the more central Recoleta would be better – however when she found the most amazing loft apartment with roof terrace in Palermo Soho, and negotiated a great last minute deal to bring it within budget, the decision was made. We could have a very relaxed 5 nights there, cook for ourselves, watch the telly and do our laundry – in between exploring the city – perfect.

The Palermo Soho neighbourhood was indeed a good recommendation from Chat GPT – a little like Chiswick meets Knightsbridge, with beautiful shops, great but relaxed restaurants, and a trendy vibe. It is apparently the most expensive area of BA and it was easy to see why, but there were some less salubrious areas too. Within a couple of minutes walk of our apartment we managed to get some much needed spicy food (Thai), beautiful steaks, excellent wine at discount prices in the local shop (and 1/3rd of the price of the Malbec Wine Shop on a fancier street), and the BA Yellow Tourist Bus came this way too.

We don’t usually do open top bus tours but decided that it’d actually be a good way to get a feel for the city – as 72 hour ticket was only £10 more expensive than a 24 hour one, we spent our first full day doing the entire 4 hour loop without alighting. BA is indeed a big city and a very beautiful one – more European than South American in look and feel – the bus took as along wide and majestic roads with beautifully ornate buildings and manicured green open spaces, past embassies, exclusive apartment buildings, into Recoleta with its grand hotels and famous cemetery. Then onto the ‘centre’ with palaces, administrative buildings, the famous Teatro Colon Opera House, Argentina’s National Congress, and the Obelisk sitting in the middle of Avienda 9 de Julio, one of the world’s widest avenues with up to 18 lanes of traffic. As the bus left the city centre we entered more gritty neighbourhoods, eventually reaching the famous La Boca, passing La Bombonera (the iconic stadium of the world-famous Boca Juniors football club) and the colourful pedestrian street of Caminito. The guide books all warn you to be very careful in this area and to stick strictly to the main tourist streets! On the return loop, the developed docklands area of Puerto Madero showed the modern side of BA with waterfront restaurants in old brick warehouses, modern skyscrapers and the iconic Punte de la Mujer (Women’s Bridge) designed to represent a Tango dancer. The bus loop gave us a great insight into the city and allowed us to fix which places we’d like to explore in more detail during our stay.

But first there was an England football match to watch at the Buenos Aires Fan Fest – a giant screen in Plaza Seeber showing selected World Cup matches live and apparently having the best atmosphere you can get without being at the match itself. For the 1pm midweek kick off vs Democratic Republic of Congo it wasn’t exactly packed and we easily managed to find a bean bag to settle ourselves on to enjoy a beer in the sun. The only problem was that they didn’t sell beer! Despite the lack of a crowd, the Argentinians still put on a spectacle with entertainers before the match and at half time – it was quite bizarre to see ‘Lionel Messi’ and ‘Diego Maradona’ trotting around and dancing to the music. England won, but we seemed to be their only supporters in Buenos Aires that day!

Caminito was the area that’d most taken our fancy during the Yellow Bus tour despite the warnings not to venture from the main street, but we took an Uber there as it’d have taken over 2 hours on the bus. A brilliantly colourful (and very touristy) area with the famous corrugated metal ‘conventillos’ (old immigrant tenements) in red, blue, yellow and green; vibrant street art and sculptures; tango dancers and street performers; outstanding choripan (rustic Argentinian street food staple – sausage in a baguette with chimichurri).

We heeded the advice not to stray further into La Boca, instead hopping on the Yellow Bus to San Telmo, one of BA’s oldest and most atmospheric districts, known for its colonial architecture, cobbled streets, traditional cafes and antiques. We discovered Mercado de San Telmo, a historic covered market opened in 1897 and housing a fabulous array of food outlets (and TV screens showing the football!).

From there it was a short walk across to the dockland area and a pleasant walk along the Puerto Madero waterfront, across the Punte de la Mujer before catching the bus back to our apartment. Looking at our photos afterwards we discovered a few that were exactly the same as our friends Jayne and Graham had taken 13 years ago.

Debbie was adamant that we needed to visit the Recoleta Cemetery, one of BA’s most famous sights and one of the most impressive cemeteries in the world. It is like an open-air city of miniature mausoleums, with ornate marble tombs, statues and grand family vaults. Many of Argentina’s presidents, military leaders, writers and artists are buried there but the most visited grave is that of Eva ‘Evita’ Peron whose body was finally recovered in 1972 and interred in her family (Duarte) mausoleum. Debbie was fascinated by the cemetery, Steve thought it was ostentatious nonsense – and that the City of the Dead needed better planning controls!

He was more impressed by El Ateno though, often described as one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world and located in the former Teatro Grand Splendid opened in 1919. The bookshelves fill the former theatre boxes and balconies, the original stage has been converted to a cafe, and the ceiling frescoes, red curtains and gold detailing have been preserved, Stunning, although most people only visit to admire the building rather than to purchase a book.

That beautiful roof terrace in our apartment sadly went to waste as it was unusually cold during our time in BA – sunny but no more than 5 degrees and so the layers and puffer jackets were needed – shame as was a gorgeous space.

We really liked Buenos Aires – a fabulous and easy city that we could’ve quite easily spent another week in and that we could see would be even more amazing in Spring or Autumn.