Things to Do in The Pampas

Composing part of the border between Argentina and Uruguay, this 180-mile-long estuary is formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River. Though used for centuries by native tribes, the river wasn’t explored by Europeans until the 16th-century Spanish navigator Juan Díaz de Solís went in search of a passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. He originally named this enclosed coastal body, about one mile across at its widest point, the Mar Dulce, or freshwater sea; after multiple explorations by various other Spanish navigators, the waterway came to be known as the Rio de la Plata, or River of Silver, for the promise of riches thought to lie upstream.

Gaze up at the Paz Palace, and it’s easy to see why many consider Buenos Aires to be the Paris of South America. The mansion, designed to be the private residence of La Prensa founder Jose C. Paz, was built between 1902 and 1914 by French architect Louis Sortais. Paz died in Monaco in 1912, but while he never got to live in the palace he’d commissioned, his wife and children did. 

Palermo Viejo is the old quarter of Buenos Aires’ largest barrio, Palermo. The old residential area is well worth visiting to stroll past grand buildings and gardens, and get a sense of the enclave’s increasing modishness as a current Buenos Aires' hot spot.

Drop into trendy cafes and fashion boutiques on Plaza Serrano, and unwind in the area’s many parks clustered around Avenue del Libertador.

The city’s main polo field is also in Palermo Viejo.

The cultural heart of the historic San Telmo barrio, Plaza Dorrego is the second-oldest square in Buenos Aires and famous for its a vibrant weekly market. Named after the soldier and two-times Governor of Buenos Aires, Manuel Dorrego, the Plaza was once the center of the city’s 19th-century residential district, until clusters of tango venues and bars sprung up around the square in the 1930s.

Today the colonial square remains a lively hub of bars and cafés, with many historic venues holding tango shows and live music. Sunday is the most popular day to visit Plaza Dorrego when the square hosts the world famous San Telmo antiques market, accompanied by live musicians and tango dancers performing sultry numbers on the sidewalk. Sprawling along the adjourning Defensa Avenue, the Feria de San Pedro Telmo (San Telmo Market) offers up a colorful array of stalls selling antiques and curios alongside handicrafts, souvenirs, leatherworks, silver, tango memorabilia and local artworks. Browsing the peculiar medley of goods is a favorite pastime of both locals and tourists and post-shopping, the plaza’s many cafés are bursting with punters sipping coffee and soaking up the street entertainment.

While it may seem odd that one of Buenos Aires’ principal tourist attractions is a cemetery, the Recoleta Cemetery is no ordinary graveyard. Encircled by a towering perimeter wall and entered via a striking columned portico, Recoleta Cemetery is one of the world’s most exquisite necropolises; a glorious ‘City of the Dead’ that houses some of the country’s most prominent political, military and artistic icons.

Over 6,400 tombs are found in the Cemetery, laid out in formal tree-lined avenues and punctuated with beautifully sculpted monuments, poignant marble statutes and grand, bronze-cast mausoleums. Notable burial plots include the vivid white stone tomb of newspaper founder José C. Paz, flanked by a pair of dazzling Rubenesque angels; the ostentatious tomb of former Argentine president Carlos Pellegrini, featuring an elaborate statue of the controversial leader atop the coffin; and the evocative statues of crying widows kneeling beside the tomb of Colonel Falcon, the Chief of Police famously assassinated by rebels in 1909. One of the most visited tombs is that of the city’s beloved Eva Perón, or Evita, whose family vault blooms year-round with bunches of fresh flowers and is inscribed with the promise: ‘I will return and be millions!’

With a list of residents that reads like a who’s who of Buenos Aires’ high society, the cemetery serves not only as a resting place for the dead but as a testament to the golden age of Buenos Aires and the equally turbulent and triumphant history of Argentina. One thing’s for sure – the ornate miniature city with its breathtaking sculptures and fine works of art is a fitting tribute to everyone buried there.

One of Buenos Aires’s most famous landmarks, the Obelisco (Obelisk), is located in the center of Plaza de la Republica. Erected in 1936 to commemorate the first (and ultimately unsuccessful) founding of Buenos Aires by Pedro de Mendoza on its 400th anniversary, the monument stands in the center of Avenida 9 de Julio where it intersects Corrientes.