Discover Buenos Aires

Take a guided tour

On arrival, we highly recommend taking a guided tour, whether it be a sit-in bus style tour, a walking tour or a cycling tour. These are great ways to orientate yourself in the city, learn a bit of background history and culture and get some insider tips from a Porteño (a local).

You will visit locations such as the 80m obelisk, that stands proud in the middle of the enormous Avenida 9 de Julio, the Government Palace is locally known as the Pink Palace, the Recoleta Cemetery where Evita was finally laid to rest, and the artistic tango neighbourhood of La Boca.

Swoop Says background image

David says

Buenos Aires is a city you immediately fall in love with. You may find yourself wanting to live there, and I actually did! Huge steaks, dulce de leche ice cream, beautiful boulevards, blissfully warm days and friendly locals – what's not to love?!

David Hilton Patagonia Product & Partnership Manager

Explore the city after your guided tour

Avenida de Mayo

Walk the Avenida de Mayo from the Casa Rosada to the Plaza de Congreso, stopping on the way to stop for a coffee in the Café Tortoni (825) – a great way to get a feel for what Buenos Aires would have been like in the early 1900s.

Teatro Colon (Opera House)

This world-famous building sits proudly on the very wide Avenida 9 de Julio. The inside is breathtaking and a tour not only takes you into the auditorium and many rooms of the Opera House but also gives you a great overview of the history of Buenos Aires at the time it was built.

Language: Tours in English
Time: On the hour, every hour lasting 50 mins from 09:00 – 19:00
Cost: $130 Argentine pesos

The entrance is on the left-hand side of the building on Tucuman.

La Boca

The southern neighbourhood of La Boca allows you to see a very different side of Buenos Aires to the leafy streets of Palermo or the elaborate facades of Recoleta. La Boca is vibrant in every sense; fascinating street art and graffiti, quirky snippets of cultural history, craft markets, and live tango in the streets.

At the centre of this colourful district is El Caminito – a street of brightly-painted houses that are typical of the end of the 19th century. Today, the works of several Argentine artists are a part of the street museum, which is a favourite with visitors to the city. 

If you’re looking for a fun and interesting way to get under the skin of this fascinating, vibrant, sometimes restless city and learn a little about the Porteños themselves, then a graffiti tour will be an excellent addition to your itinerary.

If you do book a tour, you won't be told about the founding of Buenos Aires or given a complete history of the city, or Argentina. What you will be given is an alternative city tour, gaining in-depth information into some aspects of Argentine history, through the context of the street art that you are seeing. For many, this form of associating historical facts and events with incredibly powerful visual art is a far more interesting and memorable way to get to grips with the complicated and fascinating history of Argentina.

San Telmo

San Telmo is where the bohemians of Buenos Aires hang out. This neighbourhood was traditionally where the upper classes lived until 1871 when an outbreak of yellow fever drove them away. Nowadays, you can still see some of the traditional 1800s architecture, plus antique shops and occasionally tango dancers in its square.

There are some great cafes – La Poesia, Chile/Bolivar & El Federal, Peru/Carlos Calvo, and Plaza Dorrego for people watching, some handicrafts and maybe some tango.

Train lovers...

Metro Line C – for metro lovers, the stations along these lines have some fantastic mosaics.

Retiro Station – a grand old station with its tea rooms still running.

Ecological Reserve

Beyond Puerto Madero, you find the extensive Ecological Reserve, which is quite good for bird spotting and escaping the hustle and bustle of the city. Take a picnic, plenty of water and watch the ships as they sail up and down the River Plate.

Buenos Aires Ecological Reserve

Palermo

It's worth heading to Palermo (take metro line D and get off at Plaza Italia) and visiting these four spots, all of which are within relative proximity to one another:

Museo Evita
Location: Lafinur 2988
Opening times: 11am – 7pm
Cost: $20 Argentine pesos

MALBA (Museum of Latin American Art)
Location: Avda. Figueroa Alcorta 3415
Opening times: 12pm – 8pm
Cost: $45 Argentine pesos

Palermo parks
Location: Various
Opening times: 24/7
Cost: Free

Plazoleta Cortazar (Cortazar Square)
Where all the trendy young locals can be found along with quirky clothes shops, some great street art and cafes.

Galerias Pacifico

A beautiful old shopping centre, on the busy (quite tacky) pedestrianised street Florida but with this one great highlight, 100% worth a look inside.

Puerto Madero

The newly developed dock yard is a great place for strolling and also has 2 old naval ships docked in docks 3 & 4 that you can visit. A wonderful place to come in the evening as it is well lit, safe and has plenty of restaurants.

Customer review background image

What our customers think of Sightseeing in Buenos Aires

Our morning guided tour with Natalia was excellent and she gave us lots of useful information for our extra day in BA. We found some good restaurants. My outstanding experience was visiting the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and their wonderful collection of French Impressionist paintings, 17th century Dutch works, including Rembrandt and a spectacular Belgian tapestry and the Rodin sculptures. Read the full review

Travelled: February 2023

Jacqueline Heywood - UK

We were really surprised at how Buenos Aires is so very much a 'European' city, but in South America. We absolutely loved the tango show. And the Arts Gallery was wonderful - we never expected to find whole rooms of pictures by French Impressionists. Read the full review

Travelled: February 2023

Peter Heywood - UK

Our guide in Buenos Aires was fantastic. Read the full review

Travelled: December 2022

Brad Anderson - USA

Flying into Buenos Aires the day of the World Cup Soccer Parade set the tone for an amazing holiday. It just kept getting better from there - from a delicious meal at the Argentine Experience to everything Patagonia. Read the full review

Travelled: December 2022

Kristine McNally - USA

Buenos Aires is so fun! The food, parks, and museums were wonderful and we were able to walk everywhere. Read the full review

Travelled: October 2022

Debbie Knaub - USA

As far as cities go, I love Buenos Aires. It is so much like a European city with much culture, parks, and flair. Read the full review

Travelled: February 2022

Andrew Karigan - USA

What a fun city! I wish we would have more time to explore the city but once our Palermo neighborhood woke up it was such a fun place to explore! We were very happy to have stayed there. Read the full review

Travelled: December 2019

Chris Houck - United States Of America

The guide with Swoop coordinated a dinner/tango dance for us. How fun to learn the history of tango where the dance originated Read the full review

Travelled: February 2019

Leslie Dana - United States Of America

Review:

Other places to visit

Argentina Bariloche

Sightseeing in Bariloche

The alpine town of San Carlos de Bariloche has some must see's but once you've visited them, there are some other ways to spend your free time. From cycling the Circuito Chico, …

Discover More
Punta Arenas

Sightseeing in Punta Arenas

After visiting the must sees of this city port, there are some other ways to spend your free time. The Central Plaza for beautiful buildings and the cathedral, one of the many …

Discover More
Ushuaia(2)

Sightseeing in Ushuaia

Often people find themselves with just a day or half day to spare in Ushuaia between treks, cruises or other activities, so Swoop has compiled this list of suggestions for things …

Discover More
Swoop's guide to Santiago

Swoop's guide to Santiago

In the last 10 years, Santiago has gone from being a rural backwater to a place with a true identity, no longer superseded by Buenos Aires. If you’ve only got a few days in the …

Discover More