First Time in Buenos Aires: What to See & Do — Trip Planner

What first-timers get wrong in Buenos Aires

Buses take no cash whatsoever, so a SUBE card is required for every colectivo, subte and commuter train and is sold at kiosks and stations. Inflation makes any peso price you read online stale within weeks, so budget in dollars and convert once you arrive. Foreign cards now settle at a favourable official rate for most tourist spending. Tips of roughly ten percent are given in cash.

What's actually worth your time in Buenos Aires

Recoleta Cemetery is a city of marble mausoleums where Eva Peron lies in the Duarte vault, and foreigners now pay to enter. The Teatro Colon guided tour is the one ticket nobody regrets, since the horseshoe hall is among the best-sounding rooms anywhere. El Ateneo Grand Splendid, a 1919 theatre turned bookshop, costs nothing. Caminito in La Boca is three painted blocks, and you should not wander past them.

What things cost in Buenos Aires

Quoting pesos here is close to useless because the number moves every month. In dollar terms a parrilla dinner with a bottle of Malbec lands around twenty to thirty per person, a subte ride under a dollar, a taxi across Palermo a couple of dollars, and a coffee with a medialuna about three. Hotels price in dollars and hold their value far better than restaurants.

Buenos Aires's museums, and which one to pick

MALBA in Palermo holds Frida Kahlo's Autorretrato con chango y loro alongside Berni and Xul Solar, and it closes on Tuesdays. The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes charges nothing and hangs nineteenth-century Argentine painting next to Rodin and Van Gogh. Fundacion Proa sits on the Riachuelo in La Boca. Museo Evita occupies a house that once sheltered women and children under her foundation.

What to eat in Buenos Aires

Asado is the organising principle: bife de chorizo and entrana over wood at Don Julio, booked out weeks ahead, or Parrilla Pena for the same thing without the queue. Pizza here is thick and cheese-heavy, so order fugazzeta at Guerrin on Corrientes. Medialunas dipped in coffee stand in for breakfast. Alfajores and dulce de leche are everywhere, and the ice cream is Italian in method.

When to go to Buenos Aires

The month to avoid is July — around 14°C (57°F) with roughly 6 rain days. Prices and crowds track the weather here: September is the sweet spot, July the month most people skip.

Pack for peak season: Layers — t-shirts under a light jacket or sweater, Comfortable walking shoes — every guide on this site assumes you'll use them.