Top 5 Things to do in Buenos Aires

                                           Hola Gente Maravillosa!

Buenos Aires is an amazing city, and there is so much to do here you'll need a good few days to pack it all in! I stayed here for a week and just about managed to tick everything off my checklist. However, if you only have a few days in this crazy city, I'v put together a list of my must dos, so you can make the most of your time there. Now, as a vegetarian, there is one obvious thing thing that does not feature on my list - steak. Argentina is famous for its meat, so that will definitely be something you'll need to do if you're a meat lover visiting BA. As I'm no meat lover though, steak eating will not be featured in my top 5. But I'm a fair gal, so I've at least given it a mention in honour of fairness and all that jazz. Go me. So in no particular order, here are my 5 favourite things to do in Buenos Aires.

La Boca

La Boca is an old neighbourhood in Buenos Aires that was the original home of the people who worked in the port. The houses are all made from corrugated iron and ship parts and are painted a variety of bright colours. The area is super touristy in the day, but has a reputation for being pretty dangerous after dark. It's also not advised to wander off the main strip, as you could run into some trouble. While the area is very touristy in the day, it's a great place to go and visit for half a day or so. There are loads of little touristy shops selling local crafts, food, painting and general tat. There are also lots of restaurants and cafes that open onto the street, most of which have a live tango show to watch while you eat. There are also a few tango dancers in the street, so it's a great place to go if you don't fancy paying loads to see a show in the evening. The houses themselves are pretty spectacular and there are a couple you can go in for a wander round. This area was probably my favourite in Buenos Aires and you can spend as much, or as little time as you want here. 

Check out San Telmo Market
San Telmo Market was awesome. It's on every Sunday pretty much all day. We were really lucky, as our hostel (Hostal Tercero del Sur) was right on the doorstep of the market so we had really easy access to it. There are loads of crafts, clothes, art and jewellery stalls that you can spend endless time rummaging around. The market comes to an end at the famous Plaza de Mayo, home to Casa Rosada the presidential house and office made famous by Evita. On Sundays you can entre the house for free, so this is a great way to end your stroll through the market.

Got to a Tango  Show

You simply can not visit Argentina without seeing a Tango show, and what better place to do it that Buenos Aires?! There are so many different places that you can visit for a tango show, and there are loads of different options too. You can have a sit down meal in a theatre before the show, or skip the meal and just watch the show. You could also stumble across a street tango show. The possibilities are endless. We opted to watch a theatre tango show, with no meal (as we were cheapskate backpackers). The show was amazing! The singing and dancing were both unreal and I absolutely loved it! Even if you aren't the biggest fan of dancing (I'm not a super fan, but I do love a bit of Strictly) you should definitely check out a tango show.

 

Go on a Walking Tour

There are loads of free walking tours advertised in hostels, so it won't be hard for you to find one. I opted for the Buenos Aires Free City Tour that meets Monday-Saturday at 11am in Plaza de Congreso. The tour lasted around 2 and a half hours and was great! We covered all the main touristy sights in the city centre and learned loads of Argentinian political and cultural history. Our guide was fantastic and spoke fluent English. Doing a free walking tour is an ideal way to see the city and get a real feel for it. Plus you get to learn about the history behind the sights. Obviously give a tip - you'd pay a lot more for an official tour and I always think the free walking tours are better!

 Experience the Nightlife 

Buenos Aires is a HUGE city, so there are so many places to check out at night. As we stayed in the more touristy, safer neighbourhoods of San Telmo and Palermo, I can only give you the low down on these two! There are loads of bars and restaurants in both areas, so finding somewhere to go won't be tricky! My favourite out of the two neighbourhoods for night life has to be Sal Telmo. We went on a bar crawl with some locals we'd met that started at a bar round the corner from our hostel. I think it cost the equivalent of £10 and we got loads of free shots, a free drink, free pizza and free entry. The night ended up at an abandoned mansion party and was absolutely unreal. BA really is a crazy place to go out.