Eating in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires offers an interesting variety of restaurants. The most popular meal is the "asado" or "parrilla" (barbecue), but the city has several restaurants where you can enjoy typical dishes of any part of the world.
There are also specific gastronomic zones:
Costanera Norte and Puerto Madero are renowned for their "parrilladas" (barbecues).
Palermo Hollywood, Recoleta and Las Cañitas neighborhoods offer diverse and elaborated dishes.
For a list of restaurants please visit www.guiaoleo.com.ar
Important tip: Porteños are used to having dinner rather late (around 9 or 10 p.m.), reason why many restaurants are open until midnight or 1 a.m.
Shopping in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires has specific shopping areas, such as Avenida Santa Fe, Avenida Corrientes, Downtown, and Avenida Cabildo in Belgrano. The commercial schedule is Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Shopping malls are open every day from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The main shopping malls are:
- Alto Palermo (Av. Santa Fe 3253) www.altopalermo.com.ar
- Buenos Aires Design Center, (Pueyrredón Av. 2501), www.designrecoleta.com.ar
- Paseo Alcorta, (Salguero Jerónimo 3172), www.paseoalcorta.com.ar/
- Patio Bullrich (Av. del Libertador 750), www.shoppingbullrich.com.ar
- El Solar de la Abadía: (Luis Maria Campos and Maure), -www.elsolarshopping.com.ar
- Abasto de Buenos Aires (Corrientes 3727), www.abasto-shopping.com.ar
Places worth visiting
Downtown Buenos Aires
Colon Theatre: Placed a few blocks away from our school, it is an obliged visit, for its architecture and its excellent acoustics, and all its originality was preserved.
The building is being renewed to celebrate the centenary in the year 2008. In the guided visits you can appreciate the factory of clothes, footwear, masks and wig for the performances of the theatre. http://www.teatrocolon.org.ar/
Pacific Galleries and Borges Cultural Center: built in 1889, it was the head office of Association Stimulus of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Fine Arts and the Museum of Fine arts. In 1908 the offices of what should be the railway Buenos Aires-Pacific were installed.
The artists Juan Carlos Castagnino, Antonio Berni, Cirilo Colmenio, Lino Spilimbergo and Demetrio Urruchúa realized the remarcable murals of the dome.
Nowadays, it is a modern commercial center. In the same building are the Borges Cultural Center, the Julio Bocca's Dance School and the School Argentina de Tango. http://www.ccborges.org.ar/
Florida and Lavalle Pedestrian Streets: appart from their trades, bars and restaurants, they concentrate at every hour diverse performing arts, plastic artists, tango dancers, musicians, etc
Corrientes Avenue: exponent of the cultural and commercial dynamism of the city, it is the headquarters of numerous and prestigious theatres and cinemas, restaurants, bookshops, etc.
San Martin Cultural Center: it possesses exhibition rooms, three theatre rooms and a cinema. It is the headquarters of the Contemporary Stable Ballet. Behind the building is the San Martín Cultural Center, which offers workshops, conferences, performances, etc. It has a covered surface of 30.000 m2. http://www.ccgsm.gov.ar/
Plaza de Mayo: this square was the scenery of many important historical events from the foundation of the nation up to the present. You can visit the Casa Rosada, headquarters of the executive power of the nation, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Cabildo, the Nacional Bank building.
Av de Mayo, joining Plaza de Mayo to Plaza de los Dos Congresos: this avenue has great architectural beauty, standing out the Palace Barolo, the Sede of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, the coffee Tortoni, etc
National Congress: it is the headquarters of the legislative power and it is allowed to visitors; it has the biggest dome in Buenos Aires.
Recoleta Neighborhood
National Library: it was founded in 1811 and has approximately 2.000.000 books.
National museum of Fine Arts: it consists of 32 rooms in which you can see exposed works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Degas, The Greek, Goya, Tintoretto, Rembrandt, Kandinsky, Miro, Rodin Bourdelle, Prilidiano Pueyrredón and others remarcable artists.
Law School: with a front of Doric columns and a perron of 80 meters, the building was concluded in 1949.
Recoleta Cultural Center: it works in a building of the 19th century that belonged to the Recoletos friars. In its rooms plastic arts exhibitions and diverse cultural manifestations are presented. http://www.centroculturalrecoleta.org/ Other Neighbourhoods and Places of Interest
Basilica Our Lady of Pilar: Constructed by the Jesuits and finished in 1732, it preserves the altarpieces, images and elements of worship of the time.
Visits to museums: complete information regarding the museums of the city schedules and fees (most of them are very cheap or for free) http://www.bue.gov.ar/actividades/?menu_id=78&info=museos
Puerto Madero Neighborhood
This neighborhood has parks and very elegant walks and excellent restaurants that offer international food.
Ecological Reserve (Tristan Achaval Rodríguez 1550): It has a surface of 350 hectares and a diverse fauna including birds, mammals, and amphibians.
The Woman Bridge: It was created by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to join the east and west docks of Puerto Madero.
Puerto Madero Tramway: It´s a 2 kilometer high-category tramway which runs along the west side of Alicia Moreau de Justo Avenue. It’s a 12 minute trip.
San Telmo Neighborhood
This traditional neighborhood is one of the tourists’ favorites, with its paved streets, numerous antiquarians, markets, restaurants and tango houses. The place has a special atmosphere that takes us to the old Buenos Aires. The heart of this neighbourhood is located just a few blocks away from our Spanish School.
San Telmo Market: This antique fair has been held in San Telmo since 1970. It is located in Dorrego Square and runs every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Pablo Ducrós Hicken Cinema Museum: It displays objects related to the evolution of the Argentinean cinema industry since 1986. The museum opens Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It also features a video library, scripts, posters and video recordings.
Museum of Modern Art: A recycled piece of architecture, it holds contemporary plastic art.
Other attractions worth visiting: Solar de French Gallery, Lezama Park, National Museum of History, among others.
La Boca Neighborhood
La Bombonera: Boca Juniors official football stadium and one of the most popular stadiums in Argentina. It was inaugurated in 1940 and has a capacity of 60,000 people.
Quinquela Martin Museum and School of Art: The property in which these buildings were constructed was donated by painter Quinquela Martín. He then decorated the classrooms with murals. The museum displays work s of his own and also of other Argentinean artists.
Caminito Street: The little street was baptized as Caminito by Quinquela Martin. Several painters donated their work to this street, since it features outdoor art exhibitions.
You can also enjoy many art galleries where talented artists expose and sell their works, one of which is the "Carboneria.”
El Abasto Neighborhood
Carlos Gardel's Museum-House: Carlos Gardel, the most popular tango artist, lived in this house from 1927 to 1933, before traveling to Paris. The Museum opened in 2003.
The Abasto market: In the past, this was the city’s fruit and vegetables market. In the present, a modern shopping mall was built in the place where the market was located.
Barrio Norte neighborhood
Aguas Corrientes Palace: headquarters of Sanitary Works of the Nation. The front of the building is constituted of 130 thousand enameled bricks and 170 thousand pieces of colored ceramics. It was constructed between 1887 and 1894. It has a museum and the guided visit is free.
Pizzurno Palace: building constructed in 1885, it is nowadays a headquarters of the Education and Cultural Ministry.
Palermo neighborhood
Botanic Garden (Avenida Santa Fe 3951): it has a total surface of 8 hectares and an inmense variety of flora (more than 5000 species).
Zoo of Buenos Aires (intersection of Las Heras and Sarmiento Avenues): this is a great place to spend a day, enjoying several animal species.
Japanese Garden (intersection of Carlos Casares and Figueroa Alcorta Avenues): a reproduction of a traditional Japanese garden featuring beautiful lakes with enormous fishes and smaller gardens.
The Planetarium (intersection of Sarmiento and Figueroa Alcorta Avenues): this five-storey, rounded building features a big room with 360 seats to enjoy different shows of the origin of the universe, with an exhibition of 8900 fixed stars and constellations, among other things.
Belgrano neighborhood
Sarmiento Historical Museum (Museo Histórico Sarmiento): This collection includes the library and files of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (1811-1888), writer, politician and former president of Argentina between 1868 and 1874.
Chinese neighborhood (Arribeños y Avenida Juramento): this small neighbourhood has restaurants where you can enjoy traditional Eastern-Asian dishes and supermarkets with oriental products.
"Club Atletico River Plate" Football Stadium, also known as "El monumental" is one of the most popular and biggest stadiums in the country.
Buenos Aires Nightlife
Buenos Aires is world renown for its nightlife. Every night, one can pick from a list of never ending options: clubs, concerts, theater, and festivals. From a diverse variety of bars and discotheques that don't close until sunrise to an important cultural circuit of theaters and shows, the city has something for everyone. Anything you have in mind to try, you can find it in Buenos Aires, a city that does not sleep.
Discotheques open at midnight and close around 7 a.m. Discotheques in Buenos Aires play music for any taste, such as techno, 80`s, rock, etc. Most discotheques are located in the Palermo and Recoleta neighbourhoods.
Transportation in Buenos Aires
You can find several means of transportation in Buenos Aires: 6 subways lines, more than 100 bus lines and trains. Public transportation is safe and will take you almost everywhere in the city.
Cabs and phone cabs ("radio-taxis" in Buenos Aires) are also an available and safe means of transportation.
Subways
The subway lines are the following:
A (Carabobo - Plaza de Mayo)
B (Los Incas - Alem)
C (Constitución - Retiro)
D (Congreso de Tucumán - Catedral)
E (Plaza de los Virreyes - Bolívar)
H (Caseros - Once)
For more information about the subways of Buenos Aires visit: www.subte.com.ar
Trains
Lines:
Mitre Line: it has 57 stations and its area of influence covers the North area of Buenos Aires and 9 districts in the Greater Buenos Aires.
Sarmiento Line: It has 41 stations with an area of influence covering the West area of Buenos Aires and 10 districts in the Greater Buenos Aires.
Puerto Madero Differential Line: This line was built to provide a high-quality service to its users, featuring air conditioning, heating, functional music, etc. It goes from Castelar to Puerto Madero.
For more information about the trains of Buenos Aires visit: www.tbanet.com.ar
Buses
There are more than 180 lines travelling within the city and connecting with all the districts in the Greater Buenos Aires.
There are three different fares, according to the distance of the trip. The ticket is sold inside the bus and only coins are accepted.
The bus service is available all day long but its frequency decreases after 12 am.
For more information about the buses of Buenos Aires visit: www.loscolectivos.com.ar | 
