Refreshed: September 2026
Football, tango, steak, wine, Evita and the magnificent Iguazu Falls. Argentina is famous for all of them and somehow, during my trip, I managed to experience the lot!
Buenos Aires was my first stop in Argentina. I stayed close to Plaza de Mayo in the city centre, where Casa Rosada, the famous pink presidential palace, is located. I felt comfortable exploring the area and was immediately struck by the architecture, with its mixture of European and colonial influences.
But there was something else that was impossible to miss.
Buenos Aires had football fever
I visited Argentina shortly before the 2022 World Cup and the country was gripped by football fever.
The Argentine flag, with its unmistakable blue and white stripes, seemed to be everywhere. Football was talked about constantly and the excitement was infectious. Argentinians are passionate about their national team, and I happened to arrive at a particularly exciting time.
Little did I know then that Argentina would go on to win the World Cup!
I also loved the street art around Buenos Aires, particularly the murals celebrating football and some of Argentina’s most famous players.
An unforgettable night of tango
One of the highlights of my time in Buenos Aires was attending a tango show.
What a night!
The music, the incredible footwork and the skill of the dancers were wonderful to watch. Tango can look effortless when performed well, but seeing it close up made me appreciate just how much precision and control are involved.
The evening included dinner and wine, and the sirloin steak was delicious — one of the best steaks I ate in Argentina.
And believe me, I ate quite a few!
The finale took me by surprise. One of the performers sang Don’t Cry for Me Argentina, the song forever associated with Eva Perón through the musical Evita. It was quite moving.
Then, to finish the evening, waiters appeared around the room waving enormous Argentine flags. It was dramatic, patriotic and slightly amusing all at the same time.
And naturally, I couldn’t visit the home of tango without joining in somehow.
Exploring Buenos Aires
I took a guided city tour, which was a good way to get my bearings. We visited some of the main sights including La Boca, the Obelisk, Recoleta, Palermo and Plaza de Mayo.
I like doing this when I first arrive somewhere. A city tour gives me an overview and helps me decide which places I want to return to and explore properly on my own.
The Obelisk is probably one of the most recognisable landmarks in Buenos Aires. Standing at a major crossroads on Avenida 9 de Julio, it can be seen from several blocks away and has become a gathering place for celebrations, demonstrations and major public events.
And, of course, there was Casa Rosada.
The colourful streets of Caminito
No sightseeing tour of Buenos Aires seems complete without a visit to Caminito in La Boca.
The pedestrianised street is famous for its brightly painted buildings and is close to Boca Juniors’ La Bombonera stadium. It is certainly colourful and very photogenic, but I have to admit that I found it quite small. Once I had walked to the end of the street, there wasn’t really that much more I wanted to see.
There were tango dancers offering to pose for photographs for a fee. I found them friendly rather than pushy, although, as with any busy tourist attraction, it pays to be aware of what is going on around you.
Tourism is clearly important to the shops, cafés and restaurants in the area, and Caminito has become one of the city’s best-known visitor attractions.
An unexpected discovery at the Metropolitan Cathedral
When I first looked at the Metropolitan Cathedral overlooking Plaza de Mayo, I wasn’t convinced it was a church at all.
With its twelve enormous neoclassical columns across the front, it reminded me more of a Greek temple. The columns represent the twelve apostles.
The Cathedral is also closely associated with Pope Francis, who served as Archbishop of Buenos Aires before becoming Pope.
I decided to go inside.
As I approached, I noticed a band marching towards the Cathedral followed by a large crowd taking photographs and videos. I had absolutely no idea what was happening, so naturally I followed them!
It turned out that I had stumbled upon the changing of the guard at the mausoleum of General José de San Martín, one of the great figures in South American independence.
I hadn’t planned it, hadn’t known it was happening and could easily have missed it.
Those unexpected discoveries are one of the things I love most about travelling.
And yes, there had to be one of me too.
A shopping centre worth looking up for
The receptionist at my hotel recommended that I visit Galerías Pacífico on Calle Florida.
“You won’t be disappointed,” I was told.
I wasn’t.
Galerías Pacífico is an elegant shopping centre, but it was the building rather than the shops that interested me. The central dome is decorated with magnificent murals painted by prominent Argentine artists in the 1940s.
They are stunning.
It is one of those places where you need to remember to stop looking into the shop windows and look upwards instead.
And then there was the steak...
I may have overdone the steak slightly in Buenos Aires.
Actually, there is no “may” about it.
I enjoyed Argentine steak so much that I ate it practically every day, either for lunch or dinner. Parrillas — traditional Argentine steakhouses — were easy to find, so temptation was never very far away.
My favourite cut was bife de chorizo, a thick sirloin steak.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a decent photograph to show you. Every time a beautiful steak arrived in front of me, taking a photograph apparently disappeared from my list of priorities. By the time I remembered, I had usually eaten most of it!
I even found myself comparing the bife de chorizo with the wonderful bistecca alla fiorentina I had eaten in Florence.
It was that good.
When my Spanish failed me
One of the challenges I experienced in Buenos Aires was the language barrier.
Spanish is the main language and I encountered relatively few people who spoke English, including in some tourist areas. My Spanish certainly wasn’t good enough to rescue me.
Google Translate came to my aid many times. It could be frustrating for everyone involved, but somehow we always got there in the end.
That’s travelling!
Would I return to Buenos Aires?
There were still places I would have liked to see, including Teatro Colón, famous for its architecture and acoustics, and El Ateneo Grand Splendid, the spectacular bookshop housed inside a former theatre.
My few days in Buenos Aires, however, felt about right for me.
I enjoyed the city. I experienced the tango, became caught up in Argentina’s football fever, admired some beautiful architecture and ate far more steak than was probably necessary.
Would I fly all the way from the UK solely for a Buenos Aires city break? Probably not. It is a long journey, and for me Buenos Aires worked particularly well as part of a much bigger South American adventure that also included Brazil.
Because, wonderful as the tango and steak were, Buenos Aires wasn’t actually the main reason I had travelled to Argentina.
I had come to see Iguazu Falls.
And nothing had prepared me for that.
Have you visited Buenos Aires? And more importantly — could you resist eating Argentine steak every day?
Well done Molly.
I visited Buenos Aires about 6 years ago and I enjoyed the experience.
I saw and did most of the things that you did.
Unlike you, I really liked BA.
Thanks very much Phil for your feedback. Great to hear you really liked Buenos Aires. I enjoyed the experience.