Overview
A city that looks lush green from the air as you descend, the area around the airport is completely covered in greenery. Makes you wish your own city looked like that.
Getting There
If you arrive at Ezeiza Airport on an international flight, police at entry will ask detailed questions about your flight number, where you're staying, and so on. We didn't see them give anyone trouble, but the entry process takes a while. That said, the large number of officers means you get through fairly quickly.
Getting into the city was smooth, but our departure was complete chaos. Every stage at the airport departures area had insane queues. Definitely arrive very early. The restrooms inside reeked of cigarette smoke. People are incredibly relaxed about that sort of thing.
What to See
The streets are lined with Jacaranda trees, which happened to be in full bloom during our visit, they looked wonderful.
The Barrio district is made up entirely of large, old buildings. The ones used as hotels look well-maintained, but the rest are in rough shape.
Jardin Japones is an absolute gem right in the heart of the city. On Sundays, the city is buzzing, everyone's exercising, cycling, streets are packed. The greenery everywhere clearly plays a huge role in that.
Recoleta Cemetery is supposedly one of the three most important cemeteries in the world, alongside those in Moscow and Paris. There's no space left, and existing plots reportedly sell for around 10 million dollars. The prices are absurd, but the cemetery is genuinely a visual feast and essentially an open-air museum. Every tomb is designed differently, and most are well-maintained.
La Boca and Caminito had an amazing vibe. Very touristy and genuinely crowded, but incredibly colorful and fun. This is where I truly felt like I was in Argentina. The back streets can be sketchy but the central areas are in good shape. Reminded me a lot of Kadikoy in Istanbul.
The flea market in San Telmo was extremely crowded and felt very unsafe. There were so many locals prowling around looking for targets that enjoying the experience was simply not possible.
Food & Drink
You can't visit Argentina without trying the beef. There are unlimited meat and salad bar restaurants. We went to Rodizinho Bar & Grill Puerto Madero. Despite its low Google Maps rating, we were very happy with both the quality and the prices. The unlimited meat and salad bar was 22 dollars, and we paid 17 dollars for a nice wine.
At this particular restaurant, USD exchanged at a better rate. It's worth asking what rate they offer before sitting down, then deciding whether to exchange outside or let the restaurant handle it.
If you want to do a wine tasting, 1853 The Wine Experience is a place with incredibly sweet owners. The tasting we did there was one of the highlights of our entire trip.
Tips & Advice
Theft is apparently rampant. Nobody in our group got hit, but our guide warned us so many times that everyone was on edge the entire trip. They've developed some wild tactics: one person asks to take your photo while another bumps into you and knocks the phone out of your hand, then a third person grabs it and runs. After hearing all this, relaxed sightseeing is basically impossible. Someone from a previous group of ours had their watch stolen right off their wrist. Bottom line: absolutely do not look like a tourist.
Tourist areas are full of beggars and homeless people. Some of them genuinely get in your personal space looking for something to steal. It's really uncomfortable for sightseeing.