The hook
A grand, faded-glamour capital often called the Paris of South America, where tango was born in the port barrios, café culture and bookshops fill the boulevards, and dinner is late, meaty, and washed down with Malbec.
01Why it's worth it
Buenos Aires is one of the world's great cities to simply be in. Built by waves of European immigrants, it has a distinctly Old World elegance, wide boulevards, ornate architecture, grand cafés, and one of the most beautiful bookshops on Earth in a converted theatre, married to a passionate, melancholic Latin soul. It is the birthplace of tango, which you can see danced everywhere from the touristy shows to the spontaneous street corners of San Telmo and the intimate late-night milongas where locals dance till dawn. The city is a mosaic of characterful barrios: aristocratic Recoleta with its extraordinary cemetery (where Evita lies among marble mausoleums), colourful working-class La Boca, cobbled bohemian San Telmo with its Sunday antiques fair, and trendy, leafy Palermo full of restaurants and bars. Argentines eat superbly and late, above all beef, grilled to perfection at the parrilla and paired with the country's excellent Malbec. Add a football culture of near-religious intensity and a thriving arts and nightlife scene, and Buenos Aires rewards unhurried days and long nights.
02How to experience it
Wander the barrios, Recoleta and its cemetery, San Telmo (best on Sunday for the market), La Boca, and Palermo for food and nightlife, and see tango both on stage and, if you're bold, at a milonga. Eat a proper parrilla dinner late with Malbec, and linger in the grand cafés. Spring and autumn are loveliest.
From the locals
Both halves of its reputation turn up in the same thread, and the honest version needs both. The love: "Buenos Aires is one of my favourite cities on the continent. It is very European — I felt almost like walking around in Paris or Madrid. Argentine people are generally very nice, the food is amazing (steak and wine, anyone?) and the nightlife bombing." And the correction, from someone who knows it better: "don't be over-confident, it's not Europe. Just have common sense and don't walk around showing expensive items, especially at night or in deserted streets. Buenos Aires is not that safe nowadays."