BUENOS AIRES GUIDEBOOK
Review by Barb & Ron Kroll
Buenos Aires
(Fodor's) ISBN 978-1400019656 1400019656
Fodor's Buenos Aires helps you get to the capital of Argentina by air, bus, boat and car, and pick the best time to visit Buenos Aires: spring (September to December) and fall (April to June).
The 331-page guide book describes Buenos Aires hotels, restaurants, city tours, Spanish language classes, tango dancing lessons, Latin American cooking schools and wine tasting courses. Visitors learn how to get around by remis (car and driver), subte (subway), taxi and train.
Special sections discuss free things to do in Buenos Aires, kids activities and top Buenos Aires attractions, including Caminito, Museo Evita and Plaza de Mayo.
Palermo neighborhood
Well-organized and helpful, the Fodor's guide book describes Buenos Aires neighborhoods (barrios) with historical background, orientation street maps, information on how to get around, how to tour the barrios, where to eat and major attractions. For example, Palermo contains star ratings for sightseeing, dining, lodging, shopping and nightlife. Readers learn about landmarks (e.g., Plaza Italia), shopping malls (e.g., Alto Palermo), markets (e.g., Mercato de las Pulgas), horse racing (e.g., Hipodromo Argentino de Palermo), polo (e.g., Campo Argentino de Polo) and restaurants (ranging from budget Club Eros to expensive Barolo).
Each chapter of Buenos Aires contains several sidebars. One, for example, helps visitors choose the right Argentine estancia (La Bamba for historical luxury, Cabana Los Dos Hermanos for inexpensive horseback riding and La Cinacina for gauchos).
Word of Mouth sidebars provide readers' comments such as a recommendation for the best steak restaurant in Buenos Aires (Cabana Las Lilas).
Buenos Aires metro map
Sepia images, throughout Fodor's Buenos Aires, illustrate attractions, activities, restaurants and neighborhoods. Monochrome street maps detail regions, hotels, restaurants, stores and sights. The inside back cover has a colored map of the Buenos Aires metro routes and stations.
Fodor's Buenos Aires describes the tango dance, its history and best places for tango shows (Bar Sur, Rojo Tango, Madero Tango, Querandi, Viejo Almacen, Maison Dandi Royal and Senor Tango). For tango music, locals (portenos) visit Centro Cultural Torquato, Café Homero, Gran Café Tortoni and La Trastienda. The chapter lists top tango music songs, by decade, most of them available from iTunes.
Where to take tango lessons
Beginners wanting to learn how to dance the tango will find information about tango lessons, tango schools, costs, dance and clothing styles. A list of Buenos Aires milongas (salons or dance halls) includes description, location and contact information. For example, La Ideal, located on Plaza de Mayo, has daily dances, often with live orchestras. Readers learn about tango tours (e.g., Argentina Tango and Tanguera Tours) and stores where you can buy tango clothing and shoes (e.g., Tango Brujo).
The Tango Talk section describes the meanings of tango terms, such as abrazo (a dance position), barrida (a sweeping move to position the partner's foot) and ocho (a criss-cross walking step).
Argentinean foods
A menu guide for Buenos Aires restaurants lists Spanish and English descriptions of Argentinean food and dishes, like puchero (boiled meat and vegetables), salchichas (long, thin sausages), locro (bean, hominy and meat stew) and facturas (small pastries).
Side Trips describe excursions from Buenos Aires to nearby Cataratas del Iguazú (Iguazu Falls) for impressive waterfalls, the pampas (grasslands) for a cowboy country visit to an estancia (ranch), Los Esteros del Iberá (wetland reserves) for plants and wildlife, and Colonia del Sacramento for 18th-century stone buildings and cobbled streets.
Where to buy Malbec wine
Bring empty travel luggage for shopping in Buenos Aires. The Shopping chapter helps you find stores in Recoleta, Barrio Norte, Centro, Palermo and San Telmo that sell Malbec wines, leather clothing, antiques and the latest fashions.
You will discover Argentinean firsts in the Made in Argentina chapter: manufacturing the first ballpoint pen, the first stored blood transfusion, first use of fingerprints as evidence and first one-use-only hypodermic syringe.
BA hotels
The Where to Stay chapter reviews Buenos Aires hotels, renovated mansions that accommodate visitors and apartment rental agencies. A table lists the pros and cons of hotels in five Buenos Aires neighborhoods. For example, Las Canitas neighborhood has great restaurants and bars but it is far from downtown.
A Where to Stay Planner tells you what to expect in Buenos Aires hotels, how to make reservations, services provided, parking and prices. It lists cheap places to stay (e.g., Milhouse Hostel), moderately priced hotels (e.g., Home Buenos Aires) and high-end accommodations (e.g., Alvear Palace Hotel). Suggestions include best Buenos Aires hotel restaurant (e.g., Bo-Bo), hotels with best views (e.g., NH City & Tower) and best hotels for tango (e.g., Abasto Plaza).
Hotel information includes price, ambiance, website, phone number, facilities, address and credit cards accepted. For example, the expensive Faena Hotel, in the Centro neighborhood of Buenos Aires, features tango shows in El Cabaret restaurant, a Turkish bath in the spa, WiFi and parking.
Contents
- 1. Experience Buenos Aires
- Buenos Aires today
- Experience Buenos Aires planner
- What's where
- Top Buenos Aires attractions
- Buenos Aires like a local
- City itineraries
- With kids
- Free (or almost free)
- Master class
- Who are these people?
- All of the cow but the moo
- Tango
- Good marketing skills
- Fashion forward
- The sporting life
- 2. Buenos Aires neighborhoods
- Centro and environs
- La Boca and San Telmo
- Recoleta and Almagro
- Palermo
- 3. Shopping
- Shopping planner
- Shopping: San Telmo
- Shopping: Palermo
- Shopping: Recoleta and Barrio Norte
- Shopping: Centro and environs
- 4. After dark
- After dark planner
- Performances
- Tango
- Cocktail time
- Live music
- Late-night bars
- Dance clubs
- Gay and lesbian
- 5. Where to eat
- THE SCENE
- Where to eat planner
- Best bets for B.A. dining
- Dining: Centro and environs
- Dining: La Boca and San Telmo
- Dining: Recoleta, Barrio Norte and Almagro
- Dining: Palermo
- Dining: Belgrano and Las Cañitas
- Restaurant reviews
- Buenos Aires dining and lodging atlas
- 6. Where to stay
- THE SCENE
- Where to stay planner
- Best bets
- Hotel reviews
- 7. Side trips
- Excursions from Buenos Aires
- Side trips planner
- Colonia del Sacramento
- Buenos Aires Province
- The Atlantic Coast
- Los Esteros del Ibera
- Iguazú Falls
- Understanding Buenos Aires
- Spanish vocabulary
- Menu guide
- Travel smart Buenos Aires
- Getting here and around
- Buenos Aires essentials
- Index
- Closeups
- Life before malls
- Big spenders
- When the sun comes up
- Staying up with the Porteños
- Homes away from home
- Maps
- Buenos Aires Metro network
- Buenos Aires neighborhoods
- Centro and environs
- La Boca and San Telmo
- Recoleta, Barrio Norte and Almagro
- Cementerio de la Recoleta
- Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
- Palermo
- Shopping neighborhoods
- San Telmo shopping
- Palermo shopping
- Recoleta and Barrio Norte shopping
- Centro and environs shopping
- Dining neighborhoods
- Dining and lodging map atlas
- Side trips
- Colonia del Sacramento
- Buenos Aires Province and the Atlantic Coast
- San Antonio de Areco
- Esteros del Ibera and Iguazú
- Puerto Iguazú
- Foz do Iguaçu
- Buenos Aires in focus
- Experience Buenos Aires
- A passionate history
- Buenos Aires neighborhoods
- Argentine icons: Sinners, saints and prodigal sons
- After dark
- The dance of Buenos Aires
- Side trips
- The cowboys at World's End
- Iguazú Falls
- Experience Buenos Aires
Authors
Brian Byrnes and Andy Footner live in Buenos Aires. Victoria Patience is a freelance contributor to many Fodor's publications.