Welcome to the wonderful city of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina. With the passion and melancholy of the tango, the proud ‘porteños’, the fanatical soccer fans of Boca Juniors and River Plate. The Argentine culture, the beautiful city parks, fun outdoor cafés, restaurants, trendy boutiques and the Italian-Spanish way of living make Buenos Aires a sparkling and irresistible metropolis.

Being the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires has a lot of inhabitants. Around 13 million people live here. More than 3 million people live in the metropolitan area and 10 million in the suburbs of the city. BA is a city that never sleeps, because there is always something to do. There are an incredible amount of restaurants, bars and nightclubs where you can go during your stay here. Besides that, Buenos Aires has many parks, flee markets and museums where you can spend your day.
We hope you will enjoy yourself in this lovely city!!



Transportation**

Bus
Buses drive 24 hours a day. Make sure you always have coins in your pocket, because you can only pay with coins. Exact change is not necessary as long as you are using coins.

Subway
The subway (‘Subte’) in Buenos Aires is open from 5 am till 11 pm from Monday to Friday. During the weekends they are opened from 8 am till 10 pm. There are 6 subway lines in

Line A from Plaza de Mayo (Montserrat)
to Primera Junta (Caballito)

Line B from Leandro N. Alem (San Nicholas)
to Los Incas (Villa Urquiza)

Line C from Constitución
to Retiro

Line D from Catedral (San Nicholas)
to Manuela Pedraza (Belgrano)

Line E from Plaza de los Virreyes (Flores)
to Bolivar (Montserrat)

Line H from Saenz y Int. A. Rabanal (Nueva Pompeya)
to Corrientes (Balvanera)

Taxi
It is very easy and cheap to take a taxi in Buenos Aires. Make sure you don’t pay with bills of 50 or 100 pesos. Taxi drivers usually don’t have enough change, and if they do, you risk receiving false bills. We recommend the taxis from ‘Radio Taxi’, you can recognize them by the sign on the roof of the taxi.

Safety**
Buenos Aires is a safe city. Just make sure you always watch your things, because as a foreigner you are pickpocket victim number one. Avoid the neighborhoods La Boca, Retiro and Constitución during the evening.

Districts**

Buenos Aires has different districts that each have their own characteristics. There is for example: San Telmo with its small cobblestone street and antique stores, Microcentro which is the business area and Palermo with its great restaurants and its beautiful parks. All of the districts have their own sights to see…

Montserrat
Montserrat is the district where the Plaza de Mayo is located. This is one of the most important sights. Here are very often protests, demonstrations and manifestations. For example, every Thursday afternoon around 15.30 the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo will walk in circles around the obelisk for the husbands and children they lost in the “Dirty War”.

Microcentro & San Nicholas
In Microcentro and San Nicholas are the shopping streets Florida and Lavalle situated. This is the only ´pedestrian area´ in Buenos Aires. It is nice to shop and walk around here, because there are always people on the street showing their art crafts, give small tango shows or do sketches. From Florida you can walk to Avenida Corrientes. This is the street with theatres and restaurants, especially at night this is a great place to walk around.

San Telmo
San Telmo used to be a district where the richer people lived, but after a yellow fever epidemic they moved north to Recoleta. It has small cobblestone streets and beautiful old houses. San Telmo is the best neighborhood to go to in the weekends. You can walk from the streets “la Defensa” to Plaza Dorrego, where a flee market is held on Sunday. San Telmo is known as the best place for antiques in the city.

La Boca
La Boca is the oldest district of Buenos Aires and used to be the harbor. It is also one of the poorest districts. La Boca is home to the Boca Juniors where Diego Maradonna played soccer. It is nice to visit Caminito, where you see people dancing tango, see the colorful “conventillos” (houses where the immigrants lived) and people who sell their paintings.

Puerto Madero & Reserva Ecológica
Puerto Madero is the newest and one of the richest districts of Buenos Aires. A lot of offices and good restaurants are located here. Characteristic of Puerto Madero is the Puente de la Mujer (Bridge of the woman). By foot you can go from Puerto Madero to La Reserva Ecológica, the ecological reserve of Buenos Aires. The reserve is a getaway for many porteños in summertime and a paradise for birdwatchers.

Recoleta & Barrio Norte
Recoleta and Barrio Norte are residential areas. The upper class of Buenos Aires lives here. You can see this by the houses, the beautiful parks and museums. A must see is the Cementario Recoleta where Evita Perón is buried. Every Saturday there is a big market where you can find a lot of nice souvenirs near the cemetery. In Barrio Norte, close to the cemetery, you will find the street Alvear, here you can find stores with big brand names such as Armani, Luis Vitton, Christian Dior and many more.

Palermo & Belgrano
Palermo has some sights really worth visiting, such as the Parque 3 de Febrero. Other sights are the Botanic Garden (Jardin Botanico), next to the Zoo (Jardin Zoológico) and the Japanese Gardens (Jardin Japonés). Besides the beautiful parks, Palermo is the district of bars. There are tons of restaurants and bars where you can enjoy yourself.
In a city like Buenos Aires a Chinatown is of course indispensable. You will find this Chinatown in Belgrano. So if you want to eat really good Chinese food, go there!

Retiro
Around plaza San Martin there are a few sights like Palacio San Martin, which has a weapon museum inside, and if you walk downhill you see a memorial monument for the War of the Malvinas (Falkland war). The train and bus station (for long trips) is also situated in Retiro. This is not a place to visit at night, but during the day it is nice to see.