The next day we docked in the very commercial port of Buenos Aires. We took a tour to Tigre. Tigre (is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, situated in the north of Greater Buenos Aires, 28 km (17 mi) north of Buenos Aires city. Tigre lies on the Paraná Delta and is a tourist and weekend destination. The area's name derives from the "tigers", which were really jaguars that were hunted there, on occasions, in its early years.
We took an air-conditioned (thank goodness as it 35 C) boat ride through the area. As it was the first week of their summer vacation and a weekend the area was packed with families swimming, boating and jet skiing along the many rivers. It’s a very chilled area that is designed to be a relatively rustic get away location. On board they gave us a Havanna brand Alfajor cookie. They say its only available in Argentina but I think its very much like the very unhealthy mooncakes I ate as a kid.
After back on land, we stopped by the Cathedral de San Isidro, which was built in 1895, but felt a bit more modern. White and light and relatively simple inside. We drove by Quinta de Olivos, which is the north side of Buenos Aires in the suburb of Olivos and is the official residence of the president of Argentina. It is far from the centre of the city so he flies by helicopter to work at Casa Rosada.
That night we had dinner with Jean Carlo and Bongani, the two male singers. Our conversation went on so long we missed the show and we shut down the restaurant.
On Sunday we hugged the staff and disembarked at 9:30 am and we are the Marriott by 10:30 am. The room wasn’t ready so we visited the MClub for a coffee, then had a very average ham & cheese sandwich in the main restaurant. Later we settled into an upgraded suite, though it was at least 20 years since it was last renovated.
At 2:00 pm we met in from Viatar- Buenos Aires Small-Group City Tour (76 USD for 2). There were 10 of us after 2 more pick-up stops and for the next 3 hours we had a great overview of the city.
First was a visit to Plaza de Mayo which is the centre of the city. This is the most famous for the Casa Rosada, which is the seat of the President of Argentina. The “pink house” is famous for its colour. One theory it was painted with cows’ blood as an alternative to paint because paint pealed in the humidity. But of course it is most famous for its balcony where Evita spoke to her admirers.
Also here is the Spanish Colonial Neoclassical Metropolitan Cathedral which was completed in 1822. Pope Francis was the Archbishop of BA for 15 years, and celebrated mass here before moving to the Vatican in 2013.
Interesting too was the Cabildo which was the town council of the city during the colonial era. What makes it so interesting is that it was larger, but in 1889 the city elders wanted to make their city more grand so they copied much from Paris, including the diagonal roads, so they knocked down part of the building. Then later they wanted another road so they knocked down more of it. So now only five of the original eleven arches remain.
We drove through San Telmo, and then to La Boca. Here we drove by The Bombonera which is the Boca Juniors stadium. The original owners couldn’t agree on the colours, so they said they agreed to use the colours from the first ship that docked. That ship was from Sweden so hence they have the blue and yellow colours to this day. Then we stopped in Caminito. This is a true artists neighbourhood. The port originally stood here and the immigrants built shanties. To make it more interesting they would get remnants of paint from the ships. They might find enough paint for 1 wall. So eventually each wall was given a different colour making it a very colourful place.
We drove though Puerto Madero, which houses very posh restaurants and clubs, and we saw the very modern suspension bridge of The Women here. We drove by Retiro, and then stopped at Recoleta. This is a very upscale old area and the location of the Recoleta Cemetery, which is the home to Evita’s mausoleum, as well to many other famous people. We have walked through the cemetery twice before so only posed for photos from the outside.
David had a massage, while I rested before dinner. Tonight we want to Cabanas Las Lilas back at Puerto Madero. https://restaurantlaslilas.com.ar We have been to the restaurant a couple of times in the past. We enjoyed it but other dinners to come were more impressive.
The next day, after a workout in the very hot gym, we took an Uber to Palermo for a cooking class. We went to Pachamama- Argentine Cooking Experience. http://www.pachamamaexperience.com We made Chippa, meat empanadas with homemade dough, chimichurri, a squash like soup as the main, and Humita (corn soup with squash) and flamed dulce de leche pancakes. David made his empanadas perfectly so both could be fried (they must be perfect or they will explode when frying) but I had one disaster (it looked more like a cannoli so it made it into the trash) and the other two were baked (it turns out we prefer the baked over the fried).
Parts of the food had already been prepared but we all got to participate in making the various foods. Of course we had a Vermouth drink and then wine with lunch, because of course we ate what we made. There were two interesting families from the US, as well as another male couple from Brazil so it was a very pleasant experience.
We decided to walk back in the direction of the hotel but gave up soon as the heat was overwhelming at about 35 C.
That night we went to dinner at La Cabrera Palermo. https://www.lacabrera.com.ar First, we walked around the area near the restaurant. While it was technically in the same district as in the morning, it was a very different neighbourhood. Very eclectic with many restaurants, bars and few boutiques. We loved dinner. The food was plentiful, delicious and the waiter was very entertaining. This is the original La Cabrera and they are now found around the globe including one block away from our home in Barcelona.
The next day more food was involved as we did a food tour- Historical Sherpa Food Tour of San Telmo. Again, this is a very eclectic neighbourhood. It has a street full of antiques and there are many restaurants. First we went to a super cool antique bar called Bar El Federal. It was originally a warehouse back in 1864, but has been a bar for many years and the site of many moments of Argentinian history, and is now open 24 hours. We then went to the famous San Telmo market. There were some fruit and vegetable stalls but mostly there are restaurants. We had some very unusual food in a couple of food stalls. It was warm inside but we still enjoyed all the energy and food. We then went to a Dulce de Leche store and sampled various types of Dulce de Leche. Yum.
We then walked through the neighbourhood and visited an old home that had been turned into a series of shops. Apparently when Yellow Fever hit the wealthy abandoned their homes here in this neighbourhood and moved to Recoleta. When they left multiple families moved into a huge space that would have originally been for one family. Now it houses small shops and includes a very eccentric guy that invented his own coffee machine to make very exotic Turkish coffee. Finally, we went to an ice cream store where David happily ate his huge cone with Dulce de Leche ice cream and another scoop of Pasticcio.
That night we were picked up for Rojo Tango at the Faena Hotel, which is a cool, very red, Phillipe Starck designed hotel. https://www.rojotango.com It’s a small venue and we enjoyed the Tango dancing, singing and the energetic orchestra, including the two accordion players. It is a very expensive experience, and personally I was a bit disappointed that the design of the space didn’t let us really see the foot work very well. I would suggest a more local experience if we ever visit the city again.
The next day was December 31 and we decided to relax. We spent time by the pool at the hotel but as it was on the roof of the hotel with a glass roof it was very warm and uncomfortable for too long a stay. David had another massage before our dinner.
We had a 9:30 pm reservation at Restaurant Amburu, the only 2-star Michelin restaurant in the city. https://www.arambururesto.com.ar The cost was 900 USD per person with the wine pairing. Ouch. It was delicious with something like 18 courses and way too much wine. The food was delicious, well presented with each staff member introducing themselves and the food. But they didn’t make enough of New Year’s Eve. I do think it was overpriced but hay, you only live once. We were back at the hotel at bed at 1:30 am on the first day of 2026.
We were very impressed with BA. We felt that it had dramatically cleaned up its act since our last visit 10 years ago. There were perfectly manicured green gardens everywhere. There was little graffiti and trash. The sidewalks and roads were well paved. (All of the airports we visited in Argentina were modern, clean and efficient.). There was a lot of public art and we noted that they were not hidden behind protective gates. All of this was particularly surprising to us given the economic troubles Argentina has experienced in the last few years. Yes, we did see people sleeping in the parks, but we see that in the US, UK, Spain and even Luxembourg. And yes, we saw the equivalent of Brazilian Favellas (they call them Villa Misria here) but we also saw many examples of where the government had built proper government housing. And yes, we saw many buildings in some of the bohemian neighbourhoods that needed repair but somehow they exuded a charm even in a neglected state.