Why did I choose Buenos Aires? Summer in Florida is hot and humid. I wanted to go somewhere cooler to celebrate my birthday. One day I suddenly had this idea…Why not go to Argentina since it’s winter there? And since I’ve never been to Argentina, Buenos Aires was the only city I was planning on visiting. I texted my friend Lisa and she replied instantly with “Yes”!
Researching what to do and where to go began soon and I found many helpful ideas on solsalute.com. I didn’t have expectations except I wanted to eat some steaks, do some shopping, go to a tango show and perhaps a milonga.
Day 1 – Leaving Florida
We were excited to begin our journey on this very first day. However, we didn’t get very far due to the weather in Atlanta, GA.
We didn’t make the connection flight to Buenos Aires; therefore, we found a hotel near the airport quickly and spent a night in Atlanta.
After waiting 30 minutes at the airport hotel shuttle area, a shuttle bus driver offered to take us to our hotel for tip only. A gentleman was very nice to give him a generous tip and asked him to take us to our hotel before going to his hotel. We didn’t get his name, only knew that his trip was from Montreal to Buenos Aires and he got stranded in Atlanta. What a long day for him and we appreciate his generosity!
Day 2 – A Day in Atlanta
Since the flight to Buenos Aires was at 10:40p.m. the next day, we requested a late checkout and took our time to enjoy the breakfast at the hotel, then headed to the airport.
After checking our luggage, we went to the American Express Centurion Lounge, which is beside Gate E11, to relax until boarding time. The Centurion Lounge was very beautiful!
Day 3 – Arriving Buenos Aires
Three movies and 10 hours of flying from Atlanta, we arrived in Buenos Aires. Yaaaay!!! Going through customs was uneventful, we were picked up by Cesar Zelaya, whom we booked through his website. Cesar took us to the beautiful boutique hotel, 1828 Smart Hotel in Palermo, that I booked on Expedia.com. 1828 Smart Hotel is a MICHELIN Guide Hotel.
Aside from taking us to the hotel, Cesar brought Argentine Pesos for us to exchange USD. That was very kind of him and he saved us a lot of hassle to find places to exchange money.
The hotel was small but elegant and I loved the art deco designs since I once owned a beautiful art deco house designed and built by an architect as his own residence.
We rested up a bit after checking in, then ventured out walking around the Palermo neighborhood and enjoyed checking out the street arts on Pasaje Santa Rosa.
We said a lot of “Wows!” since we did not expect seeing all these colorful street arts!
Buenos Aires is indeed a vibrant and colorful city!!!
To our surprise, there was an open air market in Plaza Serrano. We happily joined the crowd, checked out the arts and crafts and enjoyed the street music.
After spending a few hours in the neighborhood, we decided to have diner before heading back to the hotel.
We ordered two ham and cheese empanadas, one fried and one baked, and shared a BBQ pork sandwich at one of the restaurants in the Plaza.
The ham and (gooey) cheese empanadas were delicious and they were my first empanadas ever!!!
Day 4 – La Boca and San Telmo
After a delightful breakfast at the hotel, we took a cab to La Boca.
The taxi driver didn’t speak English, but he used his phone to translate to English to tell us places to go as he drove by those places.
La Boca
Arriving La Boca, we took a stroll on the few blocks that made up the Caminito. This was a colorful neighborhood that I had never imagined to see!
We checked out more arts and crafts at the open air market. The weather was perfect to spend a day out!
Old doors had their charm!
We decided to walk to San Telmo for its well-known Sunday market!
San Telmo
It was time to take a break from walking and had late lunch/early dinner. Since we were right by El Desnivel, we decided to go in.
I ordered Chorizo, Chicken Garlic with Potatoes and Spinach Noodles with Steak Sauce. Chorizo was delicious! Chicken was very tender and the homemade spinach pasta was outstanding! I shared them with my friend since the portions were huge.
And for dessert, even though we were full but we had to have the famous Dulce de Leche. We shared a Flan with Cream and Dulce de Leche. Again the dessert did not disappoint!
After the satisfying meal, we continued checking out the arts and crafts at the open air market and saw a couple dancing tango.
We arrived at Plaza de Mayo and Casa Rosada. Casa Rosada is the Argentine Government House, also known as the Pink House. We spent some time in the plaza and enjoyed the nice sunny day!
Since Cafe Tortoni is the oldest café in Buenos Aires, we had to visit and it was within walking distance. We decided to walk over there even though our feet were tired. Well, we were doing all the touristy things which involved lots of walking!
When we arrived at Cafe Tortoni, there was a long line outside. We didn’t want to wait so we took a Uber back to the hotel and enjoyed the evening in our room! All in all, we walked 4.2 miles and walked off the calories we ate today.
Day 5 – Palermo and San Telmo Market
Since I made reservation to have lunch at El Preferido de Palermo before the trip and it was only eight minutes walk from the hotel, we took our time and a detour to Pasaje Rusell to see more beautiful and colorful street arts!
El Preferido de Palermo
We arrived at El Preferido de Palermo right before our reservation time at 11:30 a.m. They were busy already. They seated us very promptly!
I liked the old world charm of the interior of El Preferido de Palermo.
My order included Roasted Chicken Thigh and Sautéed Spinach. The chicken was tasty, juicy and very tender. The portion was enough for two, so I gave my friend a piece of the chicken.
After lunch we walked back to the hotel for a rest since we still had activities on our agenda!
San Telmo Market
Yesterday we were in San Telmo busy checking out the impressive open air market, we didn’t go into the San Telmo Market so we decided to visit.
This historic market is a large indoor market with stalls offering everything from antiques, coffee to fresh fruit and spices. The pastries looked delicious!
Since we had a large lunch, we weren’t very hungry but we decided to eat something before going to the tango show. We stopped at El Hornero and ordered two fried beef empanadas.
I don’t speak Spanish. My friend speaks a little bit. We had a hard time communicating with the girl who was attending the eatery. The guy sat next to us helped us ordered and we chatted with him for a little bit. He was from Australia traveling in South America for a month and spoke fluent Spanish. He told us the eatery had good empanadas and they sold empanadas with different fillings. We didn’t get his name, but whoever you are, we appreciate your help and wish you the best!
Tango Show
After having the satisfying empanada, we walked to Aljibe Tango. Most tango shows started at 10:30 p.m., we knew we couldn’t stay up late so we booked an earlier show started at 8:30 p.m.
Day 6 – A Day Full of Food
Asado Adventure
When you are in Buenos Aires, you do what the locals do, which is Asado. Asado is a traditional event in many South American countries. It is a vibrant social experience that involves preparing and enjoying the food with friends and family.
We did not know anyone in Buenos Aires, but we wanted to experience it. Therefore, I booked an Asado Adventure Food Tour. We enjoyed our walk to the owner Frank’s home since it was close to the hotel. After a brief introductory and tour of the beautiful, light and airy home, we made dipping sauce and sugar coated pecans.
Frank then took us out for a tour of the Palermo neighborhood and gave us the Argentine history. One of the stops was the community garden. Residents grew organic vegetables and flowers here. It was a nice green space in the heart of the neighborhood.
And of course, more street art to enjoy!!!
We stopped at Sommelier en Bicicleta for wine tasting. I am not a drinker but I enjoyed the wines we tasted and the charcuterie board. The owner loved bicycling; therefore, there was a folded bicycle on display in the store. This was a nice break after walking the neighborhood and before heading back to Frank’s home.
Back to Frank’s home, we had lunch in the courtyard because it was a beautiful day with perfect temperature! It was a blessing that everyday was sunny since we arrived in Buenos Aires!
Everything was scrumptious! Frank showed us how to make mate. Mate or maté is a traditional South American caffeine-rich infused herbal drink. Most of the mate cups are made of gourds, but Frank used one made of cow’s foot as shown in the photo.
All in all, the Asado experience at a private home was very enjoyable. Thank you Frank for giving us a great time!
We walked back to the hotel and rested for a few hours and, believe it or not, we did another Asado experience for the dinner!
Fogon Asado
We did the 9-course Asado tasting menu at Fogón. Fogón is recommended in the MICHELIN Guide Argentina 2024. It did not disappoint! Since it’s located near the hotel, we walked to the restaurant.
From grilled vegetables to chorizo, we were about full, but the best part was yet to come. I didn’t eat steaks often, but I was in the country known for the best steaks in the world, I knew I would enjoy them. And certainly, Fogón served us perfectly prepared meats.
Fogón rounded up the meal with crepes and the famous dulce de leche and tea of our choice. This was another amazing experience!
Day 7 – World’s Famous Restaurants
Parrilla Don Julio
We walked to Parrilla Don Julio from the hotel, arriving at the reservation time. The place was busy already. We were brought to the balcony dining area upstairs with a view of the main dining below. Mini Argentine empanadas and chorizo were brought to us promptly.
I ordered bife de lomo (tenderloin steak) and the portion was huge. I shared half of it with my friend. The tenderloin was so tender and juicy. It was the best steak I’ve had!
Since dulce de leche was very popular in Agentina, I had the dulce de leche ice cream for dessert. This was another satisfying and delicious meal at one of the world’s best restaurants.
After lunch, we walked back to the hotel for a bit, then took Uber to Plaza de Mayo. It was a beautiful warm afternoon and we took our time walking around, then decided to go to Cafe Tortoni.
Shopping and Cafe Tortoni
We did some shopping on the way to Cafe Tortoni! What better ways to check out the leather goods in Argentina! We stopped in the Galería Güemes and enjoyed the beautiful architecture of the building. I bought a very nice leather bag at El Arriero Cueros.
Cafe Tortoni. This is the oldest coffeehouse in Argentina and is one of the most beautiful cafe’s in the world. It was opened in 1858 by a French immigrant and he named it after another cafe of the same name in Paris. Many famous visitors have walked through their doors like Albert Einstein, Jorge Luis Borges, Carlos Gardel, etc. The stained glass ceilings were beautiful! We were not hungry; therefore, we only ordered desserts and coffee. They were top-notch delicious!
Day 8 – Another Fun Day
Criolla Cooking School
As you’ve already known from this website, I like food. And being in Buenos Aires, I wanted to learn Argentine cooking. So we enrolled in a cooking class at Criolla. Again, the cooking school was within walking distance from the hotel. We had a nice stroll on this sunny day to the school.
We made chipa, empanada dough, meat sauce filling, mushroom sauce filling, Yasgua dipping sauce, vinaigrette and flan, and learned how to fold empanadas. Different fillings use different folding techniques so you can tell what’s inside.
Empanadas were deep-fried. Although baked empanadas were healthier, I liked these deep-fried ones since they were tastier. My philosophy about food is that because I don’t eat deep-fried food often, if food tastes better deep-fried, that’s what I would choose.
The chef prepared tenderloin for us since we had different preference of doneness (medium rare, medium, etc.) Mine was melt-in-your-mouth tender! So good!
Flan was served with dulce de leche.
Since this trip was to celebrate my birthday, everyone wished me happy birthday! What a great way to celebrate a milestone birthday with friendly people whom I just met and probably would never see again in this friendly and colorful city!
After the class, we walked back to the hotel while enjoying more street art!
Chinatown (Barrio Chino)
Today was the last full day in Buenos Aires. With only a few hours, we decided to go to Chinatown. It is small comparing to Chinatown in big cities like New York City, San Francisco and Chicago. However, it’s still fun to look around.
These desserts were so tempting!!!
This was another fun day in Buenos Aires!!!
Day 9 – Going Home
Our flight was at 7:00 p.m.; therefore, we took our time to pack and had breakfast at the hotel.
We were lucky that everyday was sunny for us to enjoy the city and today it rained. On the way to the airport, we were worried that we would miss the flight since the traffic was hardly moving due to the rain. But luckily we made it and had a safe trip home!
Buenos Aires was a lovely city and this was an unforgettable trip! I would definitely go back and spend more time there!
