City centre

Plaza de Mayo

This broad open plaza is both the historic heart of the city, and its centre of power, since it's surrounded by some of the city's most important public buildings. Just behind the Plaza de Mayo were the city's original docks, where Argentina's wealth was built on exporting meat and leather from the Pampas. All the country's powers are gathered nearby, and the Plaza remains the symbolic political centre of the city.

Most famously, there's pink Casa de Gobierno or Casa Rosada which lies on the east side, looking out towards the Río Plata, and contains the offices of the president of the Argentine Republic. The Museo de los Presidentesiin the basement of the same building, www.museo.gov.ar, guided visits in Spanish, free, has historical memorabilia. The changing of the guards takes place every two hours from 0700-1900.

The decision to paint the seat of government pink resulted from President Sarmiento's (1868-1874) desire to symbolize national unity by blending the colours of the rival factions which had fought each other for much of the 19th century: the Federalists (red) and the Unitarians (white). The colour itself was originally derived from a mixture of lime and ox blood and fat, to render the surface impermeable. The Plaza has been the site of many historic events: Perón and Evita frequently appeared on its balcony before the masses gathered on the plaza, and when the economy crumbled in December 2001, angry crowds of cacerolazas(including middle-class ladies banging their cazerolas, or saucepans) demonstrated outside, together with angry mobs. Since 1977, the Mothers and now, Grandmothers, of the Plaza de Mayo (Madres y Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo), www.madres.org, have marched in silent remembrance of their children who disappeared during the 'Dirty War'. Every Thursday at 1530, they march anti-clockwise around the central monument with photos of their disappeared loved-ones pinned to their chests. It is a moving sight. On the plaza, there are statues of General Belgrano in front of the Casa Rosada and of Columbus, behind the Casa Rosada in the Parque Colón. The guided tours of the Casa de Gobierno allow you to see its statuary and the rich furnishing of its halls and its libraries.

Opposite the Casa Rosada, on the west side of the plaza, is the white-columned Cabildo, which has been rebuilt several times since the original structure was erected in the 18th century; most recently the façade in 1940. Inside, where the movement for independence from Spain was first planned, is the Museo del Cabildo y la Revolución, which is worth a visit, especially for the paintings of old Buenos Aires, the documents and maps recording the May 1810 revolution, and memorabilia of the British attacks, as well as Jesuit art. In the patio is a café and stalls selling handicrafts.

Many of the centre's most important buildings date from after 1776 when Buenos Aires underwent a big change, now the capital of the new viceroyalty and the official port. The Catedral Metropolitana, on the north side of the plaza, lies on the site of the first church in Buenos Aires, built in 1580. The current structure was built in French neoclassical style between 1758 and 1807, and inside, in the right-hand aisle, guarded by soldiers in fancy uniforms, is the imposing tomb of General José de San Martín (1778-1850) Argentina's greatest hero who liberated the country from the Spanish.

Just east of the cathedral, the Banco de la Naciónis regarded as one of the great works of the famous architect Alejandro Bustillo (who designed Hotel Llao Llaoin Bariloche). Built 1940-1955, its central hall is topped by a marble dome 50 m in diameter. Take in all these buildings, and you become aware that the banks, political and religious institutions, together with the military headquarters opposite, are all gathered in one potent place. No wonder then that people always come here to demonstrate.

Downtown: La City

Just north of Plaza de Mayo, between 25 de Mayo and the pedestrianized Florida, lies the main banking district known as La City, with some handsome buildings to admire. The Banco de Boston, dates from 1924, and while there are no guided visits, you can walk inside during banking hours to appreciate its lavish ceiling and marble interior. There's the marvellous art-deco Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, at San Martín 137, built in 1940, and the Bolsa de Comercio, at 25 de Mayo and Sarmiento, which dates from 1916 and houses the stock exchange, visits aren't permitted. The Banco Hipotecario(formerly the Bank of London and South America), corner Reconquista and B Mitre, was designed by SEPRA (Santiago Sánchez Elia, Federico Peralta Ramos, and Alfredo Agostini). It was completed in 1963, in bold 'brutalist' design. You can visit during banking hours.

The Basílica Nuestra Señora de La Merced, founded in 1604 and rebuilt 1760-1769, was used as a command post in 1807 by Argentine troops resisting the British invasion. Its highly decorated interior has an altar with an 18th-century wooden figure of Christ, the work of indigenous carvers from Misiones, and it has one of the few fine carillons of bells in Buenos Aires. A craft fair is held on Thursday and Friday 1100-1900. Next door, at Reconquista 269, is the Convento de la Merced originally built in 1601, but reconstructed in the 18th and 19th centuries with a peaceful courtyard in its cloisters.

There are a few rather dry museums here, purely for historians: Museo Numismático Dr José Evaristo Uriburu, in the Banco Central library, tells the history of the country through its currency; Museo y Biblioteca Mitre, preserves intact the colonial-style home of President BartoloméMitre (1862-1868). More interesting and accessible is the bizarre Museo de la Policía Federal, which portrays the fascinating history of crime in the city, and includes a gruesome forensic section, definitely not for the squeamish. Information on museums can be found at www.museosargentinos.org.ar (in English).

South of Plaza de Mayo

To the south west of the Plaza de Mayo, towards San Telmo, there is an entire block of buildings built by the Jesuits between 1622 and 1767, called the Manzana de las Luces(Enlightenment Square) - bounded by streets Moreno, Alsina, Perú and Bolívar. The former Jesuit church of San Ignacio de Loyola, begun in 1664, is the oldest colonial building in Buenos Aires and the best example of the baroque architecture introduced by the Jesuits (renovated in the 18th and 19th centuries), with splendid golden naves dating from 1710-1734. Also in this block are the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, www.cnba.uba.ar, formerly the Jesuits' Colegio Máximo in the 18th century, and now the city's most prestigious secondary school. Below these buildings are 18th-century tunnels. These are thought to have been used by the Jesuits for escape or for smuggling contraband from the port. For centuries the whole block was the centre of intellectual activity, and although little remains to see today, the history is fascinating.

All guided tours, explore the tunnels; only weekend tours include San Ignacio and Colegio Nacional.

Museo de la Ciudad, www.museos.buenosaires.gov.ar, is worth visiting for an insight into 19th-century Buenos Aires life. The historical house includes a 1900s chemist's shop, Farmacia La Estrella, and has a permanent exhibition covering social history and popular culture, with special exhibitions on daily life in Buenos Aires. The Church of San Francisco Alsina and Defensa, was built by the Franciscan Order 1730-1754 and given a new façade in 1911 in German baroque style. There's a fine baroque pulpit and the chapel of San Roque.

Argentina has a rich heritage from numerous indigenous groups who inhabited the country before the Spanish arrived, and their history is well-charted in the anthropological museum Museo Etnográfico J B AmbrosettiI1 block south of the San Francisco church at Moreno 350, www.museoetnografico.filo.uba.ar. Displays are limited, but very well laid out, and include some fascinating treasures, such as Inca textiles and ceramics, and Bolivian and Mapuche silverwork, all in an attractive building dating from 1880.

One block further south at Defensa and Belgrano, the Church of Santo Domingo, was founded in 1751. During the British attack on Buenos Aires in 1806 some of the British soldiers took refuge in the church and it was bombarded by local forces. Look out for the huge wooden cannon balls embedded in the towers on the outside: fakes, sadly. The British flags inside are worth seeing, and General Belgrano, a major figure in Argentine independence, is buried here.

Avenida de Mayo to Congreso

From Plaza de Mayo, take a stroll down this broad leafy avenue which links the Casa Rosada to the Congressbuilding to the west. The avenue was built between 1889 and 1894, inspired by the grand design of Paris, and filled with elaborate French Baroque and art nouveau buildings. At Perú and Avenida de Mayo is the Subte station Perú, furnished by the Museo de la Ciudad to resemble its original state, with posters and furniture of the time. You'll need to buy a ticket to have a look, or take a train.

Along the avenue west from here, you'll see the splendid French-style Casa de la Cultura at number 575, home of the newspaper La Prensaand topped with bronze statues. At number 702 is the fine Parisian-style Edificio Drabble, and at number 769, the elegant Palacio Vera, from 1910. Argentina's most celebrated writer, Jorge Luis Borges, was fond of the many cafés which once filled Avenida de Mayo, of which Café Tortoni www.cafetortoni.com.ar, is the most famous in Buenos Aires and the haunt of many illustrious writers, artists and poets since 1858. Its high ceilings with ornate plaster work and art nouveau stained glass, tall columns and elegant mirrors plunge you straight back into another era. It's an atmospheric place for coffee, but particularly wonderful for the poetry recitals, tango and live music, which are still performed here in the evenings. There are also plenty of places around for a quick lunch, and lots of cheap hotels.

Continuing west over Avenida 9 de Julio, there's the superb 1928 Hotel Castelar www.castelarhotel.com, still open , and retaining its former glory, as is the beautiful art nouveau Hotel Chile, www.hotelchilebsas.com.ar. At the western end of the avenue, is the astounding Palacio Barola, www.pbarolo.com.ar, built by a textile magnate in 1923 with architectural details inspired by the Italian poet Dante. Avenida de Mayo culminates on the Plaza del Congreso, with the congress building in Italian academic style, housing the country's government.

Plaza San Martín and Retiro

Ten blocks north of the Plaza de Mayo, and just south of Retiro station, is the splendid Plaza San Martín, on a hill originally marking the northern limit of the city. It has since been designed by Argentina's famous landscape architect Charles Thays, and is filled with luxuriant mature palms and plane trees. It is popular with runners in the early morning, as well as office workers at lunchtimes. At the western corner is an equestrian statue of San Martín, 1862, and at the northern end of the plaza is the Malvinas memorialwith elaborately dressed guards and an eternal flame to those who fell in the Falklands/ Malvinas War, 1982.

Around the plaza are several elegant mansions, among them the Palacio San Martín, designed in 1909 in French academic style for the wealthy Anchorena family, and now occupied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most striking is the elegant art deco Edificio Kavanagh, east of the plaza, which was the tallest building in South America when completed in 1936. Behind it is the Basilica del Santísimo Sacramento (1916), the church favoured by wealthy Porteños.

The Plaza de la Fuerza Aérea, northeast of Plaza San Martín, was until 1982 called the Plaza Británica; in the centre is a clock tower presented by British and Anglo-Argentine residents in 1916, still known as the Torre de los Ingleses.

Three blocks northwest of Plaza San Martín is one of the city's most delightful museums, the Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernández Blanco, www.museos.buenosaires.gov.ar/mifb.htm. Housed in a beautiful 1920s neo-colonial mansion with tiled Spanish-style gardens, it contains a fascinating collection of colonial art, with fine Cuzqueño school paintings, and dazzling ornate silverware from Alto Perú and Río de la Plata. There are also temporary exhibitions of Latin American art. Highly recommended.

North of Plaza San Martín is Retiro railway station, really three separate terminals. The area is not safe to walk around, but if you're catching a train, drop in to see the oldest and finest of these, the Mitre, dating from 1908, a classical construction with an atmospheric interior, and a fantastic refurbished 1900s confiteríawith the original bar and high wooden ceilings - a great place for a coffee. Behind the station is the Museo Nacional Ferroviario, which contains locomotives, machinery and documents on the history of Argentine railways.

Avenida 9 de Juliois the world's widest thoroughfare, with eight lanes of traffic in each direction, leading south to Plaza de la Constitución and routes south of the city. It's crossed by the major streets of Avenida de Mayo and Córdoba, and at the junction with Corrientes is the city's famous landmark, a 67-m-tall obelisk constructed in 1936, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the city's founding, where football fans traditionally congregate in crowds to celebrate a victory. It's only possible to walk on the streets parallel to the roaring traffic: Cerrito (west) and Carlos Pellegrini (east). The city's main shopping street Avenida Santa Fe starts at Plaza San Martín, and crosses Avenida 9 de Julio, before heading through Retiro and Recoleta to Palermo. It's a huge stretch of shops, but the most well known brands are to be found between Talcahuano and Avenida Pueyrredon.

Four blocks west of the obelisk, you can see art exhibitions, attend theatre and learn tango at the Centro Cultural General San Martín, www.ccgsm. gov.ar, www.ccgsh.gov.ar, museum. It's a rather austere 1970s concrete building, but it houses good photography exhibitions, the Teatro Municipal San Martín (www.teatrosanmartin.com.ar) and a salon of the Museo Municipal de Arte Moderno. There's also a tango information desk at the entrance.

Teatro Colón

Main entrance on Libertad, between Tucumán and Viamonte, www.teatrocolon.org.ar. The theatre is currently undergoing major refurbishment and will hopefully re-open in 2010.

On Avenida 9 de Julio, a block north of the obelisk, is Teatro Colón, one of the world's greatest opera houses and one of the city's finest buildings. It opened in 1908 and is an extraordinary testimony to the country's former wealth. Behind the classical façade, the opulent foyer is decorated with three kinds of marble brought from Europe, a Parisian stained glass dome in the roof, and Venetian tiled mosaic floor. The perfectly preserved auditorium is French Baroque style, from the chandelier in the ceiling (which conceals a chamber where singers or musicians can be hidden to produce music from the heavens) to the French gilded lights and red velvet curtains. It has an almost perfect acoustic, due to the horseshoe shape and the mix of marble and soft fabrics, and an immense stage, 35 m deep. Workshops and rehearsal spaces lie underneath the Avenida 9 de Julio itself, and there are stores of costumes, including 22,000 pairs of shoes.

Puerto Madero

East of the city centre at Puerto Madero, the 19th-century docks have been successfully transformed into an attractive area with lots of good restaurants, among the modern developments of offices, shops, housing and even a university campus. It's a good place for a walk, among the tall brick buildings, with their cranes and winches now freshly painted. Restaurants are mostly found along the waterside of the old warehouses lining Avenida Alicia M de Justo from the northern end of Dique 4, where you'll find a helpful tourist informationkiosk in a glass construction under one of the cranes.

Walking south, there are a couple of interesting ships to look at. By Dique 3, there's the Fragata Presidente Sarmiento, which was the Argentine flagship from 1899 to 1938, and is now a museum. Walking further south, in Dique 1, Avenida Juan de Garay, is the Corbeta Uruguay, the sailing ship which rescued Otto Nordenskjold's Antarctic expedition in 1903. Also over Dique 3 is the striking harp-like bridge, the Puente de la Mujer (Bridge of Women), suspended by cables from a single arm.

Costanera Sur

Buenos Aires has an extraordinary green space right at the heart of the city and on the waterfront. At the southernmost end of Dique 1, cross the pivoting bridge (level with Brazil street) to the broad avenue of the Costanera Sur. This pleasant wide avenue used to run east of the docks, a fashionable promenade by the waterside in the early 20th century. Now it's separated from the river by the wide splay of land created in a 1970s landfill project, now enjoying a revival, with many restaurants open along the boulevard at night, and it's a pleasant place to walk by day. There's a wonderfully sensuous marble fountain designed by famous Tucumán sculptress Lola Mora, Las Nereidas, at the southernmost entrance to the Reserva Ecológica, where there are more than 200 species of birds, including the curve-billed reed hunter.

Recoleta

The area of Recoleta is known as Barrio Norte, the chic place to live in the centre of the capital. Stretching west from Plaza San Martín, beyond Avenida 9 de Julio, Recoleta became a fashionable residential area when wealthy families started to move here from the crowded city centre after a yellow fever outbreak in 1871. Many of its French-style mansions date from the turn of the 20th century, and there are smart apartment blocks with marble entrances in leafy streets, making for a pleasant stroll around the many cafés, art galleries and museums. At its heart is the Plaza de la Recoletaby the Recoleta Cemetery. Running down its southeastern side is Ortiz, lined with cafés and confiteríasranging from the refined and traditional to touristy eateries, most with tables outside. Overhead are the branches of the gran gomero, a rubber tree, whose limbs are supported on crutches. At weekends, the Plaza Francia is filled with an art and craft market from 1100 until 1800, when the whole place is lively, with street artists and performers.

Recoleta is famous for its cemetery, where Eva Perón is buried, along with other illustrious figures from Argentina's history. Cementerio de la Recoleta, www.info-recoleta.com (in English), is like a miniature city, its narrow streets weaving between imposing family mausoleums built in every imaginable architectural style, a vast congregation of stone angels on their roofs. To negotiate this enormous labyrinth, a guided tour is recommended, but at the very least, you'll want to see Evita Perón's tomb, lying in the Duarte family mausoleum. To find it from the entrance, walk straight ahead to the first tree-filled plaza, turn left, and where this avenue meets a main avenue (go just beyond the Turriata tomb), turn right and then take the third passage on the left.

The former Jesuit church of El Pilar, next to the cemetery, is a beautiful example of colonial architecture dating from 1732, restored in 1930. There are stunning 18th-century gold altarpieces made in Alto Peru, and a fine wooden image of San Pedro de Alcántara, attributed to the famous 17th-century Spanish sculptor Alonso Cano, preserved in a side chapel on the left. Downstairs is an interesting small museum of religious art, from whose windows you have a good view of the cemetery next door.

The Centro Cultural Recoleta, www.centroculturalrecoleta.org, occupying the cloisters of a former monastery, has constantly changing exhibitions of contemporary local art by young artists. Next door, the Buenos Aires Design Centre www.designrecoleta.com.ar, has stylish homewares by contemporary Argentine designers. There are also lots of good restaurants here, some with views over the nearby plazas from their open terraces, recommended for an evening drink at sunset. In Plaza San Martín de Tours next door, there are more huge gomera trees with their extraordinary sinuous roots, and here you're likely to spot one of Buenos Aires' legendary dog walkers, managing an unfeasible 20 or so dogs without tangling their leads. There's a tourist information booth that houses a multiplex cinema, with a fantastic bookshop and cafés at its entrance.

Recoleta museums

Most of the city's great museums are collected together in Recoleta, where the wide and fast avenue Avenida del Libertadorruns north from Recoleta towards Palermo, past further parks and squares as well as several major museums. Of these the undoubted star is Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires(MALBA) www.malba.org.ar, opened in 2001 to house a permanent collection of Latin American art, and temporary exhibitions. The minimalist building may strike you as rather stark, but the works inside are full of passion - powerful, humorous and moving pieces, very accessible and highly recommended. There's also an elegant café serving delicious food and cakes, and a cinema showing well-chosen art house films as well as Argentine classics. If you've time for only one museum, make it this one.

For a taste of older Argentine art, visit the Museo de Bellas Artes, www.mnba.org.ar. There's a fairly ordinary survey of European works, but some particularly good post-Impressionist paintings and fine Rodin sculptures. Best of all though, there is a varied collection of Argentine 19th- and 20th-century paintings, sculpture and wooden carvings.

The Biblioteca Nacional (National Library), www.bn.gov.ar, is a huge cube standing on four sturdy legs in an attractive garden with a bust of Eva Perón. Only a fraction of its stock of about 1.8 million volumes and 10,000 manuscripts is available, but it's open to visitors, and worth a look to enjoy one of the frequent exhibitions and recitals.

The fabulous Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo, www. mnad.org.ar, contains collections of painting, furniture, porcelain, crystal and sculpture. It also hosts classical music concerts on Wednesdays and Thursdays. In the same building, but temporarily closed, is the Museo Nacional de Arte Oriental, containing a permanent exhibition of Chinese, Japanese, Hindu and Islamic art. The French style mansion is worth seeing on it's own, and there is a lovely café outside in the garden.

Offering a real insight into the Argentine soul, the Museo de Motivos Populares Argentinos José Hernández, is named after the writer of Argentina's famous epic poem Martín Fierro, and contains one of the most complete collections of folkloric art in the country. There are plenty of gaucho artefacts: ornate silver mates, wonderful plaited leather talebarteríaand decorated silver stirrups, together with pre-Hispanic artefacts, and paintings from the Cuzco school. There is also a handicrafts shop and library.