Where to Stay in Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

What is Buenos Aires known for?

Buenos Aires is known for belle epoque architecture and wide public parks. The Cabildo of Buenos Aires marks the old colonial centre at the heart of the city, while the Torre Monumental rises apart to the north as a landmark of its own. Along the water, the Puente de la Mujer spans the docks beside the Río de la Plata.

It is a capital of Latin America.

What are the main landmarks in Buenos Aires?

Buenos Aires gathers its landmarks thickest in the old centre and along the water. The Cabildo of Buenos Aires, the colonial town hall, anchors the historic core near the National Historical Museum and the Illuminated Block. Grand museums fill the city: the National Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires, and the National Museum of Decorative Arts.

By the docks, the Puente de la Mujer crosses the water, while the Palace of Running Waters stands further inland. Stone, brick, and glass shape it.

What is the history of Buenos Aires?

Buenos Aires was founded in 1580 as a Spanish colonial settlement on the Río de la Plata. The Cabildo of Buenos Aires still stands from that colonial age, once the seat of the town's government. Buenos Aires expanded in successive surges, each fed by fresh arrivals through its river port.

Over the centuries the port on the river drew newcomers from overseas, a history recorded in the National Museum of Immigration, until Buenos Aires had become the capital and largest city of Argentina. Big historical events turned here. The National Historical Museum keeps the record of the nation's founding struggles, set among the colonial streets where the Cabildo of Buenos Aires marks the old core.

Arrivals from overseas shaped the belle epoque city, whose grand facades rose as the port prospered. Latin America knew few cities of its scale. From a small river settlement grew one of the continent's defining capitals, its story written into the museums, churches, and monuments that fill the centre.

Where is Buenos Aires?

Buenos Aires sits on the southwest bank of the Río de la Plata, spread across low and level ground. The estuary forms the city's whole eastern front, a broad sheet of water opening seaward. Behind the waterfront, the streets run out flat in every direction, part of the wide, open plain that reaches far inland to the west.

There are no hills to speak of. The river gives the city its one great natural edge.

What is the climate of Buenos Aires?

Buenos Aires has a mild, humid climate set by its place on the Río de la Plata. Hot, sticky summers give way to cool but gentle winters, and frost stays a rarity along the sheltered water of the estuary. The estuary feeds moisture into the air throughout the year.

Storms roll in off the plain in the warmer months. Snow almost never reaches the city.

How do you get to Buenos Aires?

Buenos Aires anchors travel across Argentina and Latin America. As the nation's capital, the city gathers roads and rail from the surrounding plain and ferry routes over the Río de la Plata to the far shore of the estuary. Long-haul arrivals reach here first.

From the capital, the rest of Argentina opens to the west and south across a great distance of open country. Water and road both lead in.