Argentina · Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires · Buenos Aires
Barracas, Buenos Aires — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Barracas is a barrio of Buenos Aires between the Riachuelo and the Belgrano railway, named from the barraca, a makeshift house of rough materials.
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Where to stay in Barracas
Where visitors usually base themselves, and why.
Defensa and Caseros mark the useful edge. Those streets bound the side of Barracas that faces the rest of Buenos Aires, and a room among them keeps the Basílica del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús and the Postal and Telegraphic Museum inside a walk. The Riachuelo side reads differently.
Down toward the water, and out along Amancio Alcorta and Lavardén, the barrio thins into its boundary streets and rooms grow hard to find.
Find hotels in Barracas
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The Defensa and Caseros edge
Defensa and Caseros close the barrio on the side that faces the rest of the city rather than the RiachueloFind hotels in The Defensa and Caseros edgeNights against the water boundary of Barracas instead of its street gridThe Riachuelo frontage
The Riachuelo takes one entire side of the barrio, and rooms along it are scarcer than in the blocks behind. Lodging is scarce in this area; reserve in advance.Find hotels in The Riachuelo frontageVisits aimed at the Serpentarium Museum and the Museo De La Balanza rather than at a night outAmancio Alcorta and Lavardén
Two of the streets that draw the outline of Barracas, where beds thin out well before the Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano. Lodging is scarce in this area; reserve in advance.Find hotels in Amancio Alcorta and LavardénHotel links are affiliate links: booking through them may earn us a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects how places are ranked. How this works
Things to do in and around Buenos Aires
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
3- Museo De La Balanza
- Museo Histórico de Salud Mental del Hospital "José T. Borda"
- Museum Of Natural Sciences Of Medical Zoological Specialty
Churches & Religious Sites
1- Basílica del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús
Castles & Historic Sites
2- Hipólito Vieytes
- Juan Larrea
worth knowingacross 3 categories in and around Buenos Aires
About Barracas
What are the main landmarks in Barracas?
The Basílica del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús is the building everybody knows. Museums do the rest, and they make an odd set: the Museo De La Balanza, the Serpentarium Museum, the Postal and Telegraphic Museum, and the Museum Of Natural Sciences Of Medical Zoological Specialty, none of them the kind of collection a visitor expects to meet in one barrio. Two men are marked in monuments.
Hipólito Vieytes and Juan Larrea are commemorated in Barracas, while the Museo Histórico de Salud Mental del Hospital José T. Borda keeps the record of the hospital it belongs to.
What is the history of Barracas?
The name comes from the barraca. That word describes a temporary house put up out of rudimentary materials, and the barrio carries it from the structures that once stood on this ground beside the Riachuelo, an origin that fixes a district's character long before any basilica arrives in it. Streets and a railway drew the rest.
Regimiento de Patricios, Defensa, Caseros, Vélez Sársfield, Amancio Alcorta, Lafayette, and Lavardén enclose Barracas together with the Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano, and the Basílica del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús went up inside that outline.
Where is Barracas?
The Riachuelo closes one side of Barracas and the Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano the other, with Caseros and Vélez Sársfield among the streets between.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Barracas?
The Defensa and Caseros edge: A base on the Barracas boundary nearest central Buenos Aires and the Basílica del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús. The Riachuelo frontage: Nights against the water boundary of Barracas instead of its street grid. Amancio Alcorta and Lavardén: Visits aimed at the Serpentarium Museum and the Museo De La Balanza rather than at a night out.
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Updated October 2026