The Best of Buenos Aires

El Caminito in La Boca

After spending twelve days in Buenos Aires this month, my body finally feels back to normal from the jet lag, 32 hour trip back (a total of four flights) and the copious amounts of red meat and Malbec I consumed while I was there. It took equally as long to get from Seattle to Buenos Aires (Seattle > LA > San Salvador > Lima > Buenos Aires), but it was well worth it to be reunited with one of my closest friends, Natalie, cocktail goddess and the bad ass chick behind Beautiful Booze. This was my first trip to South America, and I totally fell in love with this city. The food, the streets, the people; everything about this place just intoxicated me and I hope one day I get to go back.

All the steak and Malbec

Well, there’s no denying what my favorite part of Buenos Aires was: all the incredible food and wine and more specifically all the steak and Malbecs. Parrillas (steakhouses) are extremely popular with literally hundreds throughout the city to choose from. We ate our way through several extravagant steak lunches and dinners. (There is nothing like a late lunch of ojo de bife, which is ribeye, and a good bottle of Malbec, swoon.) I miss the steak, y’all. Truly the best I’ve ever had.

Sunday Market Street Fair in San Telmo

The colorful neighborhood of San Telmo has traditionally been known as Buenos Aires’ antiques neighborhood, with shop after shop and a vibrant Sunday market street fair. We walked for hours through the street fair that was lined with every kind of vendor you could imagine – from food to glass soda water bottles to hand made leather bound books. Jewelry, antiques, toys and pipes – they are selling everything here. Natalie does a lot of her shopping for glassware for photo shoots here and picked up some striking crystal whiskey glasses for just 40 pesos ($2.47 USD). This is a perfect way to spend a Sunday. Go get lost in the San Temlo street fair and then find yourself a cafe or restaurant for a late lunch; the food in this neighborhood is wonderful.

Cemeterio de la Recoleta

Would you believe that the top tourist attraction in Buenos Aires is a cemetery? Well, it is – Cemeterio de la Recoleta. I’ll be totally honest, I really had no desire to go into a city of coffins and tombs, but when it’s the number one attraction, you kind of just have to do it anyway. So into this city of the dead we went. Creepy? Definitely. I don’t believe in ghosts or the supernatural but I would not want to be here at night. It was also amazingly beautiful, though. Old statues of angels, gargoyles and crosses rise above ornate tombs in an eerily awesome way.

El Caminito in La Boca

El Caminito means “little path”, and it’s a darling street in the La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires that is famous for its brightly painted houses and lively restaurants and art vendors lining the streets. This may have been my favorite part of the city. Sit and enjoy a Quilmes (a local beer that I have dubbed the Coors Light of Argentina) and take in a tango show, another must do on your Buenos Aires list.

The Soho Neighborhood of Buenos Aires

I absolutely adored the Soho neighborhood of Buenos Aires. The street art is fantastic (and abounding!) and the food in this neighborhood is top notch. We spent hours on multiple days exploring the streets, shops, cafes and cervecerias of Soho after our daily morning coffee and work sessions (Natalie has turned me into a coffee drinker, thanks Nat.) More than one of my favorite meals was in this part of the city, and a fantastic wine shop as well. Stay tuned for my next blog on the Best Bites and Sips of Buenos Aires to find out what they were!