I lived in Buenos Aires from January to August of 2007. IMO, the best aspect of BA is that it's not a city to be seen, but one to be experienced. You don't show up, snap a picture of the Eiffel Tower, check out L'Arc de Triumph, spend a day in the Louvre and call it a vacation. There's really nothing specific people come for ... other than the ultra-low prices for amazing food, fashion, and entertainment. So these photos don't do justice to this travel destination. In fact, most of the highlights you'll read about in guide books are noticeably missing from below (with the exception of #2).

Stream of consciousness comments about BA ... as sophisticated and modern a city as you'll find anywhere ... prices are very cheap (23 cent subway ride, 27 cent bus ride, if you try very hard you might be able to spend $50 in a night having the best food/wine/desserts eva - 2 people) ... Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood should get some of your time (high fashion shopping, trendy bars, las chicas muy calor) ... it's hard to find English books; even travel ones (e.g. Lonely Planet) ... lots of backpackers ... great place to take Spanish lessons, but you'll probably learn the local pronunciations which will confuse the hell out of anybody you ever try to talk to outside of Argentina ... easy to get to with the international airport EZE being about 45 minutes outside the city (get a Retiro - hired taxi - before you leave the main area (there are lots of booths, you can't miss them); you'll overpay if you grab a taxi on the curb) ... Portenos (BA residents) are on a very late schedule: nothing really opens until at least 10am, nobody eats dinner before 10pm, most bars are empty until midnight ... very safe city; no crime to speak of (though it's supposedly getting worse as unemployment rises), a girl can safely walk by herself at night.

Enough! On to the photos.

Congresso


Boca. This is the one tourist trap in the city. IMO it's not worth the bus ride down, but I know you're going to go anyway cuz it's on the cover of ever BA book you've ever seen.


The Flower. No idea what this is really called. Just a cool statue in the north of the city.


Plaza Mayo


Puerto Madero


Some famous pointy building.


Biblioteca Nacional (the library, yo)


Some old building next to the Flower. It's just offices today.


Another old, crumbling building. I hope you're getting the sense that BA has some interesting architecture.


The planetarium.


And finally, the Obelisk late afternoon.

The city is usually very crowded, even in the off season. It's hard to get shots without people in them. Secret? Shoot early Sunday morning. NOBODY is out then. Awesome time to take walks around the city.

Totally. It closes up at night (with the sun?). And, actually, the TV station is 100 yards to the left! Never thought about that.

We should bike down sometime. I just need to buy a bike

btw, if you look for flights you want to use the airport code EZE. That's the international airport. There's a domestic airport right at the edge of the city (which you need to take to hop to places like Patagonia) but you don't want to try to fly in there from the US. It can be done, but you'll be making an unnecessary stop somewhere else in south america to make it work. That always confuses people when they plug in "buenos aires" to travelocity.

WOW! Beautifully done. My parents went to BA a few years ago. My dad was working down there for about 6 months and my mom went to visit. Let's just say, mom didn't take any shots of this stuff. She got the run down villages and such. It made me not want to visit...ever. But now that I see yours, very nice. On my list of "to see" before I die.

Yeah, it's totally not like that. We Americans have wacky ideas about the rest of the world. I remember the first time I was in Santiago, Chile. I was expecting a shanty town, but it's a hell of a lot more modern than Boston (where I was living at the time). The subway was super nice/quiet, everybody had iPods and uber cool phones, stylish haircuts, no sketchy street folks ...

BA really isn't a destination like Paris or London. It's a kick ass place to spend some time during travels. Lots of folks make extended stays there while backpacking around SA. Like I've said, super cheap, friendly, safe, and lively.

When going to Patagonia it's good to schedule some time in BA. Unlike the Lima/Machu Picchu scenario ... you do NOT need to visit Lima, Peru

Ahh great pictures of BA! Wonderful city. I too was there last summer (June-August 2007), and I'll be there again this summer hopefully from May through August. Ahh the perks of having an Argentinean gf.

BTW, fantastic shots.

btw, I believe the building next to the flower is a law school

Originally Posted by homer227

... Ahh the perks of having an Argentinean gf.

That's like winning the life lottery right there.

Gorgeous! It is on my "To Visit" list now

That list is getting pretty long lol