Buenos Aires Tour Itinerary & some other things about what we will see and do

A few notes about Buenos Aires. It’s a big city and has tons of interesting architecture. It is very walkable, so be prepared to walk and bring comfortable shoes. You should also be aware that it is fall in Buenos Aires and temps can be on the cooler side. You might want a light rain jacket or small umbrella and to expect temperatures from the mid 50’s at night to the mid 70’s during the day. Given the itinerary, ferries, flights and buses, the lodging on this trip is great, but not excellent, as I had to cover a lot of extra expenses. I have chosen very nice hotels, all with good reviews.   I will also state a limit at restaurants so we can enjoy good food but not break the bank. You should be prepared to watch your valuables when out and about, as pickpockets are known to work in BA. I’ve packed lots of great activities into the tour and some of these are costly, so please understand this as we are out and about. This is a somewhat budget tour, considering the cost of activities, lodging, food etc. When I actually tried to book all activities, I added a few and dropped a few and we’ll see how time works out. Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls and Montevideo on the same trip is a lot, but all seems to be in order.  

When you arrive at the airport, you have a few transportation options,

November 8 – Check in at Up Barrio North Hotel - Calle Riobamba 1064, Buenos Aires, AR C1116ABF

That afternoon we will walk around recoleta as well as head to the city center to tour the Palacio Barolo and some other similar domed and mansion sites, including the Obelisk in the city center. You will likely be tired from your flight so we will take that into consideration. Red eye overnight flights are not usually very restful.

November 9 – Eat Breakfast 11:00 AM guided tour of the the Theatro Colon theatre. Built in 1908 ranked the 3^rd best in the world, with 2500 seats. We will tour the theater. The guided tour is in English and takes about 1 hour. We will then taxi to the Recoleta Cemetery and walk around – be sure to pick up guide at the door.

We will eat lunch before heading to the cemetery at the restaurant across the street with the race car history. There’s an excellent and large outdoor crafts market that day in Recoleta that we will stroll through after the cemetery

The Recoleta Cemetery is open daily from 8am to 6pm. (see more details about the cemetery below)

November 10 - After breakfast we will head to the San Telmo Market on Defensa Street, one of the best markets in Buenos Aires and the outdoor market only open on Sunday. We will also the indoor San Telmo market. We’ll then head to the San Telmo indoor market on Bolivar 970, where we’ll also eat lunch. We then plan to head to the Feria de Mataderos, located about 30 minutes out of town depending on the time we have. This area is noted for slaughter houses and gauchos. We’ll hopefully see gauchos, eat some steak and see this great location.

Sunday Evening we are booked into the Porteno Theatre for a Tango Show. We need to arrive by 9:30 at the latest and the show starts at 10:00 for 1.5 hours

November 11, We’ll head to the AEP Airport to fly to Puerto Iguazu, departing at 3:55 pm, we need to get to the airport at 1:55. staying in a smaller but nice hotel Kelta Hotel Puerto Iguazu, centrally located and within walking distance to many nice restaurants.  

November 12 – I have a private driver guide for us for the day. We spend the entire day in Iguazu. After breakfast we’ll head to the Argentine side of Iguazu Falls, while later in the day we’ll head to the Brazilian side. We will need our passports with us since we will be crossing into Brazil. We will also try to visit the “Triple Frontier” the intersection of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.

November 13. We hop our flight back to Buenos Aires at 9:10 am, (need to be at the airport by 7:25) arriving to AEP by 11:00 and head to the Colonia Ferry Terminal to take the 12:50 ferry to Montevideo, Uruguay. We arrive in Montevideo at 4:25. We will be spending one night in Montevideo, staying at the Smart Hotel

November 14 We are taking a walking tour of Montevideo, starting at 10:30 am. And after lunch we will visit the Palacio Salvo building and take the tour. We will walk the main plaza and then head back to the hotel to return to the bus terminal to Colonia, where we connect to the ferry to Buenos Aires. That bus leaves at 5:00 pm trom the Tres Cruces Bus terminal, from behind the colonia check in, and we need to be to the bus terminal 1 hour before. We don’t get back to Buenos Aires until 9:45 pm, and we taxi to the hotel and check in. We are staying at the Merit San Telmo Hotel, close to everything and more in downtown. .

November 15 We are taking the hop on hop off bus, 2 hours in length and as the name implies, we can get off wherever we want. We plan to get off at La Boca, tour around this interesting area, seeing the famous  home stadium, the Bombonera in La Boca. We’ll see what else we want to do after that. That evening we will be eating at a Parilla, enjoying one of the best Argentine steak houses in Buenos Aires. Last trip I had a few folks that wanted to go to the floating casino in Buenos Aires, which we did visit. Two guests were poker players and they stayed at the casino playing Texas Hold Em

November 16 We will likely eat breakfast at Café Tortoni, the oldest Café in Buenos Aires and a must visit spot. After breakfast We’ll take the train to the Tigre Delta, taking a boat tour from the provincial San Isidro, with cobblestone streets and a lively atmosphere.

November 17 Eat breakfast and depending on your flights, we will decide what to do. Last tour we went to the Museum of Fine Arts and then to lunch before the last in the group departed.

Notes: About the Recoleta Cemetery and some of the architecture in Buenos Aires

Located on a hill in the lovely neighborhood of Recoleta, the place contains no less than 6,400 graves. Each one is unique, constructed in homage to a wide assortment of architectural styles – you’ll run into everything from Greek temples to miniature Baroque cathedrals. You could spend hours winding through the labyrinthine cemetery, so here are a few of the more interesting graves (and their stories) to keep an eye out for.

Eva “Evita” Perón

The final resting place of the nation’s iconic first lady, idolized by the public until her death from cancer in 1952, is actually not that remarkable – a rather dull, bronze affair, really – but it’s still a must-see. You’ll probably run into a few Argentines paying their respects while there. The most interesting thing about her grave has to do with how long the (then-military) government hid her body before finally interring it in the Recoleta Cemetery – it only took, um, 20 years. Read the whole saga here, or just skip to the end: “[Evita] lies five metres underground, in a crypt fortified like a nuclear bunker, so that no one should ever again be able to disturb the remains of Argentina’s most controversial First Lady.”

Rufine Cambaceres

A claustrophobic person’s worst nightmare, Rufine was buried in 1910 at 19 years old believed to be in a coma, but the story goes grave-workers heard her screaming from the grave. When they dug her up, they reportedly saw evidence that she had unsuccessfully tried to claw her way out. Her distraught mother had the tomb rebuild in sumptuous Art Nouveau glory, complete with sculpted flowers.

David Alleno

This guy supposedly haunts the cemetery. A former grave worker said to have saved up his whole life to buy a fancy grave, complete with a statue of himself, Alleno committed suicide in 1960 and people say he still wanders the cemetery at night.

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento

This grave is easily recognized, because it’s a miniature obelisk with a big condor on top. The country’s seventh president, a leader credited with organizing the educational system while criticized for his Euro-centric policies, Sarmiento designed the grave himself before he passed away in 1888 at the age of 77.