Buenos Aires - yes, another travel thread

Hate to break it to everyone, but I'm a vegetarian. I still love the smell of bacon, but that's about as far as I can go. I often feel limited when we travel. There isn't much I've committed to in life, but this is one of them. Buenos Aires has a very solid and thriving vegetarian restaurant scene, so I think we'll be ok.

Still debating taking the 30D and 17-55 2.8 IS, just for the wides, but then the R-D1 would have to stay...ack, I don't know.
 
SolaresLarrave said:
Then, La Recoleta is for you. It's an area near a well-known cemetery in BA (which is, of course, La Recoleta). Life starts at around 11 PM or later; lots of restaurants open and serving incredibly good fare... at incredibly high prices (not exorbitant, mind you), and a nice, festive environment.

La Recoleta is the upper-class cemetery, and lots of diplomats, writers and famous people are buried there. The other cemetery, representing the opposite side of the social spectrum, is La Chacarita, in which other writers, poets and actors are buried. From both, only La Recoleta has the glittery spirit of the place to which one goes "to be seen."

When we heard from the hotel owner about La Recoleta, we went just to check it out. We ended going there twice, because the shops, restaurants and bar are open and doing brisk business.

Hence, don't be apprehensive at all. BA, like Barcelona and many European cities, can be a dangerous place if you're unfortunate (wrong place, wrong time). If you just act as if you were in Boston, NYC or any other large city, you'll do fine.

BTW, La Recoleta is a great people-watching place at any time of the day. If you can do it, go to "La Biela" ("connecting rod") for an afternoon coffee: it's a cafe-restaurant with a lot of class and tradition. Apparently Juan Manuel Fangio and other drivers either used to meet there, or had something to do in its inception, hence the automotive-related name of the place.

Take care! :)
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Recoleta's a bit staid IMO. I usually stay there (if I'm not renting an apartment) as it is a nice, affluent, relatively quiet neighbourhood, but it is mostly filled with 'Ladies wot Lunch'.

For night-life, the various areas of Palermo are much more vibrant. They are split around squares, with nicknames (for some reason) based on American neighbourhoods. Palermo SoHo and Palermo Hollywood are surrounded by bars, Gelladerias (ice-cream parlours) and clubs, and are buzzing until the early morning with the far trendier and edgier echelons of BA society.

Other than that, Puerto Madero (the redeveloped docks just beside Recoleta) has quite a few upscale restaurants, bars and nightclubs (Opera, a huge building based on the Sydney Opera House is a blast on Wednesdays as all the receptionists come straight from work to dance the night away).

Microcentro also has more than its fair share of bars and nightclubs, although you might want to be a little more wary around its narrow streets...

Basically, for a good night out, you want to be anywhere BUT Recoleta... sorry :eek:
 
Having done more research in the past few weeks, it sounds like the various Palermo neighborhoods are right up our alley, like you said. Our hotel is in Microcentro, so it's good to know there's some stuff around there as well. I'm very excited, we leave on sunday. I'm looking forward to late night craziness, daytime cafe hang outs, some shopping, and I think we're going to take the ferry to Colonia del Sacramento for a day trip.
 
Hi, Morgan,

Sorry, I still like the Recoleta... but then, I went to Bs. As in 2001.

Pack a coat or something somewhat thick if you're going to Colonia. It may be a bit cooler than Buenos Aires. And, if you order an asado in Uruguay, beware: theirs are bigger...

Ooops, now I recall you're a vegetarian. :eek: Sounds like you're gearing up for a nice trip.
 
SolaresLarrave said:
Ooops, now I recall you're a vegetarian. :eek: Sounds like you're gearing up for a nice trip.
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He's lucky! From experience, Uruguay's the only place in Argentina that they know what to do with a fish!

(And before I get flamed, my girlfriend's 1/4 Uruguayan, and I still insist its Argentina's "Eastern Province" :p )
 
(And before I get flamed, my girlfriend's 1/4 Uruguayan, and I still insist its Argentina's "Eastern Province" :p )[/QUOTE]

<-- Looking for the matches.....
 
I'll still be checking out Recoleta for sure. It looks like most of the shopping we want to hit is in Palermo, but we'll be visiting some museums and the cemetery in Recoleta. I'm still definitely taking recommendations if anybody wants to throw it one there. Food (non-meat :) ), bars/clubs/live music (mostly rock/indie rock), interesting bits...

I've got my camera plan down. A 35 on the R2A and a 50mm on the R-D1. That should cover both ends well for what I've got right now. Although I could really see myself going out with the 35 1.2 on the R-D1 and that'd be it. I just hate the idea of not having anything wider than a 50 (the equiv with a 35 on the R-D1 - stupid crop factor).
 
Just have fun!

BA is a very accessible city, and chances are, you'll meet a few Porteños who will show you the ropes.

Gotta say, I'm a bit jealous - in Monaco at the moment and about to head off to Tuscany, but looking forward to three months from now when I'll be touching down in Ezeiza again...
 
This thread has been very informative, and I have booked a trip for two and half weeks starting at the end of October.
When I was in Paris, I rented an apartment from an agency called ahparis.com. It worked out very well. I have seen some references in other forums to a similar agency in Buenos Aires called bytargentina.com. I am wondering if anyone here knows anything about it, or has other accommodation suggestions.
My inclination at this time is two take Spanish lessons for a couple of weeks (I'm not a novice, could do a a consumers guide to courses in Toronto, and have travelled in Bolivia for one month and to Mexico more than a dozen times). I will, of course, leave a little time for photography.
 
You could try: http://www.buenosaireshabitat.com/ (I've not yet used them, but will probably avoid hotels and go the apartment route on my next trip)

Generic advice, and not related to any dealings with the website I just gave... if you're asked to pay cash for the accomodation take a photocopy of the notes you use, or at least a list of the serial numbers. This will save you from the switch-with-fakes routine which might be rare but is expensive when it happens.
 
Thanks, Fergus. So by switch with cash, are you talking about a situation where a refundable deposit is payable in cash, and you get cash (but not necessarily real cash) back at the end? I will be wary of that .

The way Ahparis worked was that the security deposit was paid by credit card, but the actual rental was paid in cash (or traveler's cheques). There was never a question of getting cash back. The security deposit was refunded (and quite promptly, I might add) to my credit card.

I will look at the variations.
 
sevres_babylone said:
When I was in Paris, I rented an apartment from an agency called ahparis.com. It worked out very well. I have seen some references in other forums to a similar agency in Buenos Aires called bytargentina.com. I am wondering if anyone here knows anything about it, or has other accommodation suggestions.
My inclination at this time is two take Spanish lessons for a couple of weeks (I'm not a novice, could do a a consumers guide to courses in Toronto, and have travelled in Bolivia for one month and to Mexico more than a dozen times). I will, of course, leave a little time for photography.
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I've used www.apartmentsba.com many times, and can recommend them wholeheartedly.

As for spanish lessons, I really like ECELA (www.ecela.com) - based in a lovely old building in the more relaxed part of Recoleta, they're incredibly fun, and of very good quality. The owner, Cecilia, is also totally mad in a wonderful way: one of the pleasures of the school is her insistence in taking out the students to show them the sights and sounds of the city (with more than a few obligatory drinks along the way)...
 
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whitecat said:
I just got back last Friday. I stayed at this place before,,,,,http://www.artsuites.com.ar/
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I've stayed with them - one of the reasons I ended up with www.apartmentsba.com

The apartment was tiny, and cheaply furnished, and although relatively well located (Azcuenaga if I remember rightly), I had a consistent problem with a smell of gas that I was unwilling to take any risks with.

I was booked for a month - checked out after four days, and have no intention of going back...
 
I stayed with them 3 years ago and never had a problem. This time around I did get a nice place in Recoleta from Apartments BA.
 
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