Favorite experiences in Buenos Aires

updated 4:47 p.m. ET March 12, 2007

Best Tango Shows for Tourists
Tango, a beautiful dance that tells the pained history of its immigrant poor from the beginning of the 20th century, is the ultimate Buenos Aires-defining experience. For an authentic historical look, see the tango show El Querandí, Perú 302 (tel. 11/4345-0331), which traces the dance's roots from brothel slums, when only men danced it, to its current leggy sexiness. Señor Tango, Vieytes 1653 (tel. 11/4303-0212), adds Hollywood glamour and Fosse-esque dance moves, as well as horses trampling the stage, in the city's most popular show. You'll find a more gracious experience at Esquina Carlos Gardel, Carlos Gardel 3200 (tel. 11/4876-6363), in the Abasto neighborhood where Carlos Gardel, the city's most famous tango crooner, actually lived and worked. A classical symphony accompanies the more traditional instruments in this show.

Best Tango Hall for the Experienced or Those Who Want to Watch the Experienced
If you're an expert tango dancer, or want to at least watch the people who are, head to a milonga (tango salon). El Niño Bien, Humberto I no. 1462 (tel. 11/4483-2588), is like taking a step back in time as you watch patrons dance in an enormous, smoke-filled, Belle Epoque-era hall under ceiling fans. The best dancers come here to show off, though you'll also find instructors looking to mingle with shy potential students who watch from the sidelines. Salón Canning, Scalabrini Ortiz 1331 (tel. 11/4832-6753), in Palermo Hollywood has what many local dancers call the best tango floor in all of Buenos Aires, a hard, smooth, parquet surface perfect for this dance. The tight space, however, is not big enough for the tango-challenged.

Best Architecture Walks
Buenos Aires abounds in beautiful architecture, especially after its very self-conscious and ambitious rebuilding project before Argentina's 1910 centennial celebration of its independence from Spain. The plan was put into action in the 1880s, and by the turn of the 20th century, entire neighborhoods had been rebuilt. The French Beaux Arts movement was at its worldwide height at that point, meaning much of the city looks more like Paris than any other Latin American city. Avenida de Mayo, the city's official processional route linking the Presidential Palace (Casa Rosada) to the National Congress Building, is the longest and best-preserved example of this. The corner buildings along the wide Diagonal Norte, also known as Avenida Sáenz Peña, are all topped with fantastic neoclassical domes from the street's beginning at the Plaza de Mayo until it hits the Obelisco, Buenos Aires's defining monument, at Avenida 9 de Julio, the world's widest boulevard. Don't miss the neighborhoods of San Telmo and Monserrat either, with their balconied late-19th- and early-20th-century structures, most of which are gracefully decaying as they await gentrification when the economy improves.

Best Park Walks
The Palermo Park system runs along Avenida Libertador and is one of the world's most beautiful. You could spend more than a day here, wandering this tree- and monument-lined part of the city, and still not see it all. Within the system are numerous small parks such as the Rose Garden and the Japanese Gardens, as well as museums such as the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Av. Figueroa Alcorta 3415 (tel. 11/4808-6500), and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Av. del Libertador 1473 (tel. 11/4803-0802). In the Argentine spring -- late September and early October -- the weather is at its best, and the jacaranda trees here are in their purple-bloomed glory, making this the best time to stroll. In summer months locals who can't escape the city come to jog, suntan, and while away the day in this area.

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Best Bird-Watching
Proof that nature is stronger than whatever humankind throws at it is just a brisk walk away from Buenos Aires's tallest office structures at the Ecological Reserve (along the Costanera near Puerto Madero; tel. 11/4893-1588). In the 1960s and 1970s, demolished buildings and construction debris were dumped into the Río de La Plata. Nature responded by wrapping it with sediment and then grass and small plants, creating a home for a myriad of birds. Wander on your own with caution, as there are still rough areas, or ask a tour company about bird-watching tours.

Best (& Most Heartbreaking) Political Experience
Argentina's political history is a long series of ups and downs, some more tragic than others. Perhaps the worst occurred between 1976 and 1982, when a military government, bent on destroying what it considered political enemies, ruled the country. During that time, up to 30,000 people, mostly college-age, were secretly murdered, their bodies never found, giving them the name los desaparecidos, meaning "the disappeared ones." The Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo is an organization that aims for justice for their murdered children and marches on the Plaza de Mayo every Thursday at 3:30pm, giving speeches and handing out flyers. They also run a university with a store and library full of books on this painful period of history that has yet to come to an end.

Best Evita Experiences

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Visit the Plaza de Mayo, the political heart of Argentina, and look to the facade of the Casa Rosada (Presidential Palace). The northern balcony, with its three French doors, is where Evita addressed her adoring fans. Just as many people come to see her now at the Recoleta Cemetery, where she was laid to rest in a tomb belonging to the family of her wealthy father. To understand why it took Argentina more than 50 years to come to terms with this controversial woman, visit the Museo Evita, Calle Lafinur 2988 (tel. 11/4807-9433), in Palermo, where the story of her life is told through personal objects.

Best Museums
The MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires), Av. Figueroa Alcorta 3415 (tel. 11/4808-6500), houses an extensive and interesting modern art collection. The building itself, though, is as unique as the art, and nothing is more impressive than the giant sculpture of a man doing pushups suspended over the escalator bay in the central atrium. The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Av. del Libertador 1473 (tel. 11/4803-0802), was built into a former water-pump station and houses an impressive art collection, including many Picasso drawings.

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