Overview
Córdoba is Argentina's second city and the lively capital of its central Sierras — a youthful university town built around the UNESCO-listed Jesuit Block, with a buzzing student nightlife, its own cuarteto music and unmistakable accent, and the green hills, rivers and old estancias of the Sierras de Córdoba on its doorstep.
Travel
Córdoba, set in the geographic heart of Argentina at the foot of its central Sierras, is the country's second-largest city and one of its most characterful — a place with a strong identity all its own, from its accent (the sing-song tonada cordobesa) and humour to its music and its drink of choice. Founded in 1573, it grew into the colonial intellectual capital of the region under the Jesuits, and that legacy is its greatest treasure: the Manzana Jesuítica, the Jesuit Block, a UNESCO World Heritage Site gathering the Jesuit church, the Domus and the historic core of the National University of Córdoba — founded in 1613 and the oldest university in Argentina and one of the oldest in the Americas. That university gives the city its defining energy: a huge student population fills its cafés, theatres, music venues and a famously late and lively nightlife, and Córdoba is the home of cuarteto, the joyful, danceable popular music born in its dance halls, as well as the spiritual home of fernet con coca, the bitter-herb-and-cola mix Argentines drink everywhere but love most here. The compact historic centre, around the leafy Plaza San Martín with its cathedral and colonial Cabildo, is easily walked, while the regenerated Güemes and Nueva Córdoba districts hum with bars, markets and street art. Beyond the city, Córdoba is the gateway to the Sierras de Córdoba — the rolling green hill country of rivers, reservoirs and resort towns that is one of Argentina's most popular domestic holiday regions, dotted with the magnificent Jesuit estancias (also UNESCO-listed) and towns like Alta Gracia, La Cumbre and Villa Carlos Paz. With a sunny, temperate climate — spring and autumn are loveliest — and a relaxed, irreverent spirit, Córdoba is a rewarding stop and an ideal base for the centre of the country.
Córdoba's historic heart is one of the finest colonial ensembles in Argentina, and its centrepiece is the Manzana Jesuítica — the Jesuit Block, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Within a single city block the Jesuits built, from the early 17th century, their church (the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús, with its remarkable cedar-and-Paraguayan-timber vaulted ceiling shaped like an upturned ship's hull), the Domus residence, and the colleges that became the National University of Córdoba — the oldest in the country — along with the Monserrat secondary school. Today you can tour the church, the old university halls and the Jesuit museum. Steps away, the city's main square, the Plaza San Martín, is overlooked by the imposing Cathedral — a centuries-long mix of styles — and the colonial Cabildo (town hall), while nearby streets hold the Carmelite convent and church of Santa Teresa and a clutch of museums. Compact and walkable, the centre layers Spanish colonial Córdoba over the modern Argentine city, and the Jesuit legacy continues out into the countryside at the estancias that supplied the order.
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