Buenos Aires

The civic heart of Buenos Aires is the Plaza de Mayo, the stage of Argentine history, flanked by the rose-coloured Casa Rosada (the presidential palace, famous for Evita's balcony), the Metropolitan Cathedral (where Pope Francis served), and the colonial Cabildo, and still the gathering place of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo. From here the pedestrian Florida Street and the grand avenues lead to the Obelisco, the city's landmark, rising from Avenida 9 de Julio amid the theatres and the city's pulse. North-west lies Recoleta, the most aristocratic barrio — French-style mansions, embassies, museums (the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes), grand cafés, and above all the Recoleta Cemetery, an astonishing necropolis of ornate marble mausoleums laid out like city streets, where Eva Perón and generations of Argentine elite are entombed, and one of the city's most extraordinary sights. The nearby Floralis Genérica steel flower and the cultural centre round out an elegant, walkable quarter.

Buenos Aires's soul is found in its southern barrios. San Telmo, the oldest neighbourhood, is a romantic maze of cobbled streets, colonial and faded-grand houses, antique shops, atmospheric bars and parrillas — and the cradle of tango, with dancers in its plazas and milongas where locals dance into the night. Its Sunday street fair (Feria de San Telmo) fills Defensa street with antiques, crafts, buskers and tango. Further south, working-class La Boca, by the old port, is famous for the Caminito — a short street of corrugated-iron houses painted in vivid blocks of colour, lined with tango dancers and artists (touristy but iconic) — and for La Bombonera, the steep, throbbing stadium of Boca Juniors, where Argentine football passion reaches its peak. Tango is everywhere in Buenos Aires, from the grand dinner-shows to the neighbourhood milongas, and experiencing it — watching, or learning a few steps — is essential to the city.

Vast, leafy Palermo is the largest barrio and the engine of contemporary Buenos Aires. Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood overflow with the city's best restaurants and bars, boutiques, design studios, street art and a buzzing nightlife that runs very late; the area is the heart of the modern food, fashion and creative scene. Adjoining it, the Bosques de Palermo — the city's great green lungs — gather rose gardens, lakes, the Japanese Garden, the planetarium and the Hipódromo, perfect for cycling, running and weekend relaxing. Nearby Recoleta and Palermo hold the MALBA museum of Latin American art. To the east, the regenerated docklands of Puerto Madero present a sleek, modern face — glass towers, a yacht-filled basin, the Calatrava-designed Puente de la Mujer footbridge, and the Costanera Sur ecological reserve along the river. From the historic cafés to the rooftop bars, the grand opera of the Teatro Colón to the theatres of Corrientes and the stunning El Ateneo Grand Splendid bookshop in a former theatre, Palermo and the modern city show Buenos Aires at its most stylish and alive.

To eat in Buenos Aires is to understand the city. Argentine beef is a religion, and the parrilla (steakhouse) — where cuts like bife de chorizo and ojo de bife are grilled over wood and charcoal and served with chimichurri and Malbec — is the essential experience, from old-school institutions to Palermo's modern grills. But there's far more: the Italian-Argentine heritage in the pasta, pizza and milanesa; the empanadas; the choripán from a street cart; and the sweet national obsessions of dulce de leche, alfajores and medialunas. The café culture is part of the city's identity — the grand, century-old cafés like the Café Tortoni on Avenida de Mayo are institutions for a coffee and a slow afternoon. And Buenos Aires keeps famously late hours: dinner rarely starts before 9 or 10pm, the bars fill after midnight, and the clubs and milongas run until dawn. Whether over a long steak dinner, a coffee in a historic café or a late night out, eating and drinking are central to the BA experience.