Travel & Tours in Argentina, in Buenos Aires & Beyond
Couples dance in a public milonga to the nostalgic sounds of tango now heard city-wide during Buenos Aires’ biggest winter festival, the Buenos Aires Tango Festival.
Starting today, the Stage Tango semifinals will take place at the Centro de Exposiciones. Competitions between some of the world’s best tango duo’s taking place during the next few days will lead up to the August 26th Finals in Stage Tango and Salon Tango.
Every August it’s time to put on a sultry face and slide into a tight embrace on the dance floor at the Buenos Aires’ Tango Festival.
At this yearly tango festival, tango aficionados and international visitors enjoy live tango orchestras, dance shows and competitions, tango-related films, art exhibitions and of course milongas (dance parties), celebrating Argentina’s most famous dance.
The free two week event is hailed as the world’s largest tango-related festival with 2,000 performers and nearly half a million visitors. This larger event is preceded by the citywide Buenos Aires Tango Championship, held every May — this year from the 8th to the 19th.
Although today considered one of the country’s most sophisticated cultural exports, tango was born at the end of the 19th century in the working class portside neighborhood of La Boca. An immigrant community of mostly struggling, single European men meant there was a dearth of women at the time.
Men danced with each other to practice for the day they might have the chance to seduce one of the few single ‘ladies of the night’ available. Because of tango’s early association with crime, the outlaw language of lunfardo and poverty, upper crust Argentines originally turned up their noses at the dance.
Once the sounds and moves of tango exploded in Europe in the early 20th century, wealthy and middle class Argentines co-opted the once underground sound and began composing more purified tangos, bringing the sexy dance into their ballrooms.
Since the 1990’s tango has experienced a new renaissance in Buenos Aires and worldwide. UNESCO included tango on their Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2009.
Throughout the festival there is a variety of open milongas allowing the public to dance to the live sounds of traditional tango orchestras, tangotronica DJ’s and tango-inspired fusión groups .
Among the living tango greats who have hit the stage here are Saúl Cosentino with his avant-garde tango tunes akin to Piazolla; Bandoneon virtuoso, Julio Pane; and composer and the former bandoneonist for Alfredo Gobbi, Alberto Garralda. Other performances include an homage to Grammy winner, Leopoldo Federico, who performed at last year’s Tango Festival and then died at 87 a few months later, and a retrospective of Russian tango of the ’20s and ’30s performed by the Belamor Kanal Quartet. Bringing more modern tango sounds are acts such as Cumbre de Contrabajista (Summit of Stand-up Bassists) and French composer, guitarist and singer, Brian Chambouleyron (on a double bill with the aforementioned Alberto Garralda).
For those who dream to dance tango like they own the floor, the festival hosts dance classes and talks with local dancefloor legends such as Milena Plebs, Sebastián Arce, María Nieves, Julio Balmaceda y Corina de la Rosa, Fernando Galera, Vilma Vega and 82-year-old Juan Carlos Copes.
The festival culminates in the Tango World Cup in which the world’s best tangueros compete on stage for prestige and cash prizes in the Salon Tango and Stage Tango Competitions at Luna Park.
All the activities and shows at the Tango Festival are free. Tickets for Tango World Cup are first come, first serve, and will be given out at the Casa de Cultura, Av. de Mayo 575. There is a two ticket limit per person. The 2019 date to pick up tickets has not yet been announced.
For all other limited seating events, tickets are given out beginning two hours before the show.
To see a day-by-day breakdown of the Tango Festival events and the World Championship Dance competition see the Buenos Aires Culture Department’s official webpage linked below.
May 8-19
August 8-21,
Buenos Aires Culture Department Festival Page
• Tel: . 0-800-333-7848 (Mon-Fri 10a.m.-8p.m)
→ Get in touch with us to ask about Argentina Vacation Packages
→ Check out other tango tours and activities to learn the dance or check out the city’s milongas with a local.
→ Book safe airport transfer and reserve your accommodation online to save money — visitors get the 21% VAT tax back when you book online with a credit card.
•Luna Park
Av. Corrientes y Bouchard
• Tel: 5279-5279
• Bus: 4, 6, 20, 22, 23, 26, 28, 33, 45, 50, 54, 56, 61, 62, 74, 91, 93, 99, 105
• Subway: Línea B, L.N. Alem stop
•Teatro Colón
Cerrito 628
Bus: 5,9,10,17,24,26,45,59,67,70,75,99,100,106,132,146
Subte: Line D: Tribunales stop; Line B: Carlos Pellegrini stop; Line C: Diagonal Norte stop
•Teatro Astral
Av Corrientes 1639
Bus:5,6,7,23,24,26,37,50,60,102,115,124,146,150,180
Subte: Line D, Callao; Line B Uruguay stop or 9 de Julio; Line C Diagonal Norte
• Usina del Arte
Av. Don Pedro de Mendoza 501 (corner of A. Caffarena)
Bus: 4, 8, 20, 25, 29, 33, 53, 64, 86, 129, 130, 152, 159, 168, 195
•Museo del Cine
Agustín Caffarena 51
Bus:4, 8, 20, 25, 29, 33, 46, 53, 64, 86, 129, 130, 152, 159, 168, 195
•Teatro de La Ribera/La Milonga del Dique
Av. Don Pedro de Mendoza 1821
Bus:8, 20, 25, 29, 33, 46, 53, 64, 86, 129, 152, 159
•Espacio Cultural Adán Buenosayres
Av. Asamblea 1200
La Catedral
Sarmiento 4006
•Espacio Cultural Julián Centeya
Ave. San Juan 3255
•Teatro 25 de Mayo
Av Triunvirato 4444
Bus: 71, 112, 114, 127, 133, 176
Subte: Line B, Echeverría Stop
Just around the corner from the Plaza de Mayo is the sleek Casa Rosada Museum. This museum was built in 2010 and originally called the Bicentenary Museum to commemorate 200 years since the start of the revolution that led to Argentina’s independence.
The sprawling museum is below street level, and lies on the spot where the first fort in Buenos Aires was built in 1580. The original brickwork is still visible in the museum and makes for a stunning reminder of the building’s history.
Inside the museum visitors can watch Spanish-language videos of different periods of Argentine 
history. Important artifacts such as clothing and objects of some of Argentina’s most popular political figures such as Eva and Juan Perón are also on display.
Non-Spanish speakers may find themselves a little lost by the videos, but they shouldn’t feel bad. Even for those with a vague idea of Argentine history might find it difficult to fully understand which liberator was which, and which coup happened when – which serves to highlight Argentina’s complicated political history.
The museum ends on a patriotic hopeful note, with footage of the late Nestor Kirchner and videos, which emphasize the changes he made during his presidency. The message seems to be ‘Everything is okay now, we’ve sorted out all the country’s problems.’
Interestingly, no extra footage or objects have been added since Nestor’s death nor of his wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s presidency.
Close to the entrance a video shows images of the Plaza de Mayo changing over the years, which is accessible for non-Spanish speakers and gives a visual insight into historical changes in the square.
A principle point of interest at the Casa Rosada Museum is the 1933 mural Ejercicio plástico, by Mexican, David Aflaro Siqueiros. It was originally painted in journalist Natalia Botano’s basement, and excavated in its entirety to the museum.
There are also retro cars and temporary exhibitions concerning Argentine figures and history plus a traditional patisserie and coffee shop.
The architecturally impressive, if propagandist, museum is worth a stroll through after taking in the Casa Rosada tour around the corner. -Rosie Hilder
Casa Rosada/Bicentenary Museum
Paseo Colón 100
Tel: 4344-3802
Hours: Weds – Sun & holidays:
(April-Nov) 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
(Dec – March) 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
• Entrance: free
• Spanish language only
A new Metrobus station on 9 de Julio Avenue, the week of its debut.
The new section of the Metrobus allows for bus-only rapid transit lanes on 9 de Julio Avenue, and diverts buses that previously ran down the narrow streets of San Telmo, Monserrat and Microcentro. The 3 km route is traveled by a quarter of a million people per day. The bus-only lanes cut travel time in half.
The 17 new stops along 9 de Julio feature seating, protection from the elements, are wheelchair accessible, have signage in braille and free wifi. The Metrobus is part of a larger plan to improve transit in the city with the expansions of subte (Buenos Aires subway), the Sube smart card, and the city’s bike-sharing program.