Buenos Aires Graffiti Tour

The abundance of street art in Buenos Aires makes the city itself is an ever-evolving art gallery. Wander Argentina has partnered to offer a Buenos Aires Graffiti Tour showcasing some of South America’s best urban art.

This fascinating street art treasure hunt winds visitors through out-of-the-way neighborhoods such as Villa Urquiza and Coghlan to see more than 50 artists’ work, including the city’s largest murals.

What you see

Discover anomalies such as a robot battle on an otherwise quiet corner house; marvel at the four-story mural of a gaucho (cowboy) Napoleon crossing the Alps, and ponder Italian artist, Blu’s building-wide mural of a reclining industrialized baby.

Visitors also see the work of Cof, a street artist who works for Disney and Cartoon Network and paints his own colorful cartoon characters on walls and buildings. The tour also passes by Martín Ron’s pièce de résistance and the city’s largest mural, Tale of the Parrots.

Mecca of Street Art

Led by a bilingual insider to the BA graffiti scene, this budget walking tour is a chance to get great photos and understand the context in which street art thrives in Buenos Aires.

Hear about the international collaborations and local rivalries, discover the social factors that inspire the art, and return home having taken the ultimate pilgrimage in the mecca of South American street art.

Buenos Aires Walking Graffiti Tour

When: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
Starts: 2:40 p.m.
Ends: 5:30 p.m.
Duration: 2.45 Hours

Where to meet: The meet-up point is in the Colegiales neighborhood, in an area accessible by bus, subte and train. Since safety is a priority, participants are given the exact location once they book the tour.

Where it ends: At an art bar in Palermo, close to public transportation. where you can have a beverage or snack and continue to chat with your artist guide and other participants.

Additional tour information:
• Although not strenuous, this is a walking tour, wear comfortable shoes
• Transport costs are provided, but there is no pick-up and drop-off
• Suitable for families
• Please book at least 12 hour in advance
• Get some friends to join you! If there are four or more in your group you receive a discount!

Various private and group tours are also available. To arrange one, get in touch via our contact form below.There is also a minibus tour that covers the south side of the city. See our other tours here.

Buenos Aires Tango Festival & World Cup

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 9th to the 20th.

Julio Balmaceda & Corina de la Rosa dancing tango — courtesy of Festivales de Buenos Aires

Bailongo in Buenos Aires

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 20^th 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.

World Tango Competition

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 2018 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.

Tango BA 2018: Citywide championship competition

May 9-20

Buenos Aires Tango Festival & World Cup 2018

August 9-22,
Buenos Aires Culture Department Festival Page
• Tel: . 0-800-333-7848 (Mon-Fri 10a.m.-8p.m)

→ 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 — you get the 21% VAT tax back when you book online with a credit card.

→ See our suggestions, ‘What to Pack for Argentina.‘

Tango Festival Venues

Downtown

•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

La Boca

• 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

Caballito

•Espacio Cultural Adán Buenosayres
Av. Asamblea 1200

Almagro

La Catedral
Sarmiento 4006

•Espacio Cultural Julián Centeya
Ave. San Juan 3255

Villa Urquiza

•Teatro 25 de Mayo
Av Triunvirato 4444
Bus: 71, 112, 114, 127, 133, 176
Subte: Line B, Echeverría Stop

Casa Rosada Museum: A Modern Museum in the City’s 1st Fort

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.

Historical Videos in the Casada Rosada Museum

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.

Plaza de Mayo Through the Years

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

Take a Stroll through the Casa Rosada

Sitting at the edge of Plaza de Mayo, the Casa Rosada is one of the most iconic buildings in Buenos Aires. With its pink façade and palace-like design, the governmental house has served as the backdrop to countless numbers of protests, famous speeches and significant moments in Argentina’s history.

Free Tours of the Casa Rosada

Guarded by police and tall gates often flanked with protest signs, the Pink House appears to be an impenetrable castle. But every weekend, the mysterious palace doors open to the public for free hour-long tours.

The entrance for the tour is at the northern backside of the building, facing Plaza de Mayo. Once you fly past the lax security and metal detector, make sure to take a photo with the guards of honor, and perhaps try to get them to crack a smile, before getting in line for a ticket. The tour is on a first-come, first-served basis and you need the colored ticket to be placed in a tour group.

The tours are available in Spanish, English and Portuguese, although unless you are with a large group of foreigners and request a language preference beforehand, it will most likely be in Spanish. Your tour guide will probably be bilingual and can fill you in on the side though.

A stroll through the Casa Rosada offers visitors a peek into Argentina’s turbulent history and the wealth of the nation.

Highlights of the Casa Rosada Tour

Visitors first get a glimpse of the Bicentennial Hall of Argentina Painters and Paintings, inaugurated in 2011. From there it’s onto the rest of the palace including the Salón Blanco (White Room), the Martín Fierro Hall, the luxurious Hall of Honor, the beautiful stained glass gallery and the Bicentennial Hall for Argentine Women, where the Eva Peron 100-peso bill was introduced with much fanfare.

Glimpse into the President’s office, the presidential elevator with its theater-like red velvet bench and the office where Eva Peron gathered her fervor before heading out to the balcony.

Toward the end of the tour visitors pass over the Patio of Honor, or the Patio of the Palms, which looks as if it came out of a 19^th century Spanish film.

If you linger too long in any room, marveling at sparkling chandeliers or turn of the 19th century furniture, a guard or security officer will shoo you along to catch up with the group.

The presidential balcony is the highlight of the tour for many, as it’s a chance to take the stage where former presidents have given historic speeches, get a bird’s eye view of Plaza de Mayo and get a great picture to take home.

—Rachel Aretakis

Tours of the Casa Rosada
50 Balcarce, Mirocentro
Tel: 4344-3802 / 4344-3805
• 12:30 p.m. & 2:30p.m. Saturday, Sunday and holidays. They begin every 10 to 15 minutes and last about an hour, they are now required to be booked online via the link above
• Cost: Free!
• Reservations: not necessary except to request a tour in a language other than Spanish
• Cameras are permitted on the tour, but no flash
• ID may be requested for security reasons

→ For even more Argentine history, the Bicentenary Museum, on the south side of the first floor, offers 200 years of governmental mementos, a look at the city’s underground tunnels and permanent and temporary art exhibits.

Buenos Aires Downtown Tours

Check out our tour page for a curated list of Buenos Aires City Tours

→ Private Evita and Peronism History Tour — A private three-hour tour that covers the Casa Rosada and Recoleta Cemetery and highlights the importance of Argentina’s most defining political movement.

→ Buenos Aires City Tour, Tango Lesson & Dinner Show —A day-long tour perfect to acquaint oneself with Buenos Aires. It starts with a city tour that will take visitors to Recoleta Cemetery, La Boca or the Plaza de Mayo. Later, there is tango class and tango dinner show at San Telmo‘s famous La Ventana tango house.

→ Private Half-Day Buenos Aires City Tour — A four-hour private Buenos Aires tour with a knowledgeable expat resident. This full-service tour can be personalized to see the Buenos Aires’ highlights such as the Plaza de Mayo, Casa Rosada, La Boca, San Telmo and Recoleta, depending on your preference.

Tigre Attractions & Things to Do

Tranquil, quaint and slow-paced, Buenos Aires’ favorite day-trip destination Tigre pulls in 80,000 tourists every weekend. Here are the main attractions in the town of Tigre:

Tigre Town Attractions

The Puerto de frutos (Fruit Port) is a large riverside market and attracts DIY fanatics from afar for its mix of handcrafted furniture, candlesticks and flowerpots.

Tourists looking for souvenirs rather than the local specialties cane, wicker and reed furniture can also purchase smaller artisan trinkets. The market is open all week, but there are more goods available on the weekend.

Anyone who’s been captivated by mate, national obsession and hot herby drink that Argentines love so much they carry it around with them, should take a tour of the charming El Museo del Mate (Mate Museum).

Guided tours offer insight into the history of the drink, reveal important artifacts like the smallest mate in the world and finish with a taste of the green stuff. As the museum proudly boasts, it is the only mate museum in the world and therefore an experience not to be replicated. Anyone who wants to try mate without learning everything about its history can skip the tour and head straight to the café.

Tigre’s art museum, Museo de Arte Tigre is housed in a magnificent Italian-French style mansion and is a pleasant stroll from town along the picturesque walking route Paseo Victoria.

Worth a trip just to marvel at the building, the resplendent rooms of this two-floored museum were previously used as a club for dancing, gambling and other upper-class amusements. The museum showcases 19^th and 20^th century Argentine figurative art and rotating exhibitions of more modern pieces.

The naval museum – El Museo Naval de la Nacion (National Naval Museum) holds a collection of objects related to Argentine Maritime history, as well as maritime history in general. Exhibits include model boats and arms. Not to be missed for Naval buffs but one to avoid if war ships don´t float your boat.

The Museo de la Reconquista has a well-maintained collection of objects related to the history of Tigre and Argentina, particularly related to their struggle for independence. It is located in a small white house opposite the spot where the military man Santiago de Liniers embarked to go conquer Buenos Aires from the English in 1806. The museum has five exhibition rooms plus a well-stocked library.

For a few thrills after soaking in Tigre’s history the Parque de la Costa is a theme park located close to the Puerto de Frutos. It´s not as modern and shiny as Disneyland, but has rollercoasters, a Ferris wheel and water rides. Bring a change of clothes for the latter, and expect to wait in lines for the rides on weekends and holidays.

Next to theme park, gambling junkies can enjoy the three-floored Trilenium Casino, where it is easy to while away hours on slot machines and card games. Non-gamblers can occupy themselves at the theatre or one of the seven restaurants.

To explore Tigre on two wheels, hire a bicycle from one of the companies near the train station and head along the Paseo Victoria, which is signposted from town.

• Puerto de Frutos
Sarmiento 100,
Tel: 4512 4493
Hours: Every day — 10 a.m.-7p.m.

• El Museo del Mate
Lavalle 289, 4506 9594,
Hours: Wednesday-Sunday and holidays. 11am-6pm (autumn/winter) 11am-7pm (spring/summer).
• Guided tours for groups on Tuesdays

• Museo de Arte Tigre
Paseo Victoria 972,
Tel: 4512 4528,
Hours: Wed-Fri 9a.m.-7p.m., Sat & Sun 12noon -7p.m.

•El Museo Naval de la Nación
Paseo Victoria 602
Tel: 4749 0608
Hours: Mon-Fri 8.30-5pm, Sat and Sun 10.30-6.30pm
• Guided tours in the afternoons

Museo de la Reconquista
Avenida Liniers 818, 4512 4496
Hours: Weds-Sun 10-6.30pm.

• Parque de la Costa
Vivanco 1509
Tel: 4002 6000,
Hours: Fridays-Sundays and holidays. 11am-8pm

• Trilenium Casino
Peru 1385
Tel: 4731 7001,
Hours: Mon-Weds 11a.m.-6p.m.
Thurs-Sun open 24 hours

Tigre Tourist office
Juncal 1600
Tel: 4512-4497 / 0800 888 84473

View Wander Argentina’s Map of Tigre Attractions on Land

Take a Tango Tour