Five Hotels in Buenos Aires I wish I could afford to stay in…
…and how to experience them anyway, on the cheap!
I guess I’ve always been something of a hostel person. Not out of choice mind you - if my economic situation had been rosier over the years, I’m sure I would have been living it up in the odd luxury, design, or boutique hotel now and again.
These days, my financial situation is little different, and still I wouldn’t be able afford to stay in such hotels. However, my current job as an independent tour guide here in Buenos Aires presents me with a glimpse over the other side of the fence, giving me a taste for the good stuff - so close, and yet so far.
However, as a tour guide, I also have to be quite resourceful on occasion. And so I have been able to come up with a few ways to enjoy the most wonderful, expensive Buenos Aires Hotels, but on a budget. Read on for my top five suggestions.
Top Five Hotels in Buenos Aires
5. Caesar Park Hotel, Recoleta
A solid luxury hotel in Recoleta, with fantastic interior design, service and location (right across from the upmarket Patio Bullrich mall). Costs around US$270 a night, which is approximately US$250 over my usual budget 
So, how to experience this hotel without paying a dime? Just walk in the lobby and do your most confident impression of a paying hotel guest. Take the elevator up to the 17th floor, and take in the wonderful view of the Rio de la Plata, seeing right the way over to Uruguay on a good day. Exit soon after, before security come and give you the privilege of a personal escort out of the building 
4. Bo Bo Hotel, Palermo Soho
One of the most coveted boutique hotels in Palermo Soho, the sub-barrio where boutique hotels seem to be popping up every week. The design is cool, modern, fun and ever so slightly pretentious, as you would expect from a place where the name stands for bourgeois bohemian. They even have themed rooms, ranging from Pop to Techno to Art Deco. And if that isn’t enough, the staff and restaurant also both get rave reviews. Rates are actually fairly reasonable, at about US$135 per night.
But you don’t want to pay that! Make do with a trip to the restaurant and a quick scan around the stylish hotel interior. To experience their eclectic international cuisine should set you back less than 50 pesos a head, and although the servings are fashionably small, they are still quite delicious, and you’ll get all of the bourgeois bohemian experience for a fraction of the price of a night in their hotel.
3. The Hotel Alvear, Recoleta
If you are a head of state, diplomat or just plain rolling in old money, this is the place to stay in Buenos Aires. Faultless old world style and service, the most desirable location on the most upscale avenue in the city (they even share the same name), and quite frankly, effortlessly the most classically beautiful hotel lobby, bar, cafe and restaurant in town. However, you’ll need to be rolling in old money to stay here - it’s probably going to set you back over US$400 a night!
For the rest of us mere mortals, the Alvear offers an alternative - and something of an institution for in the know visitors to Buenos Aires. Well, at least those that are in to tea and cake. For 55 pesos a head, you can indulge in an afternoon high tea at the Alvear’s beautifully appointed L’Orangerie cafe, and pretend you are rich for a few sweet, sweet moments, accompanied by a few sweet, sweet cakes and pastries. Just make sure you dress the part.
2. The Faena Hotel + Universe, Puerto Madero
The most fantastical hotel in Buenos Aires, fresh from the warped mind of designer Phillipe Starck, and the straining ego of Argentine entrepreneur Alan Faena. A potent combination, heightened by your own personal ‘experience manager’, there to respond to your every whim, as you create your own mini-universe within the swish former docklands of Puerto Madero. But don’t lose yourself quite yet… there’s the small matter of a US$400 per night bill to address at some point in time!
Fret not, for there is another way for the canny budget traveler like yourself to experience this hotel. Cocktails at the Faena’s “Library Lounge” (down the corridor on the right, just after the outdoor pool), complete with film set surroundings and kitsch mounted deer heads on the walls, should set you back about 30 pesos a go. Just make sure you check out the enchanting entrance corridor and toilets while you’re there (yes, even the toilets are out of this world at the Faena).
1. The Four Seasons ‘La Mansion’, Recoleta
This cute little mansion in the grounds of the Four Seasons hotel (see first picture at top of this post) is so expensive that only world famous rock and pop stars like U2, the Rolling Stones and Madonna can afford to stay there. And that must mean it’s great, right? Well, my economic situation means I can’t realistically confirm that, but the building certainly is a cut above most hotels - a wonderful turn of the 20th century French mansion house that looks plucked from the Loire valley. Let’s just hope the latest rock star in residence hasn’t thrown all the wide screen TVs out of the window
Let’s not even mention a nightly price for this place, and go straight to the ‘budget’ option. Sunday brunch downstairs at the Four Season’s La Mansion is a great chance to take in the full mansion house experience, while gorging yourself on the best breakfast in BA. OK, so it’ll set you back 125 pesos per person, but trust me, you’ll feel like a rock star throughout, and for a good while afterwards. Well, more accurately, you’ll feel a rock star does at breakfast, but we all have to start somewhere, I guess
In it for the money?
The reason I’ve come over all ‘top 5′ in this post is so as to enter a spiffing contest set up by problogger, one of my daily reads. And this isn’t any old blog contest - if chosen I could win a prize of US$1001 (!), which I promise, in the unlikely event of me winning, to partly invest in a night at one of the five hotels above, to see how the other side really do live, sin budget. In fact, I’ll take votes in the comments below for which hotel you think I should book and why, if I win, so please do make your suggestions in the comments section below.
And if I don’t win, maybe there is a kind manager at one of the above fine establishments who would like to offer me a free night of hotel accommodation (in return for a blog review here, of course)… pleeeeeaaaaassseeeeee???
Here’s hoping…
[PS - More pictures and hotel details to come to this post in an imminent update, when I get time]
May 11th, 2007 at 11:07 am
[…] Five Hotels in Buenos Aires I wish I could afford to stay in… by Alan Patrick […]
May 12th, 2007 at 9:37 am
Great article, I hope you win the contest, or at least the offer of a nights accommodation. If you get a choice then for sure go for The Alvear, it is considered as you know, one of the best in the world.
Wow what an experience that would be !! Good luck Robert
May 12th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Alan,
Thanks for this post! It’s always fun to saunter through a swank hotel lobby or dine in a ritzy restaurant for a reasonable price. Really appreciate the suggestions for experiencing these hotels in a next-best way!
Good luck in the contest, and I fully expect that you will be posting soon about a night at the one of these places–gratis!
Besos,
Maya
May 12th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Hi Robert and Maya,
Thanks for the nice comments about this post, I’m glad people are enjoying it (and I hope they enjoy these hotels too, on the cheap!)
Unfortunately, no contest win for me. The winner was selected randomly, so out of 800+ entries, there wasn’t much of a chance in the end. But congratulations to Nancy for winning the US$1001 for her post http://www.nancy.cc/2007/05/08/baby-names-from-video-games/ - enjoy the cash!
And expensive / five star hotels in Buenos Aires - my offer still stands - one night’s stay in exchange for a full (of course neutral!) review on this blog. I’m waiting…
Alan
May 13th, 2007 at 6:50 am
Your choices seem strange. The hottest hotel in the city, the new Dhuau Park Hyatt, is not even mentioned. Bobo is preferable? I can’t make sense of this
May 14th, 2007 at 1:57 am
Hi Keith,
Thanks for reading and commenting.
How exactly do my choices seem strange? If I left out the Park Hyatt, you may have noticed I included the Four Seasons’ La Mansion, the Ceasar Park, and the Alvear, all within very close range of the Park Hyatt.
I wanted to spread things around the city a little more than that, and the boutique hotel trend is very hot in the city right now, so the Bo Bo (with it’s great restaurant), seemed like an excellent choice.
Also, what would you have suggested for the Park Hyatt as a budget activity to do there. I would love to get a suggestion so I can try it out
Take care and keep reading,
Alan
May 14th, 2007 at 8:21 am
Alan go try the cheese/wine bar in the Dhuau Park Hyatt, now that’s a experience and can be done on a budget.
May 14th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Thanks Robert. I’d heard good things about that at the Duhau, but had also heard that it was very expensive. Anyway, I’ll give it a try sometime
May 15th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Thanks for the tips… we’ll definitely give a couple of them a try in June. What are your top five for $20 (your aforementioned budget)?
May 20th, 2007 at 1:14 am
I highly recomend the sunday brunch in the Hyatt-Ricoleta. Sitting in the garden, drinking champagne… it s the most romantic place in Buenos Aires.
And for me … the most amazing and surprising hotel in Buenos Aires is the Youkali Boutique Hotel. A realy trendy cool edge art hotel! Check out: www.youkali.com.ar
May 20th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your comment, I hope you have fun trying out a couple of these hotels on the cheap in June
As for the 20 USD per night budget, I would say the best way to use it in Buenos Aires would be to get a short term apartment rental, which I talked a little bit more about in this post recently:
http://www.buenostours.com/buenos-aires-short-term-apartment-rental
Apart from that, 20 USD will probably have you looking at hostels and low end guesthouses. Not that this is a bad thing… in fact, I will work on recommending some of these budget accommodations in a blog post very soon
Hello Sushikiller,
Thanks for the recommendations. I will be sure to try these out in due course.
All the best,
Alan
May 21st, 2007 at 8:45 am
[…] Alan Patrick presents Five Hotels in Buenos Aires I wish I could afford to stay in… posted at Buenos Aires Argentina Guide. […]
May 21st, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Hi,
Just popped in from the Carnival of Cities. Good roundup of the hotels, all sound great and expensive. I was almost going to visit Argentina this summer, but the $1000 air ticket from Puerto Rico put a stop to that.
Thanks for info
May 26th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Fantastic, I loved your comments about the top 5. As a World Traveller, I routinely look up the Top 5 design hotels in major cities and in this case constantly stumble upon THE HOTEL BOBO. You very “real” account of EZE’s top 5 were an informative and enjoyable read. Keep on… If I had anything to do with the hotels you mentioned I would certainly invite to spend a night for sharing your esteemed rating here. Ill mention it to Hotel Bobo if I visit in August. Now planning the trip. Thank you.
June 2nd, 2007 at 1:06 am
Hola,
Visited BA early May and had the opportunity to stay at the Alvear Palace for a couple of nights. For value, i think it is hands down one of the most luxurious hotels in the world and its reputation as BA’s grandest is unquestionnable. The high tea was indeed a treat and you know, if you must splurge on holiday, you might as well go all the way.
Thank you, Buenos Aires, for a most pleasant experience.
June 22nd, 2007 at 8:38 am
Thank you so far - we got a link from your site to Grand Hotel de la Paix. For us it seems to be situated right in the centre of the city.
We will arrive in the evening Dec 1 and stay for 4 nights.
Then a round trip - Foz de Iguazu - and Montevideo - may be also to Santiago/Mendoza before going back to B A around Dec 13. Leaving Dec 15.
We found your blog very useful. Thanks for sharing.
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Thanks to all the last few commenters for reading, commenting, and your nice words. I hope you all had/have (as applicable) the best of times in Buenos Aires, whatever hotel it is that you stay in
August 2nd, 2007 at 8:33 pm
I would argue the Four Seasons is not noteworthy. It is an old Hyatt and the main lobby and the rooms in the tower look like it. This is probably the worst 4seasons I have stayed in. The Mansion part is charming but difficult to get rooms in. Ceasar Park is in a good location but also not special. If you want a special high end experience stay at the Alvear otherwise there are a ton of cute boutiques in Palermo Viejo/Hollywood.
December 28th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Hi Alan,
Enjoyed your reading. I was in BA long time ago - to be exact, 1980 was the year. Now, I am planning a trip with family(2 adults and 2 children age 5 and 3) for a South America and visit BA on March 16 to March 19. Do you recommend hotel or apt around Recoleta area? Due to traveling with young children, apt is always preferable, budget is around $100 USD.
Also, do you provide aiport transfer and guided tour.
Cheers,
Jerry
March 10th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Alan:
After having stayed at the Four Seasons, I have to disagree with the comment earlier. I stayed there back in the 90s when it was the Park Hyatt. It was nice then and it was nice now. I have had the Sunday brunch there a few times and would recommend it too.
However, the brunch and tea at the new Park Hyatt on Posadas is the best food and service in town. I haven’t had better service anywhere on the planet.
I do agree with the earlier post about the Caesar Park. It was nothing special and despite racking up over a week hotel stay, they treated my family less than special. Service in the restaurants is worse than service at any regular restaurant in town –no where near the international standards of a hotel of this caliber.
Please consider dropping Caesar Park from you list and replacing it with the Park Hyatt. I haven’t stayed there but everyone agrees… It is THE place to say in BA now.