Plaza Dorrego
Plaza Dorrego (Corner of Defensa and Humberto Primo), San Telmo
Buenos Aires ‘Must Do’
Spending a Sunday in and around Plaza Dorrego is one of the few things that ranks as a ‘must do’ sightseeing attraction for visitors to Buenos Aires. On the seventh day of the week, when the rest of the city is resting, the city closes much of neighboring Defensa street to traffic, and this part of San Telmo explodes into a mass of around 8,000 people, locals and tourists alike. They come to peruse antiques and knickknacks, watch the outdoor tango dancing and other performers, sit for a coffee or beer outside a classic old cafe, or just aimlessly wander around the interesting chaos. This, more or less, is the Plaza Dorrego Sunday market, also known as the “Feria de San Pedro Telmo”.
Some San Telmo History
Plaza Dorrego is one of the oldest public spaces in the city, dating back to the 18th century, when it was an area reserved for the wagons that brought in produce to Buenos Aires from all over the country. Just before the turn of the 19th century it was turned into a public square. The coffee shops and bars surrounding the Plaza only sprung up in the 1930s, when it became an area for wine, song and dance, as it remains today. Bar Plaza Dorrego is the most famous of these establishments, with its lovely old wooden fixtures and counter, although the former has been etched with graffiti over the years – but then many would say this adds to its charm.
Plaza Dorrego Sunday Market / Feria de San Telmo
The market started in 1970, and it is still going strong with more than 270 stands offering antiques, phonographs, period clothes, jewelery, old books, crafts items and other knickknacks. It is open on Sundays from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. While this fair is going on, Argentine tango and folklore singers and dancers, and other performers, put on outdoor shows throughout the day.
If you have no more than a casual interest in tango, then Plaza Dorrego on a Sunday is an excellent time and place to enjoy an introductory sampling of the dance, if you don’t want to go full out and pay 250 pesos plus for a full Tango dinner-show in Buenos Aires. Also, at around 5pm, when the stalls begin to pack up, free impromptu outdoor Tango lessons are often given in Plaza Dorrego, which can be quite good fun if you are not ashamed of making a fool of yourself in public! 
If you don’t want to get that involved, it is nice just to sit outside of one of the bars that surround the Plaza and take in the performances from there, while partaking of your favorite liquid refreshment.
Antiques Fair
Initially the outdoor market was antiques only. These days, to cater for visitors, all kinds of other knickknacks and local crafts are available in addition to the more expensive antiques. But despite this small change in the outdoor market away from tradition, this area of San Telmo still remains very much the antiques quarter of Buenos Aires.
San Telmo Indoor Market
Keeping up the antiques theme, nearby to Plaza Dorrego, surrounded by the streets Bolívar, Carlos Calvo, Defensa, and Estados Unidos, is the San Telmo Indoor Market, a massive iron structure built back in 1897, which fills the whole block. Back then it was a produce market, but when the outdoor fair started in 1970, it soon shifted to antiques, and these days it is just as interesting to wonder around as the outdoor version. It is also quite funny to see a few of the food produce stalls holding on to their past heritage, side by side with the antiques. Some of the smells are not what you would usually expect when looking at such valuable old pieces!
Defensa and Chile Streets
The nearby streets of Defensa and Chile are also full of antique shops, most of which contain items far out of the normal tourist’s price range. However, they still make for a nice spot of window shopping, looking through the Argentine and European period pictures, 18th and 19th century furniture, jewelry, colonial silver and classic toys. In fact, this area of San Telmo is now considered one of the most important antiques centers in the whole of Latin America. And yet strangely, most of the place area seems to have an obsession with plain old soda siphons, although I have to admit they can look very pretty too…
…and maybe, like me, these will be the only real antiques you can afford to buy here! Although whether or not you do buy anything, you are still sure to have a great time in and around Plaza Dorrego on a Sunday – a true ‘Buenos Aires experience’.
Buenos Aires Travel Guide Special Tip
Start the day in Plaza de Mayo and walk up old, cobbled Defensa street to reach Plaza Dorrego. Really, the outdoor market starts here, with this road closed off to traffic especially, and there will be lots of things to see along the way as you join the crowds diverging on this crazy outdoor market.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
I bought a couple of things in Dorrego,including a soda siphon!just like your photo..
can you tell me where in Buenos Aires is the best place to buy fashionable cheap clothes??
thanks a lot.
November 29th, 2006 at 2:36 am
Hi Nina.
Thanks for leaving me a comment. I love comments!
I think that in and around Plaza Serrano in Palermo Soho is an excellent place to look for the type of clothes you describe, especially on weekends when they have an afternoon/early evening clothes market.
I will be writing a blog post about this fairly soon, so please keep checking back for updates, or subscribe to my feed (see the very top right of the page).
December 9th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
Hi! I really enjoy these pictures of Plaza Dorrego. My family believes we may have Argentinian roots and dream of visiting one day. Thanks to your wonderful fotos, we must definitely hoist a cold one at Barra Dorrego. ciao!
December 10th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Hi there! Great site.. we’re visiting BA next week and are really excited.. one question I have for you.. where is the best place to buy the leather goods I’ve heard others rave about??
December 10th, 2006 at 11:55 am
Hi Doris! I hope you get to visit Argentina one day soon.
Thanks for the nice words
I believe Plaza Dorrego was named in honor of Manuel Dorrego, an Argentine soldier and one time governor of Buenos Aires. You can find a little bit more about him here…
http://famousamericans.net/manueldorrego/
Maybe an old relative? If he was, you could also visit his tomb in Recoleta cemetery, where he was laid to rest by Juan Manuel de Rosas after being executed by Juan Lavalle (both of those guys also have impressive tombs in the cemetery, so many people that fought and killed each other and they are so close in death!), here’s a picture of his mausoleum…
http://www.buenosairestravelrent.com/postcards_detail.asp?post=118&cat=1&subcat=15
And of course I’m all for hoisting a cold one at the bar of Bar Plaza Dorrego! Any excuse…
December 11th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Hello Rachel,
Thanks for the nice feedback about my website, always welcome!
As for leather, there are a few areas with different levels of quality/prices…
Most people probably go to the leather shops on Florida street, which are OK, and generally get a lot better in quality the closer you get to Plaza San Martin. The best shops here are around the corner of Florida and Marcelo T de Alvear, but they are also the priciest. Casa Lopez, in this area, is known to be a very high quality store here.
A little further afield are the bargain leather outlets and factories for a few blocks around the corner of Murillo and Scalabrini Ortiz. However, shop around and haggle here, because both quality and price vary greatly. You can get bus number 106 to this area if you are feeling adventurous, or failing that, take a taxi.
Then there is the style capital of Buenos Aires – Palermo Soho, in and around Plaza Serrano. Here you will find extremely fashionable designer jackets etc, but again, the prices match this!
If I were you, I would shop around these three areas, and see what is right for you in terms of price, quality and style. The absolute minimum you would pay for a good quality leather jacket, for example, is I believe around US$100, which I think is still a lot cheaper than it would be in the US, and of course made from the famous Argentine leather!
If you have any more questions, let me know. I hope you have an excellent time in Buenos Aires!
February 22nd, 2007 at 3:54 am
i’m visiting BA for my birthday and i want to know if anyone knows where i can get some dress shoes made????? i want to bring a picture of a shoe i want and have it made.
April 2nd, 2007 at 2:16 am
I used to fly down to BA (flight attendant) and buy leather goods made for me from stores on Florida. Can you supply any email addresses or URL’s of stores that would ship to USA and make wallets or bags to order? My old ones are dying and I want to replace them.
Thanks
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:41 am
Hey u there!
I’m Paula from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I wanted to say that I was surprised as I entered in this website, cause I love my country and I want other people to know its beauty.. and thanks to u, they can learn more about it (:
Hope that everyone who come to Argentina will enjoy it as I do!
Bye!
August 30th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Hello.
This is great pre-study site for travelers like me.
And you are a very kind host enough to answer all of the questions. Your answers are the way to understand BA.
I have plan to go on a cruise which is round trip of Buenos Aires to Antarctica on January, so could you tell me where the port is and which hotel is the nearest to the port .
And one more, is it possible to take look around BA for one day
Thank you very much.
October 10th, 2007 at 11:25 am
We will be visiting BA in April. We are music lovers, and would like to hear lots of music played by locals, especially of course tango music. Will we hear live tango music in San Telmo on Sunday, or is there a better place? We would prefer not to have to do the touristy tango house.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
I will be visiting Buenos Aires again November 24. Where is the best place to purchase a nice, quality, inexpensive leather jacket for a man? are there any factories or shops that are not in the tourist areas that may offer better prices?
are there any websites that I can visit?
September 9th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I am heading down to BA next month, looking for leather factories that can custom make handbags in quantities for my wholesale business. Any suggestions?
December 25th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Would like more than one place to go in Argentina for high end antiques…not soda bottles, etc..good stuff! Where else can I go in September and how are the prices compared to USA?
What is September like there….cold? IS everything open then?
February 26th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Our first full day in BA will be Easter Sunday. Will this market be open on the holiday ? I guess a good question would be” what IS open that day ?
Thanks , Toby
July 23rd, 2009 at 3:14 am
[...] Kitchen Flea Market, New York City 2. Plaza Dorrego, Buenos Aires, Argentina 3. Temple Street Night Market, Hong Kong, China 4. Patpong Night Market, Bangkok, Thailand [...]
August 13th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
My wife and I visited the San Telmo fair often. Now back in the U.S., I am looking to have a house sign custom made by one of the old style sign painters who exhibited there on Sundays.
Can you give me contact information for any who will take an order and ship to the U.S.?
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
[...] to know and love about BA markets than the average guide book or popular website tends to focus on. San Telmo’s Sunday Market (Defensa and Humberto Primo, Sundays 10am-7pm) in Plaza Dorrego for example, is advertised as the [...]