Author: Alan Seabright

From the top of Palacio Barolo, look west along Avenida de Mayo across Plaza del Congreso to the green dome of the Argentine National Congress. It is a striking change of perspective: buildings that feel several blocks apart at street level come together in one view.

Walking along the avenue shows you these buildings one at a time. From the viewpoint, you can see how they relate, and decide which places you want to explore more closely afterward.

A building inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy

Palacio Barolo stands at Avenida de Mayo 1370 in Monserrat. Italian architect Mario Palanti designed it for businessman Luigi Barolo, drawing on Dante’s Divine Comedy. Its sections evoke Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, with the lighthouse crowning the ascent. The building opened in 1923 and remains one of the avenue’s most distinctive landmarks.

The City of Buenos Aires tourism office describes the lighthouse view along Avenida de Mayo toward the National Congress. Seeing the civic axis from above is a different experience from admiring Barolo’s elaborate exterior at street level.

Can you visit the viewpoint?

Yes, but plan it as a separate guided visit. Palacio Barolo Tours operates visits to the building and its upper viewpoints. Check its current dates, language, tickets and access details before you go. Its visitor guidance notes that heavy rain or an electrical storm can prevent the final lighthouse ascent. The upper part of the route also involves narrow stairs, so check suitability with the operator if that may be difficult for anyone in your group.

Do not assume you can walk into the building and go up independently. A tour reservation and its exact meeting instructions are the reliable way to plan this part of your day.

Make sense of the scene below

After the viewpoint, walk west toward Plaza del Congreso and the National Congress to see the dome and monumental approach from ground level. Confitería del Molino is nearby and adds another chapter of early-20th-century architecture and public life. For the wider neighborhood, start with our Buenos Aires city center guide.

Our Buenos Aires walking tours help put the city in context at street level. Entry to Palacio Barolo and its lighthouse is a separate experience arranged with its own operator.

“Market” can mean three quite different outings in Buenos Aires. San Telmo gives you antiques and a busy Sunday street fair. Palermo Soho is better for art and crafts, with independent shops and cafés nearby. Mercado de Pulgas is where to browse old furniture and curious objects on most days except Monday. Pick the one that matches what you enjoy looking at. There is no need to collect all three.

San Telmo: make Sunday the day for the street fair

The San Telmo fair is the choice if you want a market to be part of a walk through a historic neighborhood. Plaza Dorrego is its antiques heart: look for old signs, records, household objects and pieces with a past. Along nearby streets, the mix broadens to art, crafts, clothing and other stalls. You might find something to take home, but browsing is reason enough to go.

It is also the busiest choice. If antiques matter most to you, make Plaza Dorrego your first stop rather than trying to work through every stall on Defensa. If crowds wear you out, step onto a side street for a break, or visit San Telmo on another day for a quieter look at the neighborhood.

There is one distinction worth knowing before you set off. The Sunday feria is outdoors; the Mercado de San Telmo is the covered market at Defensa and Carlos Calvo, with food and antiques under its old metal-and-glass roof. You can visit the covered market without the Sunday fair. Check current opening details if the indoor market is your main reason for going. Outdoor stalls and performances can vary with the weather, so avoid building a Sunday around one particular seller or act.

Our Full Day Essentials Tour includes San Telmo and the covered market. On Sundays, the route starts in San Telmo at 10 a.m. and then continues across the city. If your main aim is to hunt through fair stalls, go independently and give yourself as much time as you like. The tour makes more sense if you want to understand San Telmo as part of a guided first-day route through the city center and Recoleta.

Palermo Soho: art, crafts and time to wander

Plaza Serrano is the name many people still use for Plaza Julio Cortázar, at Honduras and Serrano. The fair in the plaza brings together artists selling their work. This is a different browse from San Telmo’s antiques: look at the art itself, then follow the streets around the plaza for design shops, clothing and places to stop for a drink. The city lists the fair on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 11 a.m.; check the current schedule if the stalls are the point of your trip.

Nearby Plaza Armenia’s fair adds handmade accessories, clothing, art and design on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. The two plazas are close enough to enjoy in one unhurried Palermo Soho outing. Compare what different makers are selling. If nothing takes your fancy, the surrounding streets still reward a wander.

The shops and pop-up spaces around Plaza Serrano change. Do not make a special trip for a particular bar-turned-shop or indoor market without checking that it still operates. Palermo’s appeal here is the combination of the plazas, independent shops and a meal or coffee when you are ready for one. If you have only one market day and prefer original art over antiques, this is the easier choice.

Mercado de Pulgas: go to Colegiales for the old stuff

If you prefer lamps, records, chairs and unusual objects to souvenir stalls, make time for Mercado de Pulgas. It is a large covered flea market at Álvarez Thomas and Dorrego in Colegiales, on the edge of Palermo Hollywood. Search for Colegiales when you map the journey; descriptions that call it simply Palermo Hollywood can send you to the wrong part of the neighborhood.

Some pieces are small enough to carry; others, including restored furniture, are better admired unless you are arranging shipping or furnishing a home here. Dealers and restorers work with furniture, lighting and decorative objects, so look closely and ask about a piece you like. Give yourself time to double back through the aisles. The thing you passed without noticing on the way in may be the one you want to inspect again.

City information lists the market Tuesday through Sunday, making it the most flexible choice if your weekend is already full. Published city pages disagree about the closing time, so check the market’s current information before a late visit. It pairs naturally with time around Colegiales or the Palermo Hollywood edge, but it is not a quick extra stop after walking through San Telmo.

Which would we choose? For a first Sunday with plenty of energy, San Telmo. For art and crafts alongside an afternoon in Palermo, Plaza Cortázar and Plaza Armenia. For a hunt through old objects on another day, Mercado de Pulgas. You do not need to buy anything to have a good outing at any of them.

Bar Sur is a beautiful, old cafe in San Telmo, but unfortunately can only currently be properly visited as part of a tango show. I managed to pop in on a Sunday afternoon and take a couple of pictures but unless you’re willing to fork out for the show, there’s no other way in.

Bar Sur: Estados Unidos 299
Colectivo: 152, 64, 29

This page is part of a series examining the Notable Bars of Buenos Aires.

Of all the Notable Bars, the hotel bar in the Alvear Palace was one that I was really looking forward to. Situated on swanky Avenida Alvear, the hotel has played host to such luminaries as Bill Clinton, Tom Cruise and Nelson Mandela and I was hoping that the bar would live up to its illustrious reputation.

I was not disappointed – the place is gorgeous. Situated just past the lobby, it is bedecked in shiny marble, chrome fittings and deep, dark wood. The bar itself sits in the middle of the far wall lined with a subtle display of glass and bottles.

We visited on a sunny Sunday afternoon and there were a number of other tables occupied, but it was by no means busy and the grandeur of the surroundings made for a very relaxing and tranquil experience.

Certainly not the cheapest place in town, but if you’re looking to impress or simply to relax in beautiful surroundings then the Alvear is well worth a visit.

Alvear Palace: Avenida Alvear 1891
Subte: Callao, Line D

This page is part of a series examining the Notable Bars of Buenos Aires.

Looks like I got here 3 years late for this one as it closed in 2010. Given the pictures you can see here, Buenos Aires has lost a true classic.

El Aragón: Av Juan Bautista Alberdi 4899
Colectivo: 180

This page is part of a series examining the Notable Bars of Buenos Aires.

The imaginatively named Bar Plaza Dorrego can be found sitting on the the edge of, you guessed it, Plaza Dorrego in the heart of San Telmo. It ticks all the Notable Bar boxes, with its dark wood tables, well-worn bar stocked with a wide selection of bottles that don’t look like they’ve been touched for years and the black and white tiled floor.

For all that however, there is something that just isn’t very welcoming about the Plaza Dorrego. I’ve been in there twice. The first time on a quiet April weekday afternoon and the waiters, despite the lack of other customers, were spectacularly surly, even by Buenos Aires standards. No interesting tidbits to be gained there.

The second time it was a rainy Sunday and the place was packed with tourists who had come for the market and were taking shelter. Again the service was perfunctory and cold and we were in and out in 10 minutes. It might look the part, but it’s in a touristy place and the atmosphere struggles to rise above tourist-trap status.

Bar Plaza Dorrego: Defensa 1096
Bus: 29

This page is part of a series examining the Notable Bars of Buenos Aires.

I had lunch in La Coruña once without realising it was a Notable Bar. It was certainly notable for its wooden refrigerators, clearly original furniture that had not had a proper clean in decades and the piles of greasy, carbohydrate-laden goodness that it served up. The place was run by one lady who served as waitress, bar staff and cashier and who called all of us “Mi Amor”.

I returned to La Coruña last week and my heart sank as I saw the shuttered windows. Bars generally don’t just close at 3:30 in the afternoon, there was probably a more serious reason. And it turns out there is. Owner Manuela Lopéz (who served us our milanesas with fork and spoon) has had enough after decades of service and has called time at the bar.

La Coruña: Bolivar 892
Bus: 29, 126, 115

This page is part of a series examining the Notable Bars of Buenos Aires.

Timing is key when visiting El Coleccionista. Turn up at pretty much any time of the week and you’ll find a pleasant but fairly unremarkable bar in Caballito. However, if you can make it on a Sunday morning then you’ll find it living up to its name. For those few hours El Coleccionista becomes a collectors market with gentlemen of a certain age poring through stamp albums and boxes full of old postcards.

The bar continues its functioning around the noise, the wheeling and dealing and then, come 1pm the crowd thins out, the boxes are taken home for another week and El Coleccionista returns to normal.

El Coleccionista: Av Rivadavia 4929
Subte: Line A, Acoyte

This page is part of a series examining the Notable Bars of Buenos Aires.

The Victoria is a nice bar, busy with a lunch crowd. The place is full of suits, no doubt taking a well-deserved break from running the country, given the Victoria’s location slap-bang opposite Argentina’s National Congress building.

The lunches look good, the waiters are attentive, the view from the window seats dominated by the imposing Parliament building, but overall I can’t find anything particularly notable about. The waiter tells me that the last renovation was 4 years ago but he didn’t know how long there has been a bar here and was not especially interested, he just wanted to know what I wanted to order.

Victoria: Av Entre Rios 114
Subte: Congreso, Line A

This page is part of a series examining the Notable Bars of Buenos Aires.