Home Walking tours by city Buenos Aires
Self-Guided Walking Tours in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires was built by immigrants who wanted it to look like Paris, and largely succeeded — the wide boulevards, the mansard roofs and the plane trees are all deliberate imports.
The barrios are genuinely distinct and quite far apart, so a route here is about choosing two rather than attempting six. Recoleta and Palermo are the European city; San Telmo and La Boca are the port city that came before it. The gap between them, socially and architecturally, is the thing worth walking.
Takes about a minute. Buenos Aires is already filled in — choose your time, pace and interests and the route is planned around them.
What to build a Buenos Aires walking tour around
Recoleta Cemetery
A city of mausoleums on some of the most expensive land in Argentina, with Eva Perón in a family vault reached by a narrow lane.
Teatro Colón
Among the best acoustics of any opera house in the world, opened 1908 after twenty years of construction and three architects, two of whom died.
San Telmo
The oldest barrio, cobbled, with a Sunday antiques market along Defensa that runs for a mile.
La Boca and Caminito
Painted corrugated houses in the old Italian port, coloured with leftover ship paint. Stay on the tourist streets; the surrounding area is not one to wander.
El Ateneo Grand Splendid
A 1919 theatre turned bookshop, with the boxes intact and a café on the stage. Regularly named the most beautiful bookshop in the world.
Palermo's parks
The Bosques de Palermo — rose garden, Japanese garden and lakes — plus Palermo Soho's low streets and street art.
Three routes worth walking in Buenos Aires
Recoleta and the French quarter
The cemetery, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, the Floralis Genérica sculpture and the mansions along Avenida Alvear.
San Telmo and the historic centre
Plaza de Mayo, the Casa Rosada, Avenida de Mayo's art nouveau, and down Defensa into San Telmo's market.
Palermo Soho and the parks
The street art and low houses of Palermo Soho, then the rose garden and lakes of the Bosques.
Practical notes for walking Buenos Aires
- Terrain and surfaces
- Flat throughout. Pavements are uneven and broken in places, and crossings can be hectic — traffic here does not defer to pedestrians.
- Best time to walk
- September to November and March to May — the southern hemisphere's spring and autumn. January and February are hot and much of the city is on holiday.
- Driving here
- Traffic is aggressive and parking is scarce. Driving is better used for the Tigre delta or the estancias out on the pampas.
- Size
- Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina — population about 3.1 million.
Neighbourhoods worth a route of their own
Not just walking
The same route planner covers Buenos Aires on foot, at a run, by bike, by car and with wheelchair-accessible routing that avoids steps and kerbs rather than simply relabelling the walking route. Pick the way you are getting around and the stops, distances and timings are planned for it.
Start one now for Buenos Aires: driving tour · wheelchair-accessible route · cycling tour
Or read more: self-guided driving tours · accessible tours · audio tours
Questions about walking Buenos Aires
How far apart are Buenos Aires neighbourhoods?
Further than they look. Recoleta to San Telmo is about 4 km, and Palermo to La Boca closer to 9 km. Two barrios per day on foot, connected by the Subte or a taxi, is a realistic plan.
Is La Boca worth visiting?
Caminito and the two or three streets around it, yes, in daylight. The surrounding neighbourhood is not somewhere to wander without local knowledge, and that boundary is quite abrupt.
What is a self-guided walking tour?
A route you walk on your own schedule, with the commentary delivered to your phone instead of by a guide. There is no meeting point and no group — you start when you want, stop as long as you like at anything that interests you, and skip anything that does not.
How is this different from a guided walking tour?
A guided tour runs to someone else's schedule and someone else's route, and it covers what the guide covers. This builds the route around the time you actually have, the pace you want to walk at and the things you said you were interested in — and it will wait as long as you like at any stop.
Can I do a driving tour instead of walking?
Yes. Walking, running, cycling, driving and wheelchair-accessible routing are all supported, and each uses routing built for that mode — a driving tour follows roads and sensible parking, a walking tour uses paths and crossings.
Other cities
- Self-guided walking tours in Istanbul
- Self-guided walking tours in Tokyo
- Self-guided walking tours in Mexico City
- All 43 city guides
A 24-hour pass is $6.95 and covers unlimited tours. Joining someone else’s tour is free.