The most glamorous metropolis in South America, Buenos Aires wins over visitors with its wealth of galleries, museums and restaurants, along with the stunning fin de siecle architecture that earned the city its nickname, the Paris of South America.
Few places can rival the passion and drama of Argentina's capital, a city that gave the world tango, immortalized Eva Peron, and whose history has seen more ups and downs than Mickey Rourke's film career.
There is no need to feel down about Buenos Aires, and certainly no need to cry for it.
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Instead, embrace the bold, modern beauty of this fast-moving city with this guide to the best of Buenos Aires.
Hotels
Luxury
Park Hyatt Buenos Aires
Set in a converted 1934 mansion, the Park Hyatt has a real sense of flow.
Its marble corridors run like streams, lavish chandeliers seem to trickle down from the ceilings, and one elegantly chic space after another opens up to welcome guests.
That feeling of calm, rather than mere luxury, deepens in the Hyatt's private garden, which cascades down from the mansion in terraces, and in the first-rate spa, where treatments draw on techniques borrowed from the indigenous cultures of Patagonia.
Faena Hotel + Universe
If Che Guevara ever stood for anything, it was surely the chandeliers in the rooms.
Built for touring rock stars, the ultra-hip Faena occupies a converted 1902 dockside building in the exclusive Dique Madero Este area.
Philippe Starck's design keeps the sprawling red-brick shell of the landmark building and sets it against a sumptuous interior that glimmers with bold colors and furniture of crystal and glass.
The amenities are pure rock-star.
They include a gourmet restaurant done entirely in white, with unicorn heads on the walls, and a blood-red Cabaret that stages avant-garde tango shows.
Mid-range
L'Hotel Palermo
A recent hot arrival on the BA hotel scene, L'Hotel Palermo opened in the fashionable Soho district in late 2011.
Its boutique design is inspired by vintage Parisian hotels and features small, contemporary suites, each uniquely decorated with restored furniture.
Four suites open onto lacy iron balconies overlooking the hotel's main draw: an enclosed garden with a heated pool, framed by exotic trees.
Budget
Abode Buenos Aires
This family-run guesthouse in the Soho district is a pink corner building where its expat owners live in residence.
Inside are four rooms, each with a private bathroom.
The Green Room, with its solid-oak double bed, parquet floor and open fireplace, is the pick of a lovely collection.
A Spanish rooftop terrace tops off the amenities, and it is here that the barbecues, tango lessons and wine tastings take place.
A generous cooked breakfast and an honesty bar round out the pleasant budget experience.
Restaurants
Unik
Avant-garde design and Michelin-starred cuisine come together in a tango at Unik.
It is the brainchild of owner and French-Argentine architect Marcelo Joulia, who has filled his restaurant with pieces from his private collection of rare 1960s and 1970s design.
That means lucky guests can plant themselves in vintage chairs and dine beneath polychrome, steel modernist lighting; a different designer lamp hangs above every table.
It is dazzlingly retro, and it contrasts with the modern Argentine cuisine, presented in a guest menu from the country's only Michelin-starred chef, Mauro Colagreco, who was born in Argentina to an Italian-Spanish family and now works in France.
Don Julio
Don Julio is a family-run steakhouse whose lush appeal comes down to serving two simple but sublime staples: tender steaks and fantastic wines.
There is romance here too.
This lovely restaurant sits on the corner of a cobblestone street in the Soho district and has a rustic, refined interior with bare brick walls and wooden tables arranged around a sizzling open grill.
Order the signature skirt steak and pair it with a red Argentine Malbec, chosen from Don Julio's temperature-controlled cellar.
Cocina Sunae
Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Asian-American chef Sunae wows guests with evenings of spicy Southeast Asian cooking at her flagship closed-door restaurant.
The venue for this dinner is Sunae's own home in Buenos Aires.
There, in a sleek, chic space, she treats guests to a four-course menu that showcases the best of Southeast Asian cuisine, such as a spicy Thai soup followed by Vietnamese fried pork marinated with lemongrass.
Each beautifully presented dish is steeped in the rich flavors and aromas of Sunae's childhood.
El Cuartito
As big as this place is, it is still mostly packed with locals.
Run by the same family of Italian immigrants since it opened in 1934, El Cuartito is a bustling, popular pizzeria right in the heart of this fast-moving metropolis.
It serves the best pizza in Buenos Aires.
Baked in clay ovens, it comes out thin and crispy, and it is carried to the tables by chatty waiters.
The decor is as simple and pleasant as the food: fluorescent lighting, Formica tables and retro sports posters.
Astrid & Gaston
Peruvian cuisine is all the rage in BA, and Astrid & Gaston is its leading light.
Drawing on the bright, fresh ocean flavors of the Peruvian coast and the spices of its altiplano, this Latin American powerhouse creates dishes that go far beyond ceviche.
The restaurant occupies a restored mansion, with dining spaces spread across three floors connected by spiral staircases.
The plush front salon, where guests dine beneath portraits of bewigged viceroys, is magnificent.
Nightlife
Isabel
Buenos Aires's most stylish cocktail bar, Isabel, is modeled on the now-defunct New York club Studio 54.
It sparkles with 1970s glamour. There are mirrored walls, oyster-shaped dining booths and retro spotlights that flicker on and off like HAL from "2001: A Space Odyssey."
Behind the bar, lightning-fast mixologists whip up vintage cocktails such as the Cosmopolitan and the Singapore Sling.
Young, beautiful patrons pair their drink orders with sushi and caviar, served on elegantly tiered trays.
Boris Club
A live-music venue, Boris Club hosts Argentine and international jazz performers in a purpose-built space with industrial-chic decor and flawless acoustics.
The shows travel through time across the jazz spectrum, with evenings of Latin jams, jazz-tango fusion and swing from the popular house band, the Boris Big Band.
Enthusiasts hang out on the cool mezzanine or in one of the seats hugging the stage.
Food and wine are brought to you by a bustling waiter.
Milion
Perhaps the most romantic place to drink in Buenos Aires, Milion is a converted three-story mansion in Recoleta dating from the Belle Epoque.
Its design includes art nouveau glass ceilings, a spiral marble staircase, classical columns, terraces and, most memorably, an exquisite garden that is perfect for sunset cocktails or wine under the moon.
Despite the grand elegance and glamorous clientele in one of BA's wealthiest neighborhoods, prices here are quite reasonable, including a happy hour that runs until 9 p.m.
The menu is excellent too.
Prado y Neptuno
This boutique cigar bar in Recoleta draws refined patrons with rolled tobaccos, premium wines and imported spirits.
Guests can arrange private tastings in which the sommelier pairs Cuban cigars with Argentine wines, cocktails and spirits.
A cigar-and-wine tasting is the most notable Argentine-Cuban pairing since Che and Fidel: a passionate Latin union that blends the creamy, fruity aromas of Argentine Chardonnays with the smoky, fiery notes of Cuban tobacco.
Prado y Neptuno, Ayacucho 2134; +54 11 4802 9872
Shopping
Elementos Argentinos
Since 2005, this stylish design store in Palermo has run fair-trade partnerships with indigenous communities from eight northern Argentine provinces, using millennia-old weaving techniques to create contemporary woolen designs.
These include 100% handmade rugs, clothing and decorative items made from sheep's wool, llama wool and alpaca.
You can also unleash your inner Stella McCartney here. In the studio attached to the store, English-speaking staff use blackboards and computers to help customers create their own custom woolen pieces.
Elementos Argentinos, Gurruchaga 1881; +54 11 4832 6299
Autoria Bs As
Autoria Bs As brings together the creations of more than 300 leading Argentine designers and artists, forming a retail crossroads for both.
The offerings include contemporary art (Cecilia Ivanchevich's playful paintings of iconic Argentine beef cattle are worth a visit in their own right) as well as clothing, jewelry, books, decorative pieces and more from eco-conscious designers who emphasize reuse and sustainability.
Among them are Neumatica, whose sleek bags and accessories are made from recycled tire rubber, and Doris Vinas, who crafts jewelry from discarded zippers.
Agostina Bianchi
One of Argentina's hottest young fashion designers, Agostina Bianchi has already dressed the windows of London's Harrods department store with her limited-run clothing and accessories.
Now Bianchi has her own boutique in BA's Soho district.
Her ethical, handmade collections of women's wear blend delicate fabrics with sensual, tender designs, living up to her stated commitment to balance between form, function and femininity.
Agostina Bianchi, Thames 1733; +54 11 4833 9357
Sights
Casa Rosada (the Pink House)
The city's central square, Plaza de Mayo, also known as the Plaza de Protestas, has been the center of every celebration and revolution in Argentina's turbulent, up-and-down history.
The pink Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, dominates the square.
After 1945, Eva "Evita" Peron rallied the masses to revolution from its balcony, and Diego Maradona lifted the football World Cup there in 1986.
In 2001, furious Argentines tried to smash the grand portal of the Casa Rosada as the country collapsed under a mountain of international debt.
Cementerio de la Recoleta
Recoleta Cemetery is a walled necropolis of more than 6,400 tombs, its labyrinth of streets holding the burial places of Argentina's great and powerful.
Politicians, generals, artists, presidents and Eva Peron are laid to rest here in grand tombs of marble and bronze.
Evita's crypt, always adorned with flowers, is the cemetery's most visited tomb.
The final stop in a bizarre 24-year odyssey of her remains, which took in Italy, Spain and various points across Argentina, her last resting place lies at the heart of the cemetery.
Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA)
MALBA is home to one of the world's finest collections of Latin American art.
The outstanding Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires showcases the work of the region's greatest artists, including Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Fernando Botero.
It sits in an elegantly geometric building whose minimalist interior really lets the art shine: from the avant-garde of the 1910s to the kinetic art of the 1960s and the conceptual works of the modern era.
An excellent audio guide offers an overview of the museum's most iconic pieces.
Tango Tour
Buenos Aires is the undisputed tango capital of the world, offering countless chances to watch, learn and perform the "dance of dancers."
Where to watch tango
Cafe de los Angelitos
Show tango is more acrobatic than traditional tango and borrows elements from other dance forms.
This converted theater space hosts glamorous tango dinner shows.
Its dancers dazzle audiences with striking performances of Show tango, a theatrical take on the genre that features athletic leaps, high kicks and dramatic pirouettes.
Sensual tango performers, backed by an eight-piece orchestra, also take the stage in this Las Vegas-style show.
When it is not hosting some of the best live tango in Buenos Aires, this former home of the Bar Rivadavia, opened in 1890, is also a charming 24-hour cafe.
El Viejo Almacen
Arguably the most authentic tango experience in Buenos Aires.
El Viejo Almacen uses the cozy setting of a restored colonial house in San Telmo to host tango dinner shows that present both traditional and contemporary styles of the form.
Dancers and singers perform on a small wooden stage, backed by a four-piece orchestra.
Choose between the balcony tables or those right up against the stage, where the melodrama of tango intensifies just steps from the action.
Where to learn and dance tango
La Catedral
The atmospheric home of this fashionable milonga is a converted, unremarkable warehouse on an unremarkable street.
It hosts more unconventional daily tango lessons and dances aimed mainly at beginner and intermediate levels; advanced dancers should try the La Maria class on Wednesdays.
La Catedral draws a young, bohemian crowd.
Beneath the warehouse's vaulted ceiling, people dance the tango, hang out at the vegetarian bar or relax on the shabby-chic sofas surrounding the wooden dance floor.
La Confiteria Ideal
La Ideal is a regular filming location for tango movies.
A tango haven that opened in 1912, and seems not to have changed since, the Confiteria Ideal hosts lessons, dances and tango shows.
Lessons and dances take place daily, with both afternoon and evening programs.
Tango shows run on weekends amid the Corinthian columns and art nouveau glass ceilings of this venue, which the Buenos Aires authorities have officially added to the list of Bares Notables for its cultural importance to the city.
The show features Salon tango, a slower interpretation of the genre.
