City Information    Reguljär flyg -     Queensway Travel
Airport
Ezeiza International Airport is situated 20 miles from the city centre. Flight time from London is 12 hr. Domestic flights, and flights to Uruguay, are handled by the Jorge Newbery Airport, 3 miles from downtown. Both airports have duty-free shops  as well as banking, catering and car hire facilities. 
Airport to City Centre
Taxis wait outside the teminal exit and charge $30 for the 40-min journey into downtown Buenos Aires; however, it is safer to take either the authorised airport limousine or a bus or limo from a private operator than the black and yellow city taxis. The $49 airport limo fare is payable at the desk in the terminal.For the return journey, Manuel Tienda León shuttle buses leave for both airports from Santa Fe 790 in front of Plaza San Martín every half hour 0500-2030; San Martín Bus services depart from Santa Fe 1162 hourly 0515-2015. 
Orientation
The city of Buenos Aires, enclosed by the River Plate, forms the centre of the sprawling Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, one of the largest urban areas in the world. The downtown area is bounded to the east by the recycled docklands ofPuerto Madero, to the south by Avenida de Mayo, and to the west by the huge Nueve de Julio, which intersects with Avenida Libertador in the north. Most are organised on a grid pattern. East-west numbering starts dockside, and north-south numbering at Avenida Rivadavia. 
The downtown banking and commercial centre lies just off the river. The major hotel areas are located around Plaza San Martín, Plaza de Mayo and the Obelisk downtown, and in the Recoleta neighbourhood immediately to the north, where everything chic and cultural can be found. Avenida Corrientes, the traditional cinema, restaurant, bookshop and nightlife street, has gone to seed but is still worth a visit to pick up local colour. The 19c warehouses of the port have been renovated and turned into Puerto Madero, a docklands real estate development project comprising pricey restaurants, trendy nightspots, office blocks and a university campus. South-east of Puerto Madero is the calm of the Reserva Ecológica or ‘Parque Natural Costanera Sur’ nature reserve, a birdwatcher’s delight within view of the banking district. South of Plaza de Mayo and west of the Reserva is San Telmo, one of the oldest barrios of the city, famed for its cafés, antique shops, tango nightspots and a Sunday flea market on Plaza Dorrego. Further south still is the rundown but picturesque old port district of La Boca. 
Excursions    - Restresa -      Queensway Travel
Many travel agencies offer días de campo for $70-$80, most of them at the same two or three tourist ranches. Those who prefer a quiet, elegant rural setting without a crowd should try a weekend at Villa María, a spectacular 1890 Tudor-style mansion on a big ranch (estancia) near Marcos Paz, 31 miles from Buenos Aires. Polo players and enthusiasts might prefer the La Martina polo ranch in Vicente Casares, 34 miles from Buenos Aires. 
However, for the most authentic gaucho tradition you’ll have to head off 70 miles to San Antonio de Areco, where recommended estancias are La Bamba, an 1832 Spanish-style colonial country mansion, 19c Italian-style El Ombú, particulalry good for horse riding, and neo-colonial Los Patricios. Train buffs will love the day excursion (0900-1930) to the country town of Capilla del Señor aboard the turn-of-the-century Historic Steam Train tour. Cost is $30 including lunch at a farm. 
If you only have a couple of days, visit one of the ranches mentioned in Outings, or go to the Iguazú Falls, staying at the Sheraton Hotel facing the falls themselves in Iguazú National Park. For a week or more, head off to Bariloche at the foot of the northern Patagonian Andes, where the wide variety of recreational options includes the Pampa Linda hiking, mountain climbing and trail riding centre at the foot of Mount Tronador and don’t miss taking the Lakes Crossing bus-and-ferry excursion to Chile. Stop off at the Petrohué adventure centre on All Saints’ Lake or Puerto Varas on Lake Llanquihe to see Puerto Montt before returning to Argentina by land via Osorno and Villa La Angostura, or directly flying home via Santiago de Chile.
Getting Around
Never hail a cab outside a bank or an expensive hotel. Most drivers are honest, but it’s best all the same to book a limo through your hotel, or call Pídalo for a radio taxi. Taxis can be hailed anywhere. Fares start at $1.12, rising by 14c every 200m. Travel with plenty of small notes and coins to avoid being short-changed. An uncrowded bus can be safer than some cabs, though beware of pickpockets on crowded buses during rush hours. Tickets cost about 70 centavos from coin-operated machines on the bus. Have coins to hand because the driver won’t change banknotes. The Retiro bus terminal is for long-distance passenger transport only. 
Five underground lines, labelled A to E, traverse the city, with the gaps in between serviced by more than 100 bus routes. Amongst others, they link the Retiro bus and train terminals with those of Constitución (C); and the Plaza de Mayo-Nueve de Julio area with the outlying districts of Palermo/Belgrano (D), Chacarita (B), and Flores (A and E). Line C accesses all lines. Tokens must be bought at the station before boarding, and the 50c fare is valid for all lines. 
When walking in crowded areas, beware of the ‘mustard act’ – somebody profusely apologises for dirtying your jacket on one side while an accomplice robs you from the other. 
What to see
For a day-to-day run-down on what’s doing in the city, see the Buenos Aires Herald’s Get Out! section on Fridays, or try phoning the Dirección de Turismo Municipal on 4372 3612, ext 287 for help in English, Mon-Fri 0900-1700. The Herald also sells an English language Museums and Arts Guide. 
If you’re pressed for time, there are several good city tours to give you an idea of all there is to see in the city. Buenos Aires Tur offers standard half-day tours; Historical Tours offers a more individualised, cultural experience to museums and sites such as Eva Peron’s tomb, with guides who are historians. The Isaac Fernández Blanco Museum of Spanish-American Art: In the Retiro residential district, the museum is reputed to house 
the most important colonial silverwork collection in South America, and is worth visiting for the neo-colonial Peruvian-style mansion alone.

Puerto Madero: Yachters and maritime history buffs have two historic sailing ships to explore in this docklands development: the Fragata Presidente Sarmiento, the 100-year-old former Argentine flagship and naval training ship moored at Alicia Moreau de Justo and Cangallo – Dique 3. 
The Ambrosetti Museum: Specialist museum dealing with archaeology, anthropolgy and ethnography. 

Reserva Ecológica: A haven for more than 200 bird species and vegetation from several upriver ecosystems in 770 acres of nature reserve, oddly within sight of the financial district. Join a group on one of the free daily guided tours.
Several of Buenos Aires’ squares and promenades are occupied by crafts fairs on Sundays. The most famous is the Feria de San Telmo, a rich mix of antique shops, curio stalls and tango dancing and other street shows that occupies Plaza Dorrego and Defensa St from San Juan to Carlos Calvo, 1000-1900. 

Further away but just as interesting is the Feria de Mataderos, where the countryside comes to town to show its wares and gaucho horsemanship at an authentic suburban community fair featuring folk dancing, country cooking and handicraft in the streets around an old tree-shaded square beside the city’s cattle yards in the Mataderos district. The ring race, in which gauchos try to unhook a tiny suspended ring at a full gallop, starts at 2pm. Open Apr-Dec Sun 1100-1900 at Lisandro de la Torre and Avenida de los Corrales. Don’t miss the Criollo Museum of gaucho lore facing the square.

Shopping      - Sista minuten resor -            Queensway Travel
In Argentina, clothing and footwear are pricey and sizes are small. The best shops are in the Recoleta district (including the Patio Bullrich mall in front of the Caesar Park Hotel), and the downtown Galerías Pacífico mall with entrances on Florida, Córdoba, San Martín and Viamonte streets. 

Some of the established leather goods stores that cater to tourists whip up tailor-made clothes in 24 hr or less at no extra charge, and Dalla Fontana will also make your model of jacket and even takes mail orders from regular clients. Traditional Casa Lopez’ smartly designed clothing and ladies handbags are mostly made with imported leathers and cost quite a bit more. The polo crowd bolts to the La Martina saddlery and clothing store. 

Kelly’s continues to be the best South American folk handicraft emporium in town, offering good alpaca wool sweaters for adults and children. Other economical gifts are Wichi Indian bird carvings and replicas of pre-Columbian Mochica Indian pottery from Peru. 

Where to walk
Start off in Calle Defensa with a look around Government House, the French classicist cathedral, and the colonial-style Cabildo in Plaza de Mayo. Head off south along Defensa St, the city’s oldest thoroughfare, until you reach the intersection with Belgrano Ave, where the sarcophagus of War of Independence hero General Manuel Belgrano occupies the front courtyard of the 18c Santo Domingo Church. The church’s belfry is peppered with grapeshot – a souvenir of the ire of incensed local patriots who opened fire to dislodge the English troops who had run up the Union Jack after taking over the church during their second invasion in 1807. This and other period flags are displayed inside the church. 

Detouring a block to your right, continue south along Bolívar St and ring the doorbell in the passageway of the Martina Cespedes art gallery at no 660. Owned by English-speaking German marchand Dolores Jaenecke, the gallery has distinctly Argentine work of all schools. 

Returning to Defensa St and continuing south, look out for San Lorenzo Alley to your left. At no 380 is the ‘casa mínima’, the narrowest house in town (8ft wide), built by a freed slave 200 years ago. 

Past the junction with Independencia Ave, Defensa is choc-a-bloc with antique shops. Of particular interest are the Casa de Esteban de Luca, a pleasant café/restaurant occupying the 19c San Telmo public market; the tree-shaded Plaza Dorrego, epicentre of the Sunday flea market, and to the left of Defensa, at Humberto Primo 340, the early 19c Church of Our Lady of Bethlehem. 

The Museum of Modern Art is just to your left on San Juan Ave and, on either side of Parque Lezama three blocks further on, the Russian Orthodox church with its blue onion-shaped cupolas and the Museum of National History. 

On Brasil St, take a taxi or a 62 bus back to the downtown area, or have lunch in one of the restaurants in the neighbourhood 
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Weather and Climate

Life in Buenos Aires is sticky, with humidity levels well over 70% during the Dec-Mar hot season (average 25ºC+) and mild during the May-Aug cold season (13ºC). Rain is heaviest in spring and autumn, though increasingly of late at any time of the year. 

Unchecked pollution from motor vehicles reaches internationally unacceptable levels several days a week in downtown areas. 

Fears of globalisation and concomitant job losses through worldwide recession are rife, and in the past few years a rising crime rate has instilled fear for personal safety. However, it’s hard to see your way through the tabloid frenzy whipped up by the media, who command more trust and respect than the judiciary and Congress. 

Soccer, in particular the World Cup and the local Boca-River matches, is the only unifying aspect in society. The fact that Boca has managed to win many matches under a new coach after years in the doldrums is one to bone up on, particularly as Boca’s president is a well-known big businessman. 

At a glance
A Favaloro Foundation study shows that dancing tango is an effective cardio-vascular exercise, with oxygen consumption similar to cycling and swimming. 

Argentina has more 10-goal polo players than any other country in the world. 

Thinness, fitness and personal appearance are obsessions that make Argentina one of the world’s plastic surgery capitals. 

Buenos Aires is the ninth largest city in the world and the third most expensive. Nevertheless, tourism is booming. Since 1991 the number of tourists visiting Buenos Aires has been increasing at a rate of 8% per year, prompting a rash of designer stores and seven leading international hotel chains to buy, sell or take over franchises.