Sightseeing - The Centre

Plaza de Mayo

BA's central square, the Plaza de Mayo, first laid out in 1580s, is still the city's focal point and a logical starting point for an exploration of the places, people and events that created it.
At the plaza's center is the Piramide de Mayo, an obelisk raised in 1811 to mark the anniversary of the May revolution.

• Catedral Metropolitana. Av. Rivadavia y San Martin (4311 2845). Open: 8am 7pm Mon-Fri. 9am-7.30pm Sat.Sun. Admission: Free
• Museo de la Casa Rosada. Hipólito Yrigoyen 219, between Balcarce and Paseo Colón (4344 3802). Open: 10am-6pm Mon-Fri. 2pm-6pm Sun. Admission: Free.

Avenida de Mayo

Opened in 1894. Despite some decay, fine European style buildings with exquisite architectural details abound. Heading west from Plaza de Mayo, the first highlight is the Gallic La Prensa newspaper building, from 1896, crowned by a Pallas Athena statue and now the city's government Casa de la Cultura. On the corner of Santiago del Estero is the Hotel Chile, with it's fine examples of Art Noveau detailings. Another stunning building marks the avenue's west end. With its two slender domes the Edificio de la Inmobiliaria, built in 1910 for an insurance company, is an eclectic celebration of several styles.

• Casa de la Cultura. Avenida de Mayo 575, between Perú and Bolivar streets. (4323 9669) Open: Feb-Dec 8am-8pm Mon-Fri; by tour Sat,Sun. Closed: Jan. Admission: Free.
• Palacio Barolo. Avenida de Mayo 1370, between San José y Santiago del Estero.

Congreso & Tribunales

Plaza del Congreso is the popular name for the three squares filling the three blocks of the Palacio del Congreso. The western section of the plaza is dominated by the Monumento a los Dos Congresos, built in memory of the first constitutional assembly held in 1813 and the Declaration of Independence three years later in Tucumán. The monuments centrepiece is the statue of the republic, propped up by a plough and waving a laurel branch.

To visit the rest of civic Buenos Aires a good starting point is Diagonal Norte, running north-west from Plaza de Mayo. The avenue is a masterpiece of urban harmony: every building is ten storeys tall with a second-floor balcony.

Diagonal Norte links the Plaza de Mayo with the barrio of Tribunales, where the law courts are sorrounded by solocitor's offices, law firms and kiosks selling legal pamphlets. At the end of 2003 the block between Cerrito and Libertad was pedestrianised. The avenue's dead end is the Palacio de Justicia, seat of the Supreme Court and a popular venue for public protest. Stretching out in front as far as Avenida Cordoba is Plaza Lavalle, an attractive green spot rich in history and sprawling ceibo trees. Across the Plaza, and filling a whole block, is the famed Teatro Colón.

• Centro Cultural San Martín. 1551 Sarmiento St., between Montevideo and Paraná streets. (4374 1252) Open: From 8am daily. Admission: Free.
• Museo Nacional del Teatro. 1199 Cordoba Av, and Libertad St. (4816 7212) Open: 10am-5.30pm Mon-Fri. Admission: Free.
• El Obelisco. 9 de Julio Av. and Corrientes Av.
• Palacio del Congreso. 1849 Hipólito Yrigoyen St., between Entre Rios and Combate de los Pozos. (4370 7100) Closed: Jan. Admission: Free.
• Teatro Colón. Cerrito St., between Tucumán St. and Viamonte St. (box office 4378 7344/tours 4378 7132)

Microcentro

It's every claustrophobe's sweat-soaked nightmare; weekdays during business hours the whole downtown district is a maelstrom of porteños shopping, working, running, shouting, flouting traffic laws and generally fulfilling their big-city stereotype. For sightseeing purposes (and there's plenty to see) try to visit the area at the weekend.

The motherlode of the mayhem is Florida street, the only completely pedestrian street in Buenos Aires. It was once an elegant thoroughfare but has now gone the way of most of the world's elegant thoroughfares and became unashamedly commercial. however, amid the human statues, money changers and leather hawkers, you can still find traces of its refined past. Lavalle (for pedestrians only between San Martin and Carlos Pellegrini) on the other hand, makes Florida look chic and classy.

Close by is Avenida Corrientes. Up until the 1970s it had a coffee-drinking, literature-loving nocturnal scene, where bohos would meet to plot revolutions and -more reallistically- from rock bands. It's still BA's main theatre strip.

• Museo Histórico y Numismatico del Banco de la Nación Argentina. First floor, 326 Bartolome Mitre St., between 25 de Mayo and Reconquista streets. (4347 6277). Open 10am-3pm. Mon-Fri. Admission: Free.
• Museo Mitre. 326 San Martin St., between Corrientes and Sarmiento. (4394 7659). Open:1pm-6pm, Mon-Fri. Admission: $1.

Retiro

Retiro's main attraction is its open space, the well shaded green swath that is the lovely Plaza San Martín. This natural bluff stretches down to three railway terminals, beyond which lies a jumble of official buildings and the dock's where named after San José de San Martín, Agentina's revered liberator. According to protocol all visiting dignataries must lay a wreath at the Monumento al Libertador General San Martín, the city's most important monument. It's a marble and and bronze equestrian sculpture created in 1862 by the Frenchman Louis Daumas.

Several impressive buildings surround the Plaza. To the south-west is the gargantuan Palacio Paz, the largest private residence in the country and once home to Jose C. Paz, founded of the once important La Prensa newspaper.

At the edge of the Plaza, the Palacio San Martín (761, Arenales St) was built between 1909 and 1912 for Argentina's answer to the Rockefeller's, the Anchorena family. It opens for guided tours most Thursdays and Fridays.

On the opposite side of the Plaza is the Basilica del Santísimo Sacramento at San Martin 1039, the french exterior hiding an inner sanctum decorated with flemish and Italian handiwork. The Edificio Kavanagh next door also points heavenwards -at 120 metres (349 feet) this art deco landmark was South America's tallest building when it was inaugurated in 1935.

At the very foot of the plaza is an obsidian marble cenotaph dedicated to those who died in the 1982 Malvinas war. An eternal flame burns in their memory.

• Museo de Armas de la Nación. 750 Santa Fé Av., between Maipú and Esmeralda (4311 1071) Open: 2pm-7pm Mon-Fri. Closed: Jan-Feb. Admission: $3.
• Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernandez Blanco. Suipacha 1422, between Arroyo St. and Libertador Av. (4327-0228) Open: 2pm-7pm. Tue-Sun. Admission: $3 (free on Thursday's)
• Torre Monumental. Plaza Fuerza Aerea Argentina, opposite Retiro train station. (4311 0187) Open: noon-7pm Thur-Sun.