Many friends and readers often ask: how many days should I spend in Buenos Aires? Having lived in Argentina’s capital for years, I can say there’s always something new to discover. However, three days in Buenos Aires is usually enough to cover the city’s main highlights. Here are some tips on what to see and how to plan your stay to make the most of your visit.
Read also: where to stay in Buenos Aires (areas and neighborhoods)
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How many days in Buenos Aires?
Buenos Aires is a great place to begin or end your journey through Argentina. From my personal experience, I recommend staying for three days, although your timing may vary depending on when you arrive or depart. Fun fact: Buenos Aires is twice the size of Paris, so there’s always plenty to explore, no matter how long you stay!
How planning your stay?
There are three scenarios of how long should I spend in Buenos Aires:
- Buenos Aires is the start of your journey in Argentina and you will leave via Chile or Brasil.
- Argentina’s capital city is planned at the end of your trip.
- Buenos Aires will be the start and end of your trip.
Below I explain to you every option possible to plan the best trip possible.
1. Buenos Aires is the start of your trip
Most of the flights from the USA or Europe do arrive in the morning. This will give you a complete afternoon to discover the city. Keep yourself busy during the day. Otherwise, you will get tired in the afternoon because of the long flight you had before. Save time and travel in comfort to your hotel in Buenos Aires with my airport transfer service. Check it out here.
I can imagine that you will like to go to bed earlier. However, in Buenos Aires people go out for dinner after 9 p.m. (21h). Maybe that’s a bit too late for you. Therefore, I suggest going to Puerto Madero. Many restaurants will serve dinner from 6 p.m. (18h).
Day two and three you will have a complete day to explore other areas of the city. I listed some “things to do in Buenos Aires” and a “book the best tango show in Buenos Aires“. Sure, check it out.
A good idea is to go on a bike tour in Buenos Aires. You will discover the city in one day and it’s incredibly fun to ride a bike. Get here all the bike tour in Buenos Aires available.
Neighborhood Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires
2. Buenos Aires is at the end of your trip.
How many days in Buenos Aires you can enjoy depends on your time of arrival in the capital city. If it is in the morning we would recommend 2 nights in Buenos Aires. You will not have jetlag, so you can explore Buenos Aires right away.
I would recommend 3 nights in Buenos Aires if your flight arrives in the evening. This gives you 2 full days in Buenos Aires.
3. Buenos Aires is at the start and end of your trip.
Visiting two times, how great! But how many days in Buenos Aires will be good? Out of experience, we can suggest staying 2 nights in Buenos Aires at the start of your trip. This gives you time to get comfortable in the new time zone and start without jetlag on your trip to Argentina.
Welcome back for the second time in Buenos Aires. Here it depends also on your time of arrival in the city of Tango. Two nights if your flight arrives before midday and 3 nights if you arrive in the evening. Giving you the best possibilities to discover the city, enjoy a tango show, going out for dinner, hop on the bus, …
Hi – can you recommend some nice beach towns to visit outside of Buenos Aires please. Thank you.
Hi, the beach towns I recommend are Pinamar, Mar del Plata. But that is around 4 hours driving from Buenos Aires.
i enjoyed reading what Argentina has to offer someone on the vacation,,
Hop on Hop off bus. There are 2 but both lack detail and are totally confusing and difficult for tourists to find where to get on them. You can buy a ticket online, but some need to be validated at a location that is not the starting point. Is there somewhere that explains them, or are they not so useful?
Hi Max, thanks for your input. I recently did an update to the post with more information about the routes. Indeed, it’s a bit strange that you cannot hop on the bus with an e-ticket :-/
Glen, I thoroughly enjoy your service add Emma regular contributor to the quest to keep you fully caffeinated. I think it’s incredible that you offer the service for free and recommended it to several friends who are interested in Argentina. As a dual UK/US citizen who has been fully vaccinated and is anxious to get to Argentina as soon as possible, I am wondering if you could alert myself and others to any future developments for different nationalities? My second question is about real estate. I had hoped to go to BA pre-Covid to look into purchasing a flat, is it possible to start real estate purchase conversations online now, or even get video tours of apartments that are on the market? Thanks
Hi Grover 👋, many thanks for your support. Good idea to make a list per country as soon there is some development about the Argentina border. I will work on it :-). About your future apartment. I think it’s a service that the real estate agent can provide. I searched our apartment on Zonaprop. Cheers!