Buenos Aires is the capital and most populous city of Argentina.
The city is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the South American continent’s southeastern coast.
As of April 2018, the population of Buenos Aires is about 3 million people.
The sprawling metropolitan area is much larger at 17 million people – the 4th most populous in the Americas.
Buenos Aires has a total area of 203 square kilometers (78 square miles).
The city of Buenos Aires was founded twice. It was first founded in 1536 by an expedition led by the Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza, who named it Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Aire (“Our Lady St. Mary of the Good Air”). Nearly 50 years later Juan de Garay led a more substantial expedition back to the site, and there, at the mouth of the Riachuelo River, he refounded the city, which he called Ciudad de Trinidad (“City of Trinidad”), in 1580.
“Buenos Aires” means “fair winds”, or literally “good airs” in Spanish.
Elegant yet always bustling, Buenos Aires encapsulates the very essence of Argentina. It is the political, economic, and cultural capital of Argentina as well as the gateway to the rest of this large nation.
The city’s wealth and influence overshadow the life of the rest of the country, but Buenos Aires also presents Argentina with its severest economic and social problems.
Buenos Aires architecture is characterized by its eclectic nature, with elements resembling Paris and Madrid. There is a mix, due to immigration, of Colonial, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Neo-Gothic and French Bourbon styles.
Its compact tree-lined center is reminiscent of Paris with many charming corners where tidy high-rise apartments are interspersed with attractive 19th-century buildings.
The Plaza de Mayo is a city square and main foundational site of Buenos Aires. It was formed in 1884 after the demolition of the Recova building, unifying the city’s Plaza Mayor and Plaza de Armas. The city centre of Buenos Aires, Plaza de Mayo has been the scene of the most momentous events in Argentine history, as well as the largest popular demonstrations in the country.
The Obelisco de Buenos Aires is a national historic monument and icon of Buenos Aires. Located in the Plaza de la República in the intersection of avenues Corrientes and 9 de Julio, it was erected in 1936 to commemorate the quadricentennial of the first foundation of the city.
Undoubtedly Buenos Aires’ most colorful neighborhood, La Boca is a favorite haunt for artistic and creative types, many of whom take their art outside and onto the streets, decorating balconies and patios with amusing sculptures of tango dancers and other characters. Much of the fun here for visitors is exploring the Caminito Street Museum, a colorful pedestrian-friendly zone that has functioned as an open-air museum and art market since 1959.
The Teatro Colón is the main opera house in Buenos Aires. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic, and is acoustically considered to be amongst the five best concert venues in the world. The present Colón replaced an original theatre which opened in 1857.
Fashionable Recoleta takes its name from the Franciscan convent that was built here around 1716, but is perhaps best known for its astonishing burial ground. The Recoleta Cemetery (Cementerio de la Recoleta) has long been popular among locals and tourists alike, drawn here for the many elaborate mausoleums that serve as final resting places for a veritable Who’s Who of famous Argentines, including such illustrious souls as Eva Perón, now embalmed in the Duarte family tomb.
The Estadio Alberto J. Armando is an association football stadium located in La Boca district of Buenos Aires. Widely known as La Bombonera due to its shape, with a “flat” stand on one side of the pitch and three steep stands round the rest of the stadium. It has a capacity of 40,000. The stadium is owned by Boca Juniors, one of Argentina’s top football clubs.
Buenos Aires locals are referred to as porteños (“people of the port”) because so many of the city’s inhabitants historically arrived by boat from Europe.
Buenos Aires’ quality of life was ranked 91st in the world, being one of the best in Latin America in 2018.
It is the most visited city in South America, and the second-most visited city of Latin America (behind Mexico City).
Tango, a distinctive dance and the corresponding musical style of tango music, began in the working-class port neighborhoods of Buenos Aires.
The city has a thriving arts culture, with “a huge inventory of museums, ranging from obscure to world-class.”
Buenos Aires has over 280 theatres, more than any other city in the world.
July 9 Avenue, located in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is the widest avenue in the world, with 14 lanes, plus 4 lanes of parallel streets.
Before becoming the Pontiff, Pope Francis I was a nightclub bouncer in Buenos Aires, Argentina.