Argentina travel guide : explore Buenos Aires, Patagonia and wine regions

What you need to know before visiting Argentina

• Official name: Argentine Republic (República Argentina)
• Capital: Buenos Aires
• Population: About 45 million people
• Official language: Spanish
• Currency: Argentine Peso (ARS/$)
• Area: 2,780,400 square kilometres

How Argentine history shaped its cultural identity

Argentina's historical journey encompasses indigenous civilizations, European colonization, independence struggles, and the creation of a distinctive national identity:

Indigenous peoples: Argentina before European arrival

Before European arrival, diverse indigenous groups inhabited Argentina's vast territory. The sophisticated Diaguita in the northwest built terraced agricultural systems across 25,000 square kilometres of mountain terrain. The Guaraní developed extensive knowledge of medicinal plants in the subtropical forests, while the nomadic Tehuelche of Patagonia adapted to life in one of the world's most demanding climates, where winter temperatures regularly plunge to -20°C.

Colonial Argentina: Spanish influence and early settlements

Spanish colonization began with the founding of Buenos Aires in 1536, though the settlement was initially abandoned and reestablished in 1580. The region, part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, remained relatively peripheral to Spain's American empire until the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776. Colonial Argentina centered around the 2,360-kilometre Camino Real (Royal Road) connecting the silver mines of Potosí to Buenos Aires, a route that took caravans up to three months to traverse.

Argentine independence: formation of a nation

The May Revolution of 1810 marked the beginning of Argentina's independence struggle, culminating in formal independence from Spain in 1816. The 19th century saw internal conflicts between federalists and unitarians over the country's political organization. Under leaders like Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Argentina established a public education system that achieved 48% literacy by 1869—remarkable for the era. The 1880s "Conquest of the Desert" military campaign expanded national territory by 550,000 square kilometres but came at the devastating cost of indigenous displacement and genocide.

Modern Argentina: from Perón to contemporary society

The early 20th century saw Argentina emerge as one of the world's wealthiest nations, with Buenos Aires styled the "Paris of South America." However, political instability marked subsequent decades, with military coups and the controversial presidency of Juan Perón, whose wife Eva Perón (Evita) became an icon for social justice. The military dictatorship of 1976-1983 resulted in the "Dirty War," during which up to 30,000 people "disappeared." Since returning to democracy, Argentina has experienced economic challenges but maintained democratic institutions while addressing human rights and social justice issues. Recent decades have seen Argentina become the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage (2010) and establish progressive gender identity laws.

Argentine culture: language, food and traditions

A Distinctive Spanish

Argentine Spanish, particularly the porteño dialect of Buenos Aires, features unique pronunciation and vocabulary that can challenge speakers from other Spanish-speaking regions. The distinctive voseo (use of "vos" instead of "tú") and the melodic cadence—influenced by Italian immigration, with approximately 25 million Argentines having Italian ancestry—create a language variant spoken by 44 million people. The lunfardo slang, originating in Buenos Aires' underworld of the late 19th century, has contributed hundreds of words to everyday speech, particularly in the lyrics of tango songs.

Argentine arts: literature, film and gaucho culture

Argentina has produced literary giants like Jorge Luis Borges, whose labyrinthine short stories reimagined the boundaries of fiction, and Julio Cortázar, whose novel "Rayuela" (Hopscotch) can be read in multiple sequences. The country's cinema thrives with over 150 films produced annually, several winning prestigious international awards. Street art flourishes, particularly in Buenos Aires' Palermo district, where murals cover more than 300,000 square metres of walls. Meanwhile, traditional gaucho culture survives in rural festivals, celebrating the legendary horsemen of the Pampas who historically rode territories spanning hundreds of thousands of square kilometres.

Argentine cuisine: what to eat and drink during your visit

Argentina's cuisine reflects its history of European immigration and abundant resources:

• Asado (traditional barbecue featuring various cuts of beef, with Argentines consuming an average of 50 kilograms of beef per person annually)
• Empanadas (savory pastries with regional variations across the country's 23 provinces, typically measuring 12-15 centimetres across)
• Dulce de leche (caramelized milk spread used in numerous desserts, with national production exceeding 11,000 tonnes yearly)
• Mate (yerba mate tea consumed at a rate of 6.4 kilograms per person annually, sipped through a metal straw called a bombilla)
• Chimichurri (herb sauce for grilled meats, combining up to 12 different herbs and spices)

Argentine wine production spans 224,000 hectares of vineyards, primarily in Mendoza province, where altitudes between 800 and 1,500 metres create ideal conditions for Malbec grapes. The industry produces approximately 13.9 million hectolitres annually, making Argentina the world's fifth-largest wine producer and creating over 7,000 different wine labels.

Tango and football: experiencing Argentina's passions

Few nations match Argentina's fervor for football (soccer), with the country producing legends like Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi. The intense rivalry between Buenos Aires clubs Boca Juniors and River Plate draws 70,000 spectators to "Superclásico" matches at River's Monumental Stadium. Polo, popular among the elite, is played on fields measuring 275 × 145 metres, with Argentina consistently ranking as the world's top team. Meanwhile, tango—born in the 1880s in 100-square-metre dancehalls called milongas—remains Argentina's most recognized cultural export. This passionate dance and musical style, declared Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, is showcased in Buenos Aires' annual Tango Festival, which attracts over 500,000 visitors to its 200+ events.

Where to go in Argentina: top cities and attractions

Buenos Aires: exploring Argentina's vibrant capital

Argentina's captivating capital blends European grandeur with Latin American vitality:

• Teatro Colón: One of the world's finest opera houses, covering 8,202 square metres with acoustics ranked among the top five globally.
• Recoleta Cemetery: A 55,000-square-metre necropolis containing 4,691 ornate vaults, including Eva Perón's final resting place.
• Avenida 9 de Julio: At 140 metres wide with up to 16 lanes, often cited as the world's widest avenue.
• La Boca: A colorful working-class neighborhood where houses are painted with approximately 180 kilograms of paint per building.
• Librería El Ateneo Grand Splendid: A magnificent 2,000-square-metre bookstore in a converted 1920s theater selling over 120,000 books.

Mendoza: wine tours and andean adventures

Nestled in the Andean foothills at an elevation of 767 metres, Mendoza serves as the center of Argentina's wine country. The city's ingenious irrigation system, consisting of 500 kilometres of canals dating back to pre-Columbian times, transforms an area receiving just 200 millimetres of annual rainfall into a fertile oasis. Nearby Aconcagua, at 6,962 metres, stands as the highest peak in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres.

Bariloche: lakes, mountains and chocolate in patagonia

This Alpine-styled city in northern Patagonia sits on the shores of Nahuel Huapi, a glacial lake covering 557 square kilometres. Surrounded by the Andean Lakes District, Bariloche serves as a gateway to 7,050 square kilometres of national park. The city's Swiss-inspired architecture reflects the influence of Central European immigrants, while its chocolate shops produce approximately 600 tonnes of chocolate annually.

Córdoba: colonial history and student culture

Argentina's second-largest city features Argentina's oldest university, founded in 1613, and a UNESCO-listed Jesuit Block covering 11,000 square metres. Surrounded by the 2,790-metre Sierras de Córdoba mountains, the city blends colonial history with student energy from its 150,000 university students. Nearly 3,000 technology companies have established operations in Córdoba's 10-hectare technology park, earning it the nickname "Argentina's Silicon Valley."

El Calafate: gateway to perito moreno glacier

This Patagonian town serves as the gateway to Los Glaciares National Park and the famous Perito Moreno Glacier, a 250-square-kilometre ice formation advancing at 2 metres per day. One of the few growing glaciers in the world, its 5-kilometre-wide face rises 74 metres above Lago Argentino, periodically creating a natural dam that rises 10 metres before spectacularly rupturing.

Best natural destinations in Argentina: waterfalls to glaciers

• Iguazú Falls: A system of 275 waterfalls stretching across 2.7 kilometres, with the Devil's Throat drop plunging 82 metres with 1,756 cubic metres of water per second.
• Pampas: Fertile grasslands covering 760,000 square kilometres—about the size of Chile—where most of Argentina's agricultural wealth is produced.
• Quebrada de Humahuaca: A 155-kilometre-long valley in the northwest showing 500 million years of Earth's history in multi-colored mountain strata.
• Valdés Peninsula: A 3,600-square-kilometre wildlife sanctuary where southern right whales weighing up to 80 tonnes gather to breed.
• Tierra del Fuego: The "Land of Fire" at South America's tip, where mountains plunge into the sea across 21,000 square kilometres of wilderness at the end of the world.

Interesting facts about Argentina you might not know

Argentina claims the world's widest avenue (9 de Julio at 140 metres across) and the widest river (the Río de la Plata, reaching 219 kilometres at its mouth).

The country holds the Southern Hemisphere's lowest point, at 105 metres below sea level in Salina Grande, Península Valdés.

Argentina established the world's first movie theater in 1896, just one year after the Lumière brothers' first film screening.

Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city, is located at latitude 54°S, with 17 hours of daylight in summer and just 7 hours in winter.

Argentine contributions to science and global culture

• Cardiac bypass surgery (developed by Dr. René Favaloro in the 1960s, now performed 800,000 times annually worldwide)
• Fingerprint identification (first used for criminal identification by Juan Vucetich in 1892)
• Ballpoint pen (invented by László Bíró, a Hungarian who developed it while living in Argentina)
• Bus rapid transit systems (first implemented in Curitiba but perfected in Buenos Aires' 60-kilometre Metrobus network)
• The animated feature film (Quirino Cristiani created "El Apóstol," the world's first, in Buenos Aires in 1917)