Buenos Aires it’s a huge city with multi colored neighbourhoods. Some areas are better to party, some others would have more of a portenio feeling, but there’s certainly something for everyone!
This is a summary of my PERSONAL opinion and internet research of some of the major districts. Enjoy and choose wisely!
SAN TELMO
One of the oldest barrios (neighborhoods) of Buenos Aires, with a number of colonial houses and streets still paved with the original cobblestones (adoquines).San Telmo’smany attractions include many old churches (e.g. San Pedro Telmo), museums, antique stores and a semi-permanent antique fair (Feria de Antiguedades) in the mainpublic square, Plaza Dorrego. Tango-related activities for both locals and tourists also abound in the area.
Near by
Downtown, La Boca, Obelisco.
who lives there?
Middle class artists, tourists, young crowd.
pros
Bohemian atmosphere, tango joints, laid back + friendly nitelife+ live music
cons
Could be a bit unsafe to walk around at night. Too touristy at times.
prices
Mid range
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RECOLETA
Known for its cafés, galleries and the famous Recoleta cemetery.
Recoleta is an affluent residential district.
Recoleta centers on a square in front of the Cemetery and the neighbouring Basilica of Nuestra Señora del Pilar.
The Recoleta Cemetery’s status as a tourist attraction is rivaled by few; some compare it to Père Lachaise in Paris. It opened in 1822 as a public cemetery for ordinary citizens. Now it hosts many former Presidents and, most famously, Eva Perón, in mausolea of marble, bronze and granite.
The barrio has been referred to as the ‘Paris of the Americas’. Many French-style palaces and villas were built in the area, especially on Avenida Alvear, and the verdant squares are known for their cafés. Recoleta hosts one of the best and most expensive hotels in Latin America, the five-star Hotel Alvear, a grand 1932 palace. Nearby are other mansions built by the most important families of Buenos Aires, some used as embassies. Café La Biela is one of the city’s most famous cafés and is patronized by authors, politicians, and other celebrities.
Nightlife here is very active too, with the pedestrian passage RM Ortíz known for its restaurants.
Next to the Basilica, on the site of the Franciscan convent, is the Recoleta Cultural Centre, a major gallery for contemporary visual art, set in a dark pink chapel. Nearby is the Buenos Aires Design mall, with many shops highlighting the latest designs in homeware and interior design. There are many bars in this area. The belle époque Palais de Glace, originally an ice rink and ballroom, now serves as an exhibition centre.
Near by
National Library, the National Museum of Fine Arts and the University of Buenos Aires Law School, Recoleta cementery, Modern art museum, Recoleta park, Village cinemas.
Who lives here?
Upper middle class families. Tourist. Some Doctors have their practices here as well.
Pros
Very clean and safe. Loads of fancy restaurants.
Cons
Touristy and expensive!
Not reached by subway.
prices
Recoleta is one of the most expensive places to live in Buenos Aires, both in terms of real estate and of the cost of living.
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BARRIO NORTE
Barrio Norte it’s a very popular area between Recoleta and Palermo.
In the 1950s, Santa Fe avenue became the preferred venue for upscale shopping in Buenos Aires, and the profile of the area surrounding it grew in popularity among the emerging Argentine middle class.
Since the advent of democracy in 1983, Santa Fe (near Pueyrredon Ave) has been the preferred street for gay pick-up, even though no part of it has morphed into a distinctly gay village.
The area also hosts some of the National University’s schools (Business, Medicine, Social Science buildings among others).
Near by
Recoleta’s bars/clubs, Las Heras Park
who lives here?
Middle class families, university students (specially from outside Buenos Aires) and a few short term rental tourists.
pros
Served by Line D of the subte (subway) and a large number of bus lines.
Affordable shopping
Good meal deals (specially around the University buildings)
Not very touristy
It hosts some language school where you could work at 
Cons
Can get a bit noisy and crowded at times, specially with private high school students that study in the area.
prices
Mid range
BELGRANO
Belgrano was named after Manuel Belgrano, a politician and military leader who created the national flag of Argentina.
Belgrano is an upper-middle class neighborhood that can be roughly divided into Belgrano R, Belgrano C, central Belgrano, and Lower Belgrano (Bajo Belgrano). The heart of the barrio pulses with life on its main thoroughfare, Avenida Cabildo, which runs Northwest to Southeast; the subway (subte) Line D follows its route.
Avenida Cabildo carries heavy automobile traffic, and features corner cafés, grocery stores, movie theaters, specialty shops, clothing boutiques, bookstores, and other retail venues. Pedestrians are especially numerous on weekend afternoons as Porteños (residents of Buenos Aires) from various areas of the city come to shop.
Most of the neighborhood’s densest housing is located in the vicinity of Cabildo. High-rise luxury apartment buildings are clustered on the leafy streets surrounding the Universidad de Belgrano, a private liberal-arts university.
Many older single-family homes have been replaced by high-rise residential structures in the denser sections of Belgrano
West of Crámer avenue, “Belgrano R” is chiefly residential and lower-density in nature, characterized by calm streets lined with large, mature shade trees. Most buildings in this section are detached single-family homes that follow Anglo-Saxon architectural styles; some residences have sizable backyards with swimming pools. This section is favored by wealthy Argentines and expatriate businesspeople.
“Belgrano C” is also home to Buenos Aires’s small Chinatown. The district is crowded with restaurants and specialty grocery stores catering to Asian-Argentines and to the general public.
Belgrano’s sidewalks are often busy with dogwalkers. Even though city ordinances forbid more than ten dogs to a person, it is not uncommon to see double that number—which contributes to the dog-waste problem plaguing many sidewalks.
Near by
The lush park Barrancas de Belgrano
On Manuel Belgrano square , a local artisan fair is held regularly, and becomes especially vibrant on weekends.
In the edge of the plazalies the Inmaculada Concepción, called “La Redonda” (the round one) by locals because of its circular plan. Many weddings are celebrated in this church in the afternoon hours. Two museums are also across Juramento and Cuba streets: Larreta and Sarmiento, respectively. Larreta museum focus on Spanish art. Historical Museum Sarmiento exhibits some objects belonging to former presidents Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and Nicolás Avellaneda. It is located in what used to be Belgrano townhall, where the national congress hold its sessions while Belgrano was the capital of the republic.
China town
Palermo’s bars/clubs/restaurants
Who lives here?
Upper middle class families and private university students.
Pros
Belgrano is served by the Buenos Aires metro line D, many bus lines (notably Colectivo 60), and two commuter rail lines. Approximately 1.5 km to the west of Belgrano lies Avenida General Paz, a major limited-access freeway that defines the city limits of Buenos Aires proper. Beyond this avenue lie the suburbs of Vicente Lopez, Florida and Olivos.
Lots of shopping options
Good delivery options
Good transport (bus, subway, train)
Family atmosphere
Good gate away to outside Buenos Aires
There’s a good number of English language schools to work for in the area.
Cons
Far (30 min subway ride) from centro
Can get a bit too crowded at times.
Prices
Can be expensive at times, specially rentals.
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BALVANERA: ONCE, MONTSERRAT, CONGRESO, ABASTO.
Until the 1860s, Balvanera was considered an outskirt of Buenos Aires proper. In 1836, a census set its population at 3,635. Most inhabitants lived in quintas (small estates), and the zone was known as las quintas. The Camino Real (now Rivadavia) was the main road from the city to the west.
In the late 19th century, Balvanera had a strong political tradition, identifying first with Adolfo Alsina and then with UCR leaders Leandro Alem and Hipólito Irigoyen.
By 1900, Balvanera was associated mostly with violently contested elections—and with the brothels in the Junín y Lavalle area where, according to Borges, the tango dance acquired its notorious erotic overtones. Natural growth and railroad development eventually assimilated the neighborhood into the city.
During the 1910s and 1920s, the area around Corrientes avenue became the center of Buenos Aires’s Jewish community and the hub of the garment trade, which in turn attracted segments of the Arab and Armenian communities.
A number of Jewish institutions were erected in Once, including the AMIA community center that was bombed on July 18, 1994, in the bloodiest terror attack ever on Agentine soil.
The southern part of Balvanera is home to some traditional institutions of the Galician community, and features a lively furniture trade along Belgrano avenue.
In the late 1970s, Balvanera became a favored location for electronics import shops which co-exist with the more traditional fabrics and garment shops. Newly arrived Korean and Chinese immigrants have become a strong presence in several fields of commerce (see Asian-Argentines).
The zone around Corrientes avenue is known as Once after Plaza Once de Setiembre, the alternative name of Plaza Miserere (the square in which president Bernardino Rivadavia’s mausoleum is located).
The south-eastern part of Balvanera is often called Congreso, as it contains the Congress building and the neighboring Plaza de los Dos Congresos (Square of the Two Congresses, usually called simply Plaza Congreso).
The north-western part of Balvanera is referred to as Abasto after the landmark Abasto market (now a shopping mall).
The area between Congreso and San Telmo it’s known as Montserrat.
Balvanera is located to the west of downtown Buenos Aires. The elegant northern neighborhood of Recoleta (part of the area known as Barrio Norte) is located north of Balvanera, crossing Córdoba avenue.
Most dwellers of Balvanera live in apartment buildings erected on small lots. Population density is very high, and the amount of green space is deemed insufficient. The meager green space of Plaza Miserere is usually taken up by illegal peddlers, people queuing for their bus, and preachers of all stripes.
As in most of Buenos Aires, the streets are laid out in a checkboard pattern. All streets and avenues are one-way.
The main streets of Balvanera are arguably Rivadavia, which crosses the entire city from East to West (North-South streets change their name when crossing Rivadavia), and Corrientes, which is the main thoroughfare of commerce and entertainment in Buenos Aires.
The Ramos Mejía general hospital and the Santa Lucía ophthalmology hospital are located in southern Balvanera. Many private health-care institutions are located in Balvanera also.
Among the architectural features in Balvanera are the neo-classical Congress building and the statue group in neighboring Plaza Congreso. The El Molino tea room is located across the street in a building that has seen several rounds of restoration since its heyday.
The café Los Angelitos in the corner of Rivadavia and Rincón was a meeting point for poets and musicians. It features a relief of angels in its façade, which is one of the landmarks of the barrio. After extensive restorations, it was reopened in 2007, with plans to offer live tango and become a tourist landmark much like the Tortoni and Ideal cafés.
There are many theater and concert halls in Balvanera. The Liceo theater and the Ricardo Rojas cultural center are two of the best-known venues.
For most of the 20th century, Once had a lively Yiddish theater scene; the IFT theater still stands on Boulogne Sur-Mer street, where mural paintings celebrate its rich history.
Much of the Argentine cumbia scene of the 1990s revolved around dance halls near the Once train station.
North of Once station, many former warehouses have been recycled into lofts, offices, or entertainment venues. One of these, the República Cromagnon concert hall (formerly a mini-stadium and dance hall), went on fire on 30 December 2004. In the tragedy, 194 people were killed and over 600 injured.
Currently, more than 25,000 shops are registered in Balvanera, where zoning regulations favor commerce. Many apartment buildings host one or more shops at ground level. The plot of the 2004 movie El abrazo partido revolves around one of Balvanera’s many shopping galerías (galleries).
The block of Pueyrredón avenue across Plaza Once features a busy bazaar-like commercial area known as La Recova.
The Abasto shopping mall is an impressive building that was the city’s wholesale produce market until the late 1980s; its history is closely associated with the life and career of tango singer Carlos Gardel. The area around the market used to contain produce warehouses and low-rent housing for the laborers; with its conversion to a high-end mall, the area experienced a gentrification process since the mid-1990s, that was slowed down by the 2001 economic crisis.
Near by
San Telmo
Centro
Who lives here?
Middle class families, jewish and armenian community.
Pros
Balvanera has access to four out of the five subte lines. This is the preferred transportation option for hurried people who don’t mind some discomfort during peak hours.
Many bus lines go through Balvanera, including the Colectivo 60 line, venerated by locals as el internacional, because its route passes many city landmarks. Other important lines include Colectivo 19, which has been the subject of a composition by Lito Vitale, and Colectivo 86, which links La Boca to Ezeiza airport.
Around Plaza Once, numerous long-distance bus depots provide service to major locations in Argentina and neighboring countries. Ever since the 1980s, most long-distance and international bus lines have their termini in the Retiro depot, accessible via subte.
The Once de Septiembre train station provides commuter service to the western neighborhoods and suburbs.
Not touristy at all.
Montserrat it’s a budget option to live near San Telmo
Cons
Can be a bit unsafe at night.
Get’s very crowded during the day.
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CENTRO
The downtown area is of course where most of the main banks and government institutions are located, as well as many offices. It’s seldom referred to as San Nicolás, but usually as El Centro (“Centre” or “Downtown”), and the part east of the 9 de Julio Avenue is called Microcentro (“Micro-centre”)
It holds 33,305 inhabitants.
Near by
Plaza de Mayo, San Telmo, Retiro train station
Who lives here?
Not many people actually, most of the buildings are occupied by offices, although you can still find single inhabitants (most of the properties are studios or one bedrooms)
Pros
Good transport conncections, including all the subway lines.
Cons
Super crowded during the week and empty during weekends (shops closed!)
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PALERMO
Finally, the “hip” place to be!
It is located in the northeast of the city, bordering the barrios of Belgrano to the north, Almagro and Recoleta to the south, Villa Crespo and Colegiales to the west and the Río de la Plata river to the east. With a total area of 17.4 km², Palermo is the largest neighborhood in Buenos Aires. As of 1991 it had a population of 256,927 inhabitants (1991 census [INDEC]).
The name of the district is derived from the still-existing Franciscan abbey of Saint Benedict of Palermo, an alternative name for Saint Benedict the Moor. Saint Benedict the Moor lived from 1526 to 1589 and is a complementary patron saint of Palermo in Sicily.
In an alternative history of the name, a folk story supported by journalists, the land would have been originally purchased by an Italian immigrant named Juan Domingo Palermo in the late 16th century, shortly after the foundation of Buenos Aires in 1580.
The area grew rapidly during the last third of the 19th century and particularly during the presidency of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, responsible for the creation of the Buenos Aires Zoological Gardens and the Parque Tres de Febrero in 1874, and Plaza Italia and the Palermo Race Track in 1876, all on the grounds of what had been Rosas’ pleasure villa.
During the 20th century, the Buenos Aires Botanical Gardens (1902), Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, the water purification building, several sport clubs, the Jardín Japonés (“Japanese Garden”) and the Galileo Galilei Planetarium were erected.
Although appearing as one big swath on the official map, Palermo can be subdivided into several contrasting and acutely individual parts, the most clearly delimited of which may be considered further de facto neighborhoods of Buenos Aires.
Alto Palermo and Villa Freud
Alto Palermo is downtown Palermo, the main shopping area and transport hub around Avenida Santa Fe. At its core is the Alto Palermo Shopping Centre, a large shopping mall. Villa Freud, based around Plaza Güemes, is a residential area known for its high concentration of psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, hence its name.
Palermo Viejo
Palermo Viejo (Old Palermo) is, as its name implies, the oldest part. Bounded by Avenida Santa Fe, Avenida Coronel Díaz, Avenida Córdoba and Carranza street, the neighborhood is centred on Plaza Palermo Viejo and reflects an older Spanish style in architecture, often “recycled” with modern elements. Such well-known figures as Jorge Luis Borges and Che Guevara once lived in this ward and indeed Borges first wrote poetry in the then quiet barrio. The Borges’s poem “Fundacion mitica de Buenos Aires” names a typical square (Guatemala, Serrano, Paraguay, Gurruchaga). It was historically a residential area, popular with communities from Poland, Armenia, Ukraine and Lebanon and old Spanish and Italian families, whose traditions are reflected in local restaurants, churches, schools and cultural centres.
Palermo Soho
Palermo Soho is a small area of Palermo Viejo around Plaza Serrano (officially Plazoleta Cortázar), and it is a newly fashionable area for fashion, design, restaurants, bars and street culture. The atmosphere in many cafés and restaurants strives to be alternative, which makes this area of the city especially popular with young, upper-middle class Argentines as well as foreign tourists. The traditional low houses have been adapted into boutiques and bars, creating a bohemian feel. The square has a crafts fair.
Palermo Chico and Barrio Parque
Across Figueroa Alcorta Avenue, between San Martín de Tours and Tagle streets, Palermo Chico (“Small” or “Exclusive” Palermo) is the most upmarket part of Palermo. The Buenos Aires Museum of Decorative Arts is located in Palermo Chico, in a dazzling old palatial home. Neighbouring Barrio Parque is strictly a residential area, laid out in winding streets by Carlos Thays; many of the wealthy and famous own homes there. Once a quarter full of splendid mansions set in broad private parks, many luxury condominiums and apartment houses are now to be seen. MALBA, the Museum of Latin American Art in Buenos Aires, is located between Barrio Parque and the Paseo Alcorta shopping centre.
Las Cañitas
Las Cañitas was historically a slum area but is now an upmarket area of restaurants and bars next to the Campo Argentino de Polo in the extreme north of Palermo. The King Fahd Islamic Cultural Centre was built in the 1990s by the Polo fields.
Near by
The Parque Tres de Febrero, popularly known as Bosques de Palermo (‘Palermo Forests’), inspired by the Bois de Boulogne in Paris and the Prater (or Vienna Meadow) in Vienna, is the largest green lung in the city of Buenos Aires. With its Rosedal (‘Rose Garden’), Andalusian Courtyard, huge artificial lake and beautifully landscaped promenades, this is one of the loveliest spots in the Capital.
The hippest bars/clubs and restaurants in Palermo Soho
Who lives here?
Upper middle class artists, actors, models.
Middle class families
Lots of tourists!
Some University students (specially in the fashion or design fields)
Pros
Lots of trees and green.
Good restaurants and bars.
Lots of WI FI spots
Quiet clean streets for beautiful afternoon stralls
Cons
Can be touristy
Expensive
The subway line only serves the borders of the district, so you usually end up having to convine the subway ride with a taxi or bus ride.
TOO hip?
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