Self guided Walking tour Retiro & Recoleta

This self-guided tour includes a bit of everything, architecture, museum, my favorite place in Buenos Aires, one of the coffee shops I love the most and a tasty lunch finish by delicious gin tonics. I hope you love it <3

* There is a map at the end with all the stops mentioned!

Stop 1: Torre Monumental

This tower was given by the English Goverment as a gift for our 100 years anniversary on the Revolution, but most people think it was a an ironic gift after the english won the war against us. Anyway, is a nice viewpoint, you can visit it everyday 11 to 18hs (except tuesday!!) and from this tower you can see one of the most iconic buildings of Argentina: the Kavanagh.

So much to say about the Kavanagh. When it was inaugurated in 1936 with its 120 meters, it was at the time the tallest reinforced concrete building in South America and the first residential building in Buenos Aires to have centralized air conditioning. Since 1999 this building belongs to the World Heritage of Modern Architecture, by the decision of UNESCO and in the same year, it was declared a National Historic Monument.

Stop 2: Coffee stop

To get here you will walk through Basavilbaso and Arenales, walking around the San Martin Palace, this whole street is just beautiful (you can see here also my post on the most beautiful streets of Buenos Aires).

And walking through Esmeralda you will see another palace! In this case is Estrugamou Palace (also known as "aristocratic elbow"), which up to today is still residential.

Kissaten - Self guided walking tour Recoleta and retiro

Here we are heading to our first

coffee of the morning. I cant decide

on one coffee but on street Arroyo I love:

☕️ Kissaten: is basically a coffee speakeasy,

because is hidden in the mezzanine

of winery, you can watch the

palace through the window

and is a super cute place with

specialty coffee. Feels like a

doll house because the ceiling is super low.

☕️ The Shelter Coffee: this is

another amazing and cozy coffee

shop, the nice thing is that you can sit by the street and admire the beauty of Arroyo.

View of The Shelter Coffee in Arroyo street:

Stop 3: Museo Fernandez Blanco - Palacio Noel

Yes, another palace! this is one is turn into a museum and has an amazing patio, is free or almost free and I recommend to give it a look just for the patio at least.

Stop 4: Embassy of France & Brasil

Is no surprise by the amount of palace in this

area there is also a high density of embassies

around. My two favorites is the Embassy of France and the Embassy of Brasil.

Plaza Cataluña which is in front of the Embassy

of France is super cute and it has even a replica

of the Font de Canaletes.

The Embassy of France was designed by

the same architecture of the Museo de Tigre (which used to be the first casino of the city)

Just leaving the embassy of France behind you will see the stunning Embassy of Brasil. As well as that Alvear is a beautiful street to walk through, we will come back to this street after the lunch.

Stop 6: Lunch time and secret passage

Bis a restaurant located in a unique passage in Recoleta, that is very easy to miss out on, is called Pasaje del Correo, and if you want to know more about the story of this cute passage check out my post on "Most beautiful streets of Buenos Aires" here.

Gonzalo Aramburu is the owner of Bis and the owner of Aramburu, which is located in this passage as well. Gonzalo is considered one of the best chef of Argentina, and many people agree that Aramburu one of the finest dining experiences you can have in Buenos Aires. Bis is a casual and relaxed version of Aramburu, perfect for brunch or lunch at a very affordable price.

For the dessert, I don't know if they still have it on the menu but the Flan of lavender was memorable.

If you decide not to have dessert here, there is a Rapanui two blocks from here. I highly recommend going for some franuis if you haven't tried them already (raspberries covered in chocolate)

Stop 7: Centro Cultural Recoleta

This is my favorite place in Buenos Aires.

To get here I recommend walking through Av. Alvear, it almost feels like Paris.

I love Centro Cultural Recoleta because they have a dynamic exhibition of young emerging artists. Artist from any discipline, from street art, illustration, and lettering, to music, dancing, and product designers. There is always something going on in CCR, they have an amazing agenda with tones of events. And since is always changing is a place you can visit every month and discover something new. Some of my current favorite artists I have discovered through CCR

If you haven't visited yet, CCR is right next to el Cementerio Recoleta so is an opportunity to visit it as well.

Stop 8: Floraris

My second favorite place in Buenos Aires.

Before moving to Buenos Aires, I remember being a kid and seeing the tv very early in the morning before going to school, and the news video opening was a live stream of the Floraris slowly opening with the sunrise at the back and I just love it. Sadly, the Floraris is broken and doesn't open and close as it use to do before... but is still stunning. Great place to make a small stop, perhaps a tiny picnic with a mate.

Stop 9: Gin tonics at the national library

INVERNADERO

The last stop is the national library

after this extended day of culture but

not to read books but to drink some

gin tonics.

Invernadero is placed just under
the national library, they produce
their own gin and the best thing
is you can admire this brutalist building
while drinking a lovely drink.