Argentina & Uruguay Best Of

Buenos Aires is one of the great metropolises of the southern hemisphere, a city that blends European architecture with a Latin American soul in a unique and unmistakable amalgam. Founded on the banks of the Río de la Plata, the Argentine capital extends for dozens of kilometres through a fabric of neighbourhoods, each with a distinct personality and its own piece of history, culture and everyday porteño life. The historic centre revolves around the Plaza de Mayo, where the Casa Rosada — the famous pink-hued seat of government — overlooks a square steeped in political memory. Nearby, San Telmo preserves a labyrinth of nineteenth-century lanes, Sunday markets, art galleries and milongas where tango reverberates from mid-afternoon. La Boca, on the Riachuelo waterfront, is renowned for the vividly painted tin-clad houses of El Caminito and the Bombonera, the iconic stadium of Club Atlético Boca Juniors. To the north, Palermo divides into elegant sub-districts: Palermo Soho with its design boutiques, Palermo Hollywood with its restaurants and nightlife, and the Bosques de Palermo for leisurely walks. Recoleta is the neighbourhood of grand tree-lined boulevards, French-style mansions and the monumental cemetery where Evita Perón rests, a secular pilgrimage site for visitors from around the world. The revitalised Puerto Madero offers luxury restaurants, a waterfront promenade and the Puente de la Mujer footbridge designed by Santiago Calatrava. Porteño gastronomy deserves its own chapter: the asado is far more than a meal — it is a social ritual; alfajores, medialunas and dulce de leche are fixtures in every panadería. The restaurants of Palermo and San Telmo serve creative cuisine that blends Argentine tradition, Italian and Spanish influences and contemporary trends. Buenos Aires is also a city of theatre, literature and visual culture: the Teatro Colón, one of the world's great opera houses, is an eclectic architectural masterpiece inaugurated in 1908; the Avenida Corrientes concentrates historic bookshops, literary cafés and art-house cinemas. Museums — from the MALBA to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes — hold internationally significant collections focused on twentieth-century Latin American art. A city that never sleeps, Buenos Aires is experienced at night: porteños dine late, dance until dawn, and debate politics and football with equal passion. Every visit leaves something unresolved — a San Telmo alley still to explore, a milonga still to try. That is the spell that keeps travellers coming back.

Ushuaia presents itself to the traveller with a backdrop that is hard to forget: a city of colourful houses clinging to a mountainside that slopes steeply down to the Beagle Channel, at the southernmost tip of inhabited land. Considered the world's southernmost city, it is an obligatory departure point for Antarctic cruises and a place of pilgrimage for those who wish to literally touch the edge of the world. Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, just outside the city, offers trails through a sub-Antarctic forest of lenga and ñire beech, with glacial lakes, tannin-coloured streams and colonies of rock cormorants. The Tren del Fin del Mundo, a revival of a former prison railway, travels a few kilometres of valley in a period atmosphere. In the city itself, the Museo del Fin del Mundo documents the history of the Yamana peoples, European explorers and the penal colony that gave rise to the modern settlement. Activities abound: trekking on Cerro Martial, kayaking in the Beagle Channel among sea lions and Magellanic penguins, and skiing at the nearby Cerro Castor resort in winter. Ushuaia is also a logistical base for those preparing to sail towards the Falkland Islands or the Antarctic Peninsula. The sunset over the channel, with the peaks of the Darwin Range glowing orange, is worth the long journey on its own.

The Tierra del Fuego National Park is located just ten kilometers west of the city. In just a few minutes, visitors go from the hustle and bustle of civilization to a wild calm at the end of the world. The park's 63,000 hectares are bordered to the south by the majestic Beagle Channel. The deep blue of its waters contrasts with the vibrant green of the park's forests. Here, nature resists and adapts to the harshest temperatures. The name Tierra del Fuego is attributed to Magellan. It dates back to when, in 1520, the navigator saw the fires and smoke from the numerous bonfires of the indigenous people from his ship on the coast of Isla Grande, the largest island in the archipelago.

El Calafate is the prime gateway for exploring Los Glaciares National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that holds some of the most imposing ice masses outside the polar regions. The small town sits on the southern shore of Lago Argentino, in the heart of southern Patagonia, surrounded by wind-swept steppe and a horizon of snow-capped peaks. The undisputed star is Glaciar Perito Moreno: a wall of blue ice up to seventy metres high that advances slowly across the lake, producing thunderous cracks as enormous seracs break off and plunge into the water. The park's walkways allow close-range viewing; those seeking a more immersive experience can tackle the mini-trekking option, walking directly on the glacier's surface with crampons. El Calafate also provides access to the Upsala and Spegazzini glaciers, reachable by lake aboard catamarans that glide among icebergs. The town itself, despite its tourist vocation, retains an informal and welcoming atmosphere, with restaurants specialising in Patagonian lamb grilled over open fire, artisan chocolate shops and local craft stores. The best season runs from October to March, when days stretch to twenty hours of light and temperatures remain mild.

Parque Nacional Perito Moreno is one of Argentina's most remote and least visited protected areas, located in the interior of Santa Cruz province, far from both the glacier of the same name and the main Patagonian tourist routes. It harbours mountain lakes of turquoise water, lenga and ñire forests, volcanoes and high-altitude pastures frequented by guanacos and pumas. The complete absence of mass tourism infrastructure and access along unpaved roads make the park a destination for experienced travellers seeking authentic wilderness. Trails are unmarked and the Patagonian wind is relentless: an experience of absolute nature, reserved for those who can move independently.

Colonia del Sacramento guards on the shore of the Río de la Plata the oldest urban settlement in Uruguay, founded by the Portuguese in 1680 and long disputed with the Spanish crown. Its Barrio Histórico, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, is a maze of cobbled lanes where the two colonial styles intertwine: the Calle de los Suspiros, paved with a central spine, slopes down to the water between low, tile-roofed houses. The 19th-century lighthouse, a few steps up, offers a sweeping view over the Citadel Gate, the shaded Plaza Mayor and the remnants of the walls. At sunset the café tables fill and golden light catches the whitewashed walls. Easily reached by ferry from Buenos Aires, Colonia invites a slow pause of strolls, antique shops and bicycle rides along the shore.

Montevideo stretches along the northern shore of the Río de la Plata and is the capital and beating heart of Uruguayan life. The Ciudad Vieja preserves its colonial layout around Plaza Matriz, with the metropolitan cathedral and eclectic early-20th-century palaces; just beyond, Plaza Independencia is dominated by the mausoleum of José Artigas and the Palacio Salvo, an art-déco skyscraper long the tallest in South America. The Mercado del Puerto gathers beneath its iron framework the parrillas where asado is enjoyed, while the Teatro Solís remains the temple of music and theatre. Yet the city is lived above all along its Rambla, a waterfront of more than twenty kilometres skirting urban beaches such as Pocitos and Ramírez, walked each afternoon by joggers, anglers and those sipping mate from a flask tucked under the arm. The candombe drums, an Afro-Uruguayan legacy, set the rhythm of evenings in the Sur and Palermo districts. Montevideo thus blends 19th-century elegance, the culture of tango and football, and an unhurried pace of life, facing the silvery water of the great estuary.

José Ignacio is a small fishing village turned into the most sought-after retreat on Uruguay's Atlantic coast, some thirty kilometres from Punta del Este. Around its red-and-white lighthouse cluster low houses, broad wind-swept beaches and a handful of restaurants that have made open-fire cooking, in the wake of celebrated chef Francis Mallmann, an international draw. Playa Mansa and Playa Brava offer calm sea or surf waves depending on the side, while the Garzón lagoon, crossed by a circular bridge, separates the village from the wilder dunes. Here luxury is dressed in simplicity: sunsets over the water, horses on the sand and a stillness that nearby glamour has not disturbed.