Visiting Buenos Aires, Argentina: Top Sights on Foot
Things to do in Buenos Aires: What to See and Explore
Buenos Aires is a vibrant capital where grand European-style architecture meets a distinct Latin American soul, offering travelers an unforgettable mix of historic civic squares, world-class cultural venues, and atmospheric neighborhoods. From the colonial foundations of the city center to leafy green parks and riverside museums, Argentina’s largest metropolis invites visitors to explore at their own pace. Neywo provides a free audio guide for Buenos Aires featuring 159 narrated places, allowing you to discover the city’s stories as you walk.
What to See in Buenos Aires: Key Landmarks and Museums
The city’s heritage spans centuries of political change, artistic achievement, and maritime history. Discover some of the most notable stops across Buenos Aires:
- Cabildo of Buenos Aires: This historic public building served as the seat of the colonial town council and later as the government house for the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, hosting the first independent Junta de Gobierno after the May Revolution of 1810.
- Buenos Aires Cathedral: Standing as the mother church of the Archdiocese, this landmark features a striking Neo-Classical facade with twelve columns symbolizing the apostles, a 134-foot vaulted ceiling, and intricate Venetian mosaic flooring.
- Illuminated Block (Manzana de las Luces): Located in Monserrat, this historic city block dates back to the late 17th century and encompasses the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires, the church of San Ignacio, and an intriguing network of underground tunnels.
- Former National Congress Building: Inaugurated in 1864 under President Bartolomé Mitre, this site served as the home of the Argentine Congress until 1905, preserving its main hall of sessions inside.
- Museo Mitre: Housed in a Spanish colonial residence built in 1785, this museum preserves the legacy of former president Bartolomé Mitre and marks the historic location where the newspaper La Nación was first published.
- Colón Theater: Celebrated globally for its remarkable acoustics and performances, this renowned opera venue blends Italian Neoclassical, French Beaux-Arts, and German Renaissance architectural influences.
- Municipal Palace of Buenos Aires: Also known as the Palacio de Gobierno, this landmark served as the seat of the City Municipality and the Chief of Government’s office for decades.
- ARA Uruguay: Moored in Puerto Madero’s dique 4, this historic corvette is the oldest ship in the Argentine Navy, remembered for its role in polar rescues and now operating as a floating museum.
- National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA): Housed in a repurposed 1870 water-pumping station, this major art institution holds a diverse collection of more than 12,000 pieces ranging from pre-Columbian artifacts to international modern works.
- National Historical Museum: This museum preserves artifacts and exhibits dedicated to key moments in Argentina’s history, including the May Revolution, the War of Independence, and the Crossing of the Andes.
- Recoleta Cemetery: Often called the “City of the Dead,” this iconic 1822 landmark is organized like a miniature town filled with over 4,600 elaborate marble mausoleums designed in neoclassical, Gothic, Art Deco, and Art Nouveau styles.
- Buenos Aires Botanical Garden: Spanning 7.7 hectares in Palermo and designed by landscape architect Carlos Thays, this national historic monument shelters nearly 1,500 plant species alongside dozens of sculptures and fountains.
- ESMA Museum and Site of Memory: Situated within the former Officers’ Casino of the navy mechanics school, this site preserves the sobering history of the last civic-military dictatorship as a museum of conscience and human rights.
Discover Buenos Aires with a Self-Guided Walking Tour
To experience the city thoroughly, plan a Buenos Aires self-guided walking tour using a reliable Buenos Aires audio guide. Download Neywo to explore the capital at your own pace with no tour groups and no rigid schedules. The app includes 8 walking tours, 1 bus route, and 1 bike route—totaling over 100 kilometers and hundreds of narrated stops across the city. Each story plays automatically as you reach the site.
Plan further travels across the country by checking out other destinations in Argentina, or explore nearby regional hubs such as Córdoba, Mendoza, Salta, Bariloche, and Mar del Plata.
Places with an audio guide in Buenos Aires
8 places in Buenos Aires with a Neywo audio guide. Each one starts telling its story as you reach it.
Self-guided tours in Buenos Aires
10 tours in Buenos Aires, free in the Neywo app. Each stop tells its story as you reach it.
- Bike ride
Retiro to Palermo: the Museums and the Floralis by Bike
Ride the cycle lanes from the Isaac Fernández Blanco museum in Retiro past the giant steel Floralis Genérica flower, the Decorative Arts museum and the José Hernández folk art museum to the Japanese Gardens in Palermo's parkland. A flat, green ride between museums with plenty of places to stop.
Museum of Hispanic American Art Isaac Fernández Blanco · Floralis Genérica · National Museum of Decorative Arts · José Hernández Folk Art Museum · Japanese Gardens
Open this tour: Retiro to Palermo: the Museums and the Floralis by Bike - Bus ride
Línea 29: Palermo, the Obelisco and San Telmo to La Boca
One of Buenos Aires' classic cross-city colectivos. It runs from the Belgrano and Palermo parks down Avenida Santa Fe to the Obelisco, along Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada, through San Telmo, and ends in colourful La Boca near Caminito. Ride it to see the city's whole historical spine for the price of a SUBE fare.
Museum of Spanish Art Enrique Larreta · Plaza Italia · Plaza Lavalle · Obelisco de Buenos Aires · Cabildo of Buenos Aires · Pink House Museum …
Open this tour: Línea 29: Palermo, the Obelisco and San Telmo to La Boca - Bus ride
Línea 64 · La Boca to Recoleta
Board at Vuelta de Rocha, alight at Charcas y Pueyrredón. 8 narrated places along the way: Museum of Argentine Artists Benito Quinquela Martín, Manuel Belgrano equestrian monument, Buenos Aires Cathedral, House of Culture of Buenos Aires, Museo Mundial del Tango, La Inmobiliaria, Congressional Plaza, Ricardo Rojas' House Museum - Research Institute.
Museum of Argentine Artists Benito Quinquela Martín · Manuel Belgrano equestrian monument · Buenos Aires Cathedral · House of Culture of Buenos Aires · Museo Mundial del Tango · La Inmobiliaria …
Open this tour: Línea 64 · La Boca to Recoleta - Walk
Puerto Madero to the Teatro Colón
Five and a half kilometres from the docks — two museum warships, the Faena and Amalita collections — across the centre to the arms and Oriental art museums, the Jewish Museum, the Teatro Colón and the obelisk.
Museo del Humor · Faena Arts Center · ARA Presidente Sarmiento · ARA Uruguay · AMALITA Collection · National Museum of Oriental Art …
Open this tour: Puerto Madero to the Teatro Colón - Walk
The university museums of Buenos Aires
A specialist's walk through the medical and scientific faculties: pathology, dentistry, pharmacobotany, the history of science, and the national engraving museum. Small, free, and almost always empty.
Museum of Foreign Debt · Museo Houssay de Historia de la Ciencia y la Tecnología · Pathology Museum of the University of Buenos Aires · Museo de la Facultad de Odontología · Museo de Farmacobotánica · Museo Nacional del Grabado …
Open this tour: The university museums of Buenos Aires - Walk
The financial city: bank palaces and Calle Florida
The Microcentro, where the banks built like governments. Three numismatic museums, the brutalist Banco de Londres, the Anglican cathedral, Mitre's house, and the pedestrian rush of Florida.
Our Lady of Mercy Church · Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist · Archive and Historical Museum of the Bank of the province of Buenos Aires Dr. Arturo Jauretche · Museo Policial · Museo Mitre · Héctor Carlos Janson Historic and Numismatics Museum …
Open this tour: The financial city: bank palaces and Calle Florida - Walk
Recoleta: the cemetery and the Palais de Glace
The cemetery is the point — Evita, presidents, and 4,700 vaults in marble streets — with the Pilar basilica beside it, the cultural centre in the old monastery, and the ice palace turned exhibition hall.
Roca Museum - Historical Research Institute · Recoleta Cemetery · Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, Buenos Aires · Recoleta Cultural Center · Museo Participativo de Ciencias · Palais de Glace
Open this tour: Recoleta: the cemetery and the Palais de Glace - Walk
Manzana de las Luces: Santo Domingo and the Jesuit block
Seven hundred metres of colonial Buenos Aires — the Dominican convent with British cannonballs still lodged in its tower, the Jesuit church, and the ethnography museum's Andean collections.
Santo Domingo convent · Juan B. Ambrosetti Museum of Ethnography · Basilique Saint-François · Parroquia San Ignacio de Loyola · Buenos Aires Museo
Open this tour: Manzana de las Luces: Santo Domingo and the Jesuit block - Walk
Congreso: the Barolo Palace
A short walk on Avenida de Mayo around the Palacio Barolo, built to the structure of Dante's Divine Comedy with hell in the basement and a lighthouse at the top, facing the Congress across its plaza.
Barolo Palace · La Inmobiliaria · Mariano Moreno · Congressional Plaza
Open this tour: Congreso: the Barolo Palace - Walk
Plaza de Mayo: the Casa Rosada and the Cabildo
Where every Argentine political drama has been staged. The pink presidential palace at one end, the colonial town hall at the other, the cathedral where San Martín is buried, and the pyramid the Mothers of the Plaza still circle on Thursdays.
ARA Uruguay · ARA Presidente Sarmiento · Pink House Museum · Pirámide de Mayo · Former National Congress Building, Buenos Aires · Museo del antiguo recinto del Congreso Nacional …
Open this tour: Plaza de Mayo: the Casa Rosada and the Cabildo
Walk Buenos Aires with Neywo
Neywo turns Buenos Aires into a self-guided audio tour. Stories arrive as you reach the place they belong to, and the route reshapes when you wander off it.
