Recoleta travel guide

The area of Recoleta is known as Barrio Norte, the chic place to live in the centre of the capital. Stretching west from Plaza San Martín, beyond Avenida 9 de Julio, Recoleta became a fashionable residential area when wealthy families started to move here from the crowded city centre after a yellow fever outbreak in 1871. Many of its French-style mansions date from the turn of the 20th century, and there are smart apartment blocks with marble entrances in leafy streets, making for a pleasant stroll around the many cafés, art galleries and museums. At its heart is the Plaza de la Recoleta by the Recoleta Cemetery. Running down its southeastern side is Ortiz, lined with cafés and confiterías ranging from the refined and traditional to touristy eateries, most with tables outside. Overhead are the branches of the gran gomero, a rubber tree, whose limbs are supported on crutches. At weekends, the Plaza Francia is filled with an art and craft market from 1100 until 1800, when the whole place is lively, with street artists and performers.

Recoleta is famous for its cemetery, where Eva Perón is buried, along with other illustrious figures from Argentina’s history. Cementerio de la Recoleta (entrance at Junín 1790, http://www.info-recoleta.com (in English), not far from Museo de Bellas Artes , T011-4804 7040, daily 0700-1800, free tours in Spanish 1100, 1500 (on Tue and Thu 1100 in English), check times as they may change) is like a miniature city, its narrow streets weaving between imposing family mausoleums built in every imaginable architectural style, a vast congregation of stone angels on their roofs. To negotiate this enormous labyrinth, a guided tour is recommended, but at the very least, you’ll want to see Evita Perón’s tomb, lying in the Duarte family mausoleum. To find it from the entrance, walk straight ahead to the first tree-filled plaza, turn left, and where this avenue meets a main avenue (go just beyond the Turriata tomb), turn right and then take the third passage on the left.

The former Jesuit church of El Pilar, next to the cemetery, is a beautiful example of colonial architecture dating from 1732, restored in 1930. There are stunning 18th-century gold altarpieces made in Alto Peru, and a fine wooden image of San Pedro de Alcántara, attributed to the famous 17th-century Spanish sculptor Alonso Cano, preserved in a side chapel on the left. Downstairs is an interesting small museum of religious art, from whose windows you have a good view of the cemetery next door.

The Centro Cultural Recoleta (Junín 1930, http://www.centroculturalrecoleta.org, Tue-Fri 1400-2100, Sat, Sun, holidays 1000-2100, T011-4803 0358) alongside the Recoleta cemetery, occupying the cloisters of a former monastery, has constantly changing exhibitions of contemporary local art by young artists. Next door, the Buenos Aires Design Centre (http://www.designrecoleta.com.ar) has stylish homewares by contemporary Argentine designers. There are also lots of good restaurants here, some with views over the nearby plazas from their open terraces, recommended for an evening drink at sunset. In Plaza San Martín de Tours next door, there are more huge gomera trees with their extraordinary sinuous roots, and here you’re likely to spot one of Buenos Aires’ legendary dog walkers, managing an unfeasible 20 or so dogs without tangling their leads. There’s a tourist information booth (T011-4804 5667) at Ayacuco 1958. Village Recoleta (T011-4805 2220) on Vicente López and Junín, houses a multiplex cinema, with a fantastic bookshop and cafés at its entrance....read more