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Buenos Aires · Essentials

Essential Buenos Aires: From Plaza de Mayo to the Obelisk

The route that takes in the icons of Buenos Aires in a single morning. You set off from Plaza de Mayo, walk up Avenida de Mayo, the city's most European avenue, stopping at Café Tortoni and Palacio Barolo, reach Congress and finish between Teatro Colón and the Obelisk, right on Avenida 9 de Julio.

  • 6 stops
  • 4.3 km
  • 2 h 15 min
  • Free
Start with GPS Read about this stop 1
The Obelisk of Buenos Aires with taxis on Avenida 9 de Julio

The route

Stop by stop

  1. 1 Plaza de MayoThe stage of Argentine political life: here people celebrated, protested and searched for the disappeared.
  2. 2 Café TortoniThe oldest and most famous café in Buenos Aires, where Gardel, Borges and Alfonsina Storni sat.
  3. 3 Palacio BaroloA 1923 skyscraper designed as the Divine Comedy: hell below, heaven above and a lighthouse at the top.
  4. 4 National CongressA green dome some 80 metres high, a murdered architect and a building that took half a century to finish.
  5. 5 Teatro ColónTwenty years of building work, three architects and acoustics the world's top conductors rank among the very best.
  6. 6 The ObeliskBuilt in weeks in 1936, voted for demolition in 1939, and today the symbol of the city.

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Start with GPS

Guide mode

Walk it with GPS.

Open guide mode on your phone: you’ll see your position and the distance to each stop, and we’ll let you know when you arrive. Then read or listen.

Start with GPS

  1. Turn on your location

  2. Walk to the spot

  3. Check the photo and listen

What you’ll discover

Essential Buenos Aires: From Plaza de Mayo to the Obelisk

A picture-postcard avenue

Avenida de Mayo, opened in 1894, links the Casa Rosada with Congress past early-20th-century cafés and palaces.

Icons with a story

Borges and Gardel's Tortoni, the Colón of Caruso and Callas, and an Obelisk the city council voted to demolish in 1939.

Architecture with a message

A building designed after the Divine Comedy and a monument celebrating the two congresses that founded the nation.

Keep exploring

More routes in Buenos Aires

Back to Buenos Aires
HistoryFrom Colonial Fort to Capital: Buenos Aires in Six Stops Mysteries & legendsUnderground Buenos Aires: Tunnels, Cannonballs and Forbidden Love