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Nightlife
Buenos Aires’s nightlife is one of the most active in the world. Nightlife really is ‘night’-life with the young and wealthy Porteños, as they usually only embark on their evening’s entertainment at 2200 with a meal. After satisfying an appetite, they’ll wile away a few hours in a bar or confiteria and won’t even contemplate entering a club until gone 0200 when partying will just be warming up. The streets are as busy in the early hours of the morning as they are during the day but the atmosphere is always relaxed and sociable. Drunkenness among the locals is almost unheard of as the Porteños only consume moderate amounts of alcohol. Dress is smart, but the extent of the formality depends on the club and the area. The legal drinking age is 18 years.
Palermo continues to be popular with the fashionable crowd, especially the areas of Las Cañitas and Palermo Hollywood, which are packed with trendy bars, clubs and restaurants. The streets surrounding La Recoleta Cemetery are also popular, especially at the weekends when the pavement bars and cafés remain busy until the action moves to the nearby clubs. A number of drinking options, including English and Irish pubs, exist on and around Calle Reconquista and Avenida 25 de Mayo, while San Telmo is a focal point for Bohemian bars and tango shows. Avenidas Corrientes and Santa Fe in the city centre are lined with plenty of cinemas, theatres, bars, restaurants and pizzerias, which remain open until the early hours. Puerto Madero has become increasingly popular for sunset drinks and dining.
La Guia (website: www.laguia.clarin.com) supplement in the Clarín newspaper and La Nacion’s Via Libre (website: www.lanacion.com.ar/vialibre) contain listing sections. Trendy bars and clubs are listed by area online (website: www.callesbuenosaires.com). Nightlife is at its peak Thursday to Saturday but there’s always something happening throughout the week. Bars and clubs offer a range of music and entertainment options to meet all tastes, from tango shows to techno nightclubs. Admission charges range from $10 to $45. Some clubs allow women free entry on certain nights or offer a ‘free’ drink as part of the admission charge.
Bars: Many bars offer food and live music so sometimes it is difficult to make a distinction between a place offering straightforward drinks and those pertaining to be restaurants or live music venues. La Cigale, Avenida 25 de Mayo 722, is a hip bar in the city centre attracting the young with its promise of live music and DJs. A European-style pub can be found in El Verde, Calle Reconquista 878, which offers a wide selection of beers, whiskeys and Spanish tapas. Empire Bar, Calle Tres Sargentos 427 in Retiro, is a smart bar with Thai food. If you want to be seen at a place to be seen, head for the Voodoo Bar, Calle Baez 340, to dance or just relax in the armchairs. Another fashionable and stylish place is Unico, Calle Honduras 5604, in Palermo Hollywood.
Casinos: The Casino Buenos Aires, Darsena Sur, Puerto Madero, is located on a Mississippi style boat and offers black jack, roulette, poker and slot machines. The minimum age is 18 years and dress is smart-casual.
Clubs: Buenos Aires News, Paseo de la Infantana Isabel, and New York City, Calle Alvarez Thomas, both in Palermo, are just two of the established clubs where you can dance to mainstream dance music amid a smartly dressed, wealthy set. Expect soul, funk, hip-hop and live cabaret at Nave Jungla, Calle Nicaragua 4346, Palermo. El Living, Calle Marcelo T de Alvear 1540, Recoleta, combines dancing, dinner and live shows. For the super-club experience and the very best in national and international dance music DJs, head to Pacha, Costanera Norte and La Pampa. Doors open at various times but things don’t really get going until 0200 onwards.
Live music: A great many of the city’s bars and clubs offer live music as part of their menu, but good options include the Café Tortoni, Avenida De Mayo 829. The most famous café in the city, it offers live tango and jazz in La Bodega downstairs. It’s easy to become sucked into the tango obsession that prevails in the capital and there are numerous venues to listen to, watch or participate in tango. El Viejo Almacén, Avenida Independencia and Balcarce, San Telmo, offers a tango dinner and show for $80. But for an economical taste of a tango, make your way to Bar Sur, Calle Estados Unidos 299, San Telmo, where $15 gives the kind of tango show that degenerates into the audience singing and dancing (and all the pizza you can eat). Tourists in search of live blues and rock should make a beeline for El Samovar de Rasputin or Del Valle Iberlucca in Caminito, La Boca. Jazz fans should try the Thelonius Bar, Calle Salguero 1884.
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