DAY 1: BUENOS AIRES

Arrival in Buenos Aires. Private transfer from Ezeiza Airport to Palladio M Gallery Hotel.

Accommodation in Palladio M Gallery Hotel with breakfast.

Meals: none.

DAY 2: BUENOS AIRES

Breakfast.

City tour Buenos Aires: Puerto Madero, Montserrat and San Nicolas (5 hours) with lunch.

This tour will take us to see with our own eyes the different historical and cultural layers that nowadays constitute Buenos Aires.

Our journey starts at the port district: Puerto Madero , a large-scale urban project which started back in 1991 with the renewal of a series of silos and cereal deposits located on the docks of an old deepwater port which was utterly abandoned and marginalized. Puerto Madero is nowadays Buenos Aires’ most modern and sophisticated area, and the spearhead of an urban renovation project started in 1991 with the remodeling of a series of huge warehouses and silos, which were transformed into trendy apartment buildings, restaurants and nightclubs. Nowadays, it constitutes the playground for the pretty Porteños and the international jet-set.

Before we continue our journey, we’ll pause for lunch at El Querandí . Located in the heart of the historic quarter of the city, the tango restaurant, which has the most representative dishes of Argentine gastronomy: undoubtedly the best prelude to a night of music and dance, framed in our traditional lounge, set and restored respecting its original architecture of the early twentieth century, with its impetuous deep- toned boserie, its Solomonic columns, its chess floors.

El Querandí is widely recognized as the best tango restaurant in Buenos Aires: an extraordinary and mythical place, precisely because it manages to perpetuate the magic of the ancient tango parlors and milongas of the city in our times, adding to it the possibility of tasting the tastiest regional dishes of our country. We invite you to enjoy an exquisite lunch. The menu consists of three steps: starter, main course and dessert; and includes soft drinks, beer or wine, coffee or tea.

Then, we will have the opportunity to visit and enter the Colón Theatre , a magnificent building richly decorated that dates from the beginnings of the 19th century. The building fuses both in its facade and its interiors different styles such as French, Neogreek and German. The Colón Theatre was built in this cultural and political context. It stands in the centre of the city very near the aristocratic neighbourhoods. Many important figures have performed there, such as Strauss, Stravinsky, Caruso, Maria Callas, Pavarotti, Nureyev and Barishnikov. This magnificent building dates from the early 20th century. Although its construction began in 1889, it took twenty years to be completed. It was built in a very eclectic architectural style: it gathers influence from the Italian renaissance, the Greek style, and the German style.

We´ll walk along its entrance, all covered in Verona marble, the Hall of Busts, in which stand the sculptures of the most important musicians and composers of History. We step into the Golden Hall, richly decorated with French furniture and huge chandeliers, and the Main Hall, whose design and construction fulfils the high standards of the most important Italian and French Opera Houses. The acoustics of the concert hall are known as the best in the world.

Coffee break at the traditional Café Tortoni and later visitto a viewpoint of Güemes Gallery . 

At the end, return to the hotel.

Rest of the day at leisure.

Accommodation in Palladio M Gallery Hotel with breakfast.

Meals: breakfast, coffee break and lunch.

DAY 3: BUENOS AIRES

Breakfast.

Morning at leisure.

In the afternoon, Tour Aristocratic Buenos Aires: Retiro, Recoleta and Palermo excursion (5 hours) including tea at Museum of Decorative Art

In the early 20th century, the Argentine aristocracy experienced its Golden Era of prosperity. In order to show off that opulence, French architects and engineers where promptly summoned, and where charged with the design and construction of buildings that would allow for Buenos Aires to rival with Paris, back then undisputedly the center of the world, while shaking off at the same time the city’s Colonial heritage, transforming Buenos Aires into South America’s leading metropolis.

Our starting point is Plaza San Martín, without a doubt the most sumptuous of the city’s plazas. Around Plaza San Martín stand tall some of the city’s most conspicuous buildings, such as the former Palacio Paz. This 12,000 square meter palace, which Paz never got to see completed in his lifetime, nowadays houses the Military Society.

Then our visit of Recoleta at the namesake Cemetery. A walk around this majestic necropolis, which houses 47.000 ornate mausoleums, vaults, tombs and funeral monuments in around five hectares, will force us to discredit the popular notion that everybody is equal in death, we’ll visit the nearby Nuestra Señora del Pilar Basilica. It’s the second oldest Colonial temple in town, built in 1732; it’s been flawlessly restored and preserved, and hosts important artwork.

In the Cemetery, we’ll first admire the Neoclassical portico, with its tall pillars guarding the entrance to the necropolis. Once inside we’ll walk across its wide, tree-lined avenues, stopping by some of the most illustrious tombs and vaults, and allowing us to trace back the history of our country with the personal aid of the important figures resting there: Remedios Escalada de San Martín, Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson, Juan Manuel de Rosas, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and most especially, Eva Perón, whose mausoleum attracts pilgrims and visitors from all over the world, and witnesses her posthumous triumph over the aristocracy, who had hated and fought her in life.

At the end of the avenue, we see the Ortíz Basualdo Palace, an excellent example of French architecture, where casually the French embassy is located. A few meters away, we find the Mansion of the Four Seasons Hotel, formerly the imposing palace of the very traditional Álzaga Unzué family.

Next, we visit Palermo Chico. Around the massive Bosques de Palermo (Palermo Woods), designed by Charles Thays for the May Revolution Centennial, together with parks, squares, woods and artificial lakes, we’ll have the chance to admire more luxurious palaces and mansions. We’ll also visit the Palermo Rose Garden , a beautiful park that houses many species of Western civilization’s most sung flower.

The modern, state-of-the-art Museum of Latin American Art in Buenos Aires (MALBA) was built by Córdoba based architects Gastón Atelman, Martin Fourcade and Alfredo Tapia. MALBA is a space devoted to the collection, conservation, study and divulgation of Latin American art from the early 20th century to the present. Some of the artists in permanent exhibition are Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Antonio Berni, Pedro Figari, Xul Solar, Guillermo Kuitca, among others.

Finally, before leaving Recoleta, we visit the Museum of Decorative Art , a spectacular French mansion built in 1918, which houses an important collection. After the visit we will enjoy a tea time at Croque Madame , the exclusive french styled café located in the gardens of the museum.

Accommodation in Palladio M Gallery Hotel with breakfast.

Meals: breakfast and afternoon tea.

DAY 4: BUENOS AIRES

Breakfast.

Transfer out from Hotel to Ezeiza Airport in private.

Meals: breakfast.

*End of services*