Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
6
The Pampas, the Coast
& Other Side Trips
from Buenos Aires
by Michael Luongo
If you're spending more than 4 or
5 days in Buenos Aires, you might want to
consider a side trip—especially if y ou're
visiting in summer , when many P orteños
hit the beach resorts.
Mar del Plata
is the
country's most popular str etch of shor e,
and some of the countr y's most famous
musicians and other enter tainers follo w
the beachgoers there. To describe Mar del
Plata as cr owded in summer is an under-
statement, as mor e than eight million
people visit in D ecember, J anuary, and
February alone. Nearby, the town of
Mira-
mar
offers a quieter beach v
museums and other sites of historical
interest, which you can visit year-round.
Just outside B uenos Air es's suburbs is
the
Tigre D elta,
a beautiful complex of
islands and marshland full of small bed-
and-breakfasts, r esorts, and adv enture
trails. You can make a day trip her e on
mass transit from Buenos Aires, or you can
choose to stay overnight. It is busiest in the
summer season, but most sites and hotels
are open year-round.
The P ampas surr ound B uenos Air es,
and here you'll find gauchos and the stuff
of Argentine co wboy lor e. The r egion's
main to wn is
San Antonio de Ar eco,
about 90 minutes north of the capital. Few
people stay in town, preferring to lodge at
the surr ounding
estancias
(19th-c. ranch
farms), several of which are detailed here.
acation at a
slower pace.
La Plata
is the capital of B uenos Aires
Province, planned in 1880 along neoclas-
sical lines. Full of diagonals and parks, it is
an interesting and open city with v arious
1
MAR DEL PLATA
400km (248 miles) S of Buenos Aires
Argentina's most popular beach resort is a sleepy coastal city of about 700,000 long-term
residents—until mid-December, when Porteños flock here through March for their sum-
mer vacation. Nearly eight million v acationers will pass thr ough in the summer season,
the vast majority of them Argentines. Although it 's not as luxurious as U ruguay's Punta
del Este—the beach fav orite of many jet-setting Argentines—M ar del P lata is closer to
Buenos Aires and far cheaper . Its long, windy coastline is kno wn for its cr owded, tan-
bodied beaches and quieter seaside coves, and beautiful landscapes farther inland, leading
to the edge of the grassy P ampas. The resort was at one time v ery exclusive, but during
the Perón era many hotels and high-rises were built for labor unions and the middle class,
changing both the social and physical makeup of the city for ever. Some of the magnifi-
cent French- and Tudor-style mansions, which housed Argentina 's summer elites in the
early 20th century, have been meticulously preserved as museums.
