Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
156
GETTING AROUND
La Rambla marks the heart of the city, the seaside walk in front
of the casino and main city beach. This area is walkable on its own, with restaurants and
other businesses clustered here and between the nearby bus station and Plaza San Martín.
Farther south, the Los Tronces neighborhood houses the city's most prominent residences
as well as Playa Grande (the main beach), the Sheraton hotel, and the Mar del Plata Golf
Club. Mar del P lata has 47km (29 miles) of A tlantic coastline, so if y ou plan to go to
that part of the city, you'll need to take a taxi or rent a car.
Avis
(
&
223/470-2100;
www.
avis.com.ar) rents cars at the airport.
WHAT TO SEE & DO
The main reason to visit M ar del Plata is the beaches, all of which spr ead out from the
city's heart at
Plaza Colón.
Here you'll find the
Mar del P lata Casino
(
&
223/495-
7011;
www.loteria.gba.gov.ar). The red brick-and-granite structure guarded by sea lion
sculptures is the social center of the city. Walkways and steps lead from here to the beach,
with many people posing in front of the giant granite sea lions for their only-in-Mar del
Plata photos. In the early evening, as the crowds head home from the beach, you'll often
see street performers and musicians here. (Watch your pockets if you stand and admire.)
With long, slo w breaks,
Waikiki
is the best spot for sur fing. The coastline is nice, but
you should not come expecting to find the Caribbean—the A tlantic remains fairly cold,
even during summer. Once you've brushed off the sand, visit the
fishing harbor,
where
hundreds of red and yellow boats unload their daily catches. The harbor houses a colony
of 800 male sea lions that come to bathe on the r ocky shores. (Be warned that btw. the
sea lions and the fishing boats, it 's an olfactor y disaster.) Next to the colony , there's an
ugly but intriguing boat graveyard where rusty boats have been left to rot away.
In the Los Tronces neighborhood,
Villa Victoria,
at M atheu 1851, at Ar enales
(
&
223/492-0569
), showcases the early-20th-century summerhouse of w ealthy Argen-
tine writer Victoria Ocampo, who published the Argentine literar y magazine
Sud
and
was the first female member of the Argentine A cademy of Letters. S ome of Argentina's
greatest authors have stayed here visiting her writing salons, including Jorge Luis Borges.
It is open year-round Thursday to Tuesday from 1 to 8pm, with an admission charge of
about $3 (£2). In summer, musical and theatrical per formances are held in the gar dens,
with various entry prices depending on the event.
Villa Ortiz Basualdo,
Av. Colón 1189
(
&
223/486-1636
), is an English-style Victorian mansion decorated with ex quisite Art
Nouveau furniture from Belgium. The building is open daily fr om 10am to 10pm with
an entry charge of just o ver $1 (70p). I n the same neighborhood, the
Museo del Mar,
Av. Colón 1114, at Viamonte (
&
223/451-9779;
www.museodelmar.com), houses a
collection of 30,000 seashells. S top in for a bite at their cafe, surr ounded by tanks of
sharks staring at you and your meal. This is an ideal spot for visiting if y ou're with kids,
and the rooftop terrace has an amazing view to the ocean a few blocks away. In summer,
it is open Sunday to Friday 9am to 7pm and Saturday 9am to 10pm. During the winter,
it's open daily fr om 9am to 1pm. A dmission is about $2 (£1.35) for the museum, and
various prices for lectures and other events at the adjacent auditorium.
Twenty minutes from the city center,
De Los Padres Lake and Hills
is a picturesque
forest with wide par ks surrounding the lake, per fect for an afternoon picnic. N earby, in
the Barrio Sierra de los Padres, is the
Zoo El Paraíso,
Ruta 266, Km 16.5 (
&
223/463-
0347;
www.zooelparaisoonline.com.ar). The par k is open daily 10am to 7pm, with a
charge of $8 (£5.40) for adults and $3 (£2) for childr en. It features a wonderful collec-
tion of flora and fauna, including plants and tr ees fr om all o ver Argentina as w ell as
lions, pumas, monkeys, llamas, and other animals. For information on surfing, deep-sea
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