Recently in Buenos Aires Category

I get great pleasure out of local shopping when I travel internationally. Returning home, it's extremely satisfying seeing that pair of 1970s tea cups from Norway or that dishtowel from Switzerland in my kitchen. That's why a trip to the Argentine capital, a stop at the Buenos Aires Design Center is essential when you're visiting Buenos Aires. Located in the upscale neighborhood of Recoleta, just a half mile from the Park Tower, Buenos Aires, one of Starwood's Luxury Collection properties, it's a haven for native design and decor.

Dozens of stores provide the opportunity to purchase unique items by local Buenos Aires designers, including Claudia Adorno who offers an exceptional array of bamboo and seagrass bath accessories among her shop's assortment of fabulous home goods and tasty desserts. I also love her colorful bottle tops shaped like fish and frogs. Drol has some really sweet items for children's rooms like boxes to store Barbie dolls and toy soldiers, in pretty shades of pink and green. For gorgeous bedding nothing beats Home Collection. Shams and duvets come in styles to please all types of design lovers. When you're all shopped out, an open-air terrace is the perfect place to enjoy lunch. Great views of the neighborhood too!

[image via Claudia Adorno]

Everybody knows that Buenos Aires is lots of fun for adults, with a seemingly endless choice of excellent restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, but there's plenty to keep the little ones happy as well. Families traveling with children should start at el Museo de los Niños - Abasto, an interactive museum for children where imagination is the only limit. Located in the trendy Abasto Shopping Center, the museum is designed to stimulate the minds of children between the ages of three and twelve with hands-on exhibits that let them try out various careers. Whether the kids are interested in a job in medicine, show business, journalism, or science and technology, they'll have a chance to try their hands at basic tasks and learn what it takes to become a professional in the field. There are also miniature recreations of Buenos Aires to help kids get their bearings in this chaotic and exciting city, including a section designed to resemble the city's water system with enormous water pipes for kids to walk through. Where was this stuff when I was little? The museum is convenient to several Starwood properties, including the nearby Sheraton Libertador Hotel.

[image via moniblog]

Buenos Aires is often called the "Paris of South America," and lives up to that billing. 19th century European-style buildings lined both sides of Avenida de Mayo and other major streets, and even the people themselves, descended mostly from Italian and Spanish immigrants, are more reminiscent of Europe than South America. Café Tortoni, where we stopped for lunch, fit this mold with its dark wood and tall columns, and an art nouveau influence on the artwork and lamps.

Buenos Aires, like Paris, is also a city of neighborhoods, and better yet, most of them are walkable and not far from downtown. San Telmo was one of our favorites. Away from the hustle of downtown, San Telmo retains a more traditional feel with its cobblestone streets and two- or three-story European-style buildings, most with balconies providing perches for potted plants enjoying the cloudless, sunny day.

Every Sunday, San Telmo's central Plaza Dorrego hosts the Feria de San Telmo, a popular flea market. Streets are closed to cars, and are taken over by juice vendors, human statues and musicians entertaining the steady stream of visitors. In Plaza Dorrego itself are dozens of booths where merchants sell antiques and trinkets like old porcelain, jewelry and silverware -- and probably a good bit of junk as well.

The elegant Recoleta neighborhood houses Buenos Aires' elite. Indeed, looking at some of the stately facades and exclusive retailers, you could be forgiven for thinking you were actually in Paris.

Starwood has five hotels in Buenos Aires, including the Park Tower, a Luxury Collection Hotel.

Eva Peron is both a beloved and a controversial figure in Argentinian history, but there's no question that her influence has been far reaching. And while many people are familiar with the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and Madonna film based on her life, those looking for a little more information on Argentina's colorful former first lady should pay a visit to the Museo Evita in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. The museum, which is housed in a mansion that was once the home of her charity, provides a fascinating overview of Evita's life. A range of exhibits tell the story of her modest birth in a small Argentinian town and move to Buenos Aires in her quest to become an actress to her ascension into the political elite with her marriage to President Juan Peron. So popular was Evita as first lady of Argentina that she was appointed to the position of "spiritual leader of the nation," and that's a lot for anyone to live up to. In addition to photos and documents, the museum also has some of her clothes, which is pretty significant because Evita was a style icon both in her day and ever since. Starwood has three hotels in Buenos Aires: the Sheraton Libertador Hotel, the Park Tower, and the Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention Center.

Travel guides do a nice job detailing major events in a city's past, but all too often I find myself skipping to the heart of the guidebook to find the top attractions, hottest restaurants, and choice shops, merely scanning the historical info, and then wondering what that big street is named for, when that bridge was constructed, and what architectural style that church is built in. Blissful Travel tipped us off to a fun way to learn about one South American city's past. Buenos Aires teamed up with actors and historians to create twelve "circuits," with each focusing on a particular neighborhood, plaza, or thoroughfare, such as "Monserrat," the Argentine capital's first barrio; "Avenida Corrientes", its cultural artery; or "Retiro", home to the Starwood Luxury Collection hotel, Park Tower. Play circuit 11, and listen as Maria Kodama, recalls how her late husband, the writer Jorge Luis Borges found inspiration here, in the famous Plaza San Martin. Download the audio guides as mp3s, or dial 8232 on your mobile phone and have a listen in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.

In addition to these fabulous audio guides, and a host of essential tidbits about the city, the website also provides wonderful biographical guides for three of Buenos Aires' most famous citizens: Borges, Eva Peron, and Carlos Gardel. Download all three, as well as the free, 27-page city guide before you go. It makes a great in-flight read. Here's another idea. Got teenagers studying Spanish? Send them off to learn about the city's heros while you finish up that sales meeting.