16 Things People Miss When They Leave Buenos Aires

Argentines are very friendly, open, and generous, both with their time and willingness to let you practice your terrible Spanish on them. They love to chat, which explains why they don’t mind queueing for hours on end. Luckily they also love to travel, so you can find them all over the world.

Speaking of meat, the Argentine asado, or barbeque, is one of the linchpins of Argentine society. From the different cuts of meat that you don’t find anywhere else, to the social aspect of getting everyone together to eat ounces of dead cow, an asado is just something you don’t find abroad.

It is almost impossible to be bored in Buenos Aires. With the wealth of theater, live music, nightclubs, amazing restaurants, dance clubs and bars, you’ll often find yourself with three or four options on any given night. Definitely not the case in most other cities.

A lot of people in Argentina have a number of jobs to keep them going, so, for a big city, it doesn’t really subscribe to the nine-to-five lifestyle that many other capitals adhere to. Which is great news for going out midweek. Tuesday is one of the funnest nights in the city, and no one will look down on you if you decide to stay home on a Saturday.

Buenos Aires is not a city for early risers, but if you love missing rush hour and not starting work until 10 or 11 a.m., it’s the city for you. Everything starts a lot later in the evening too, so expect to finish work, go to the gym, take a nap and watch a film, all before meeting friends for dinner at 10 p.m. and going for drinks at one in the morning. The city never sleeps.

This herbal tea is something that Argentines live on, and you know you’re fully ingrained into Argentine culture if you regularly share a mate with friends. Although forms of it are becoming popularized in places like the U.S., no one quite does mate like they do in Argentina.

Argentina is often a few steps behind the rest of the world, but this is a big plus when it comes to rules and regulations. In many ways, Buenos Aires is still quite lawless, and although uncertainty may not be everyone’s cup of tea, the fact that you can do pretty much whatever you want is a draw for a lot of people.

Argentines are a passionate bunch, and nowhere is this more evident than in the voice of the people. There are marches and protests almost daily in Buenos Aires, and while this can be annoying in terms of traffic jams and chaos, it is comforting to see people standing up for what they believe in.

Few countries in the world have a history as turbulent and interesting as Argentina. From successive dictatorships to repeated economic crises, Argentina, and Buenos Aires in particular, has been through the wars, and this makes it an incredible place to be.

While this doesn’t exactly sound like something you might miss, it is in fact something so synonymous with Buenos Aires and Argentina that everywhere else seems positively boring in comparison. From the chaotic traffic to the cyclical economic crises, living in Buenos Aires hardens you against the whimsy of life and you come out stronger the other side.

Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Torrontes, Bonarda… the list is endless. The capital of New World wines, Argentina produces some of the best wines on Earth, which are available for a fraction of the cost they would be abroad, and you can find them in your local supermarket.

While many people who live here, whether locals or expats, rarely or never indulge in it, tango is more than just a dance—it’s the heartbeat of Argentina. Buenos Aires’ many milongas are perfect to drop into to catch some incredible dancing with a glass of wine, and that’s something lacking from anywhere else.

Yes, people in Buenos Aires are beautiful, even if they know it all too well. Men and women alike will stop traffic with their beauty, but at least there is always Italy and Spain to turn to once you leave.

It gets super hot in Buenos Aires in summer, but luckily a lot of people have swimming pools in their buildings. Buenos Aires is a city that thrives in the heat, and they make sure that they have the right infrastructure to cool off when it gets too much.

This incredible oasis on the Paraná Delta is only 45 minutes from Buenos Aires, but it’s almost as if you’ve been transported to another world. Full of islands and waterways that crisscross the delta, Tigre is an idyllic waterworld, and nowhere else is quite as special.