Things to Do in Central And South America

Often referred to as “the Paris of South America,” Buenos Aires features chic neighborhoods, world class museums and nonstop shopping. With French, Spanish and Italian influences and a distinct European feel, the capital of Argentina is diverse and cosmopolitan, while retaining a fair amount of old world charm.

How to Get to Buenos Aires
Your ship will dock at the pier about a half-mile from the center of Buenos Aires. Complimentary shuttle buses may be available to take you into town. Otherwise, taxis are plentiful and many offer set prices to certain neighborhoods. Walking from the port into the center of the city is not recommended.

One Day in Buenos Aires
Start your day in El Centro, the cultural, historical and financial center of Buenos Aires. Ask your taxi to drop you off at the Plaza de Mayo. There, check out the 18th-century Metropolitan Cathedral and catch a glimpse of the Casa Rosado, where Eva Peron addressed Argentinian crowds from the balcony. Then, make your way on foot along the pedestrian shopping street, Calle Florida, to the Plaza San Martin. From there, head north to the upscale Recoleta neighborhood, where you can spend the rest of your morning.

The prime attraction in Recoleta is the Recoleta Cemetery, the burial place for the city’s aristocracy since 1822. Covering four square blocks, it is lined with elaborately designed tombs and mausoleums, and is the final resting place for Eva Peron. If you are visiting on a weekend, your next stop should be the nearby Plaza Independiente Alvear, home to a lively crafts and souvenir market. If not, take some time to visit the Museum of Fine Arts, the largest museum in the country, or take in some of the art galleries throughout the neighborhood.

By now, you may be so hungry you could eat a steak - and you should, since Argentina has some of the best! If you won’t have time to enjoy dinner in the city, take a break at lunch to enjoy both a glass of Argentina’s fine wine and a nice steak. Whether you hang around Recoleta or return to Calle Florida, you’ll find plenty of restaurants to choose from.

After lunch, grab a taxi or retrace your steps along Calle Florida to Plaza de Mayo, and then make your way to the working class neighborhood of La Boca. In La Boca, you’ll discover a colorful artists’ quarter where the tango was born. Wander around the cobbled streets before heading to El Caminito, a pedestrian marketplace for craftsmen where you may also catch couples dancing the tango.

Alternatively, you may want to spend your afternoon exploring some of Buenos Aires’ fine museums, including the National Museum of Decorative Arts, the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires and the National History Museum. Opera fans may also want to take a guided tour of the Colon Theater, one of the most lavish opera houses in the world.

Don’t forget to grab a few souvenirs before heading back to your ship – leather goods, wine, gems and handicrafts are all excellent options.

Port Information
The official language is a form of Spanish known as Castellano, but English is generally spoken in hotels and shops. The currency is the Argentinian peso, but you may be able to use US dollars in some instances. ATM's can be found throughout the city and credit cards are widely accepted.

Cachi, a tiny pueblo of only 5,000 people in northwestern Argentina, offers visitors a blissfully quiet base for exploring the Calchaquí Valley and surrounding archaeological sites, many of which exist well off Salta’s usual tourist path.

Located just a mile from the town center, Cahal Pech is a small but significant archeological reserve that can be visited in a couple of hours. The site, settled around 1,000 BC and abandoned in 800 AD, includes plazas, ball courts, an altar and even a royal burial chamber. It is believed that an elite Mayan ruling family once resided here. There is a comprehensive museum before reaching the site, with detailed information on Cahal Pech, Maya history and way of life.

The town of Cafayate and the region that surrounds it have earned the nickname “Tuscany of Argentina” for its position as the nation’s second major wine producer after Mendoza. While much of Salta is dominated by arid landscapes, the microclimate surrounding Cafayate is home to some of the planet’s highest altitude vineyards — considered by some to be the most spectacular as well.

The vast protected forest of Braulio Carrillo National Park may be divided by one of the nation’s busiest highways, but this just means easy access for travelers, as well as the possibility of picturesque views without ever having to leave the car.

Lazy travelers can traverse the highway snapping photos of lush landscapes from the comfort of their car seats, while those eager to get back to nature can embark on one of the miles of trails leading to the waterfalls, open pastures and mountain stations that dot the rainforest. An Aerial tram on the eastern side of the park offers open gondola rides through the dense understory and canopy of the woods, where its possible to spot the sloth and other forest creatures that call Braulio Carrillo National Park home.

Argentina’s hot-spring spa town of Cacheuta has been a popular Andean resort since the early 1900s. Hot springs are a feature of the Andean foothills, and Cacheuta is one of the country’s major spa resorts. The first resort opened in 1904, and became a byword for luxurious relaxation, with bathing establishments and direct access to the spa from the town’s train station.

All this was swept away by the floods of 1934. Today, the ruins of the original spa are preserved within the new resort. Visitors can swim in the resort’s pools, have mud baths and spas in a series of rock pools lining the river, indulge in massage therapies, or go horseback riding and walking. The spa hotel offers luxury accommodation, and day visitors can use the day spa facilities, including sauna, thermal pools and relaxation areas. The resort also has an aqua park for all the family, with pools, slides and waterfalls.

With over 350 different animal species and an acclaimed exotic breeding program, Buenos Aires Zoo is the go-to place for urban wildlife spotting, hitting headlines at the start of 2013 when one of its Bengal White Tigers produced a rare litter of four cubs. Located close to Plaza Italia in the heart of the city’s Palermo district, the zoo has been running since 1888 and today houses over 2,500 animal inhabitants, as well as spearheading Argentina’s zoological research, education and preservation efforts.

The 18-hectare park aims to mimic a range of different ecosystems, with a variety of unique enclosures and architecturally impressive buildings, set around a boating lake and island inhabited by a population of Madagascan Lemurs. Highlights include the subtropical jungle exhibition, where a suspension bridge offers a prime view of the lush vegetation and birdlife; an aquarium where piranhas, sea sharks and tropical fish are displayed alongside a penguin and seal pool; a Japanese style pagoda housing a family of Giant pandas;  and a dimly-lit bat enclosure. Giraffes, rhinoceros, pumas, lions, monkeys and elephants are just some of the zoo’s animal inhabitants, along with some more unique specimens like Red Pandas, Orangutans and a colorful array of native birdlife. There’s even a petting zoo where visitors can interact and feed goats, donkeys, llamas and Shetland ponies. The zoo also frequently opens its doors during the evening hours with after-dark visits offering the chance to see a different side of the animals’ lifestyle as well as getting the rare opportunity to watch the zoo’s nocturnal animals at large.

This incredible waterfall in the heart of the rainforest is just 30 minutes outside Paraty. Its one-of-a-kind natural waterslide sends travelers shooting down slippery rocks into a warm water pool. Expert guides can help visitors navigate the best (and safest) rocky crags, but it is possible to venture to Cachoeira without taking a tour. Spend some time splashing around this unique destination, then head to nearby Bar Tarzan, where an old creaky bridge leads to cold beers, delicious snacks and the perfect place to unwind.

El Cabildo, a modest, two-story colonial building along the edge of Plaza de Mayo, once served as Buenos Aires’s original city hall. Within the white facade, meetings were held about Argentina’s declaration of independence in the first decades of the nineteenth century, the Uruguayan constitution was signed within the building in 1830, and it housed the National Court of Justice during the late 1800s.