After a long summer of traveling to warm weather places including Bora Bora Intercontinental (working on getting pictures up), St Regis & Ritz Carlton Puerto Rico (Also working on getting these pictures up) and a quick hop over to Nassau before Hurricane Irene, we decided to try a place with mild weather this time of year. We ended up with a trip to Buenos Aires.
Our itenerary has us flying American Airlines in First Class. We used 240,000 British Airways points for two tickets and paid $173 for taxes and fees.
There are a number of hotels we would have liked to stay in, and we decided on the Park Hyatt Palacio Duhau by using 72,000 Hyatt points. As a diamond member we are hoping for an upgrade to a suite and will receive free breakfast every morning. We also considered the Park Tower, a luxury collection hotel from SPG, but the hotel doesn’t qualify for the SPG Free Resort Promotion (which I have 3 free nights that will go unused at this point). I hear this hotel is as good or better than the Park Hyatt DC or Park Hyatt Paris (see Park Hyatt Paris trip report here).
This is our first trip to Argentina and we are looking forward to experiencing all the city has to offer. We are looking into wine tastings, great food, cooking classes, tours of the city and other activities. If you have any great restaurant recommendations or activities I’d appreciate any information you can share in the comment section.
I”ll try to get the pictures up with a report as soon as I return.
About The Weekly Flyer
The Weekly Flyer writes about travel from a business traveler perspective. He travels the world every week accumulating points and miles along the way.
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Siga la Vaca!
The Park Hyatt Argentina is AMAZING. I’ve spent 4 nights there all on awards and they upgraded me on both stays to amazing suites. One time in the modern wing and the other time in the palace. Make sure you go see a tango show while you are there, we went to El Querandi (http://www.querandi.com.ar/) and the hotel concierge got us front row seats. Skip the dinner and do just the show!
Have dinner at the hotel’s steakhouse, it’s probably one of the best in the city and I went there twice. I would go back there in a heartbeat! Hope you have a great trip.
@ Ekrem – thanks for the comments. Did you prefer the modern building or the palace?
@ jay – Siga la Vaca sure looks like a lot of red meat. Thanks for the suggestion.
It’s hard to beat “El Palacio de la Papa Frita.” Amazing steaks and some really neat puffed potatoes.
I’m also a fan of “Il Gatto,” a chain that originated in Córdoba, where I lived for 13 years. I love the ñoquis.
Be sure and eat some empanadas, as well as pizza. “Los Inmortales” is a famous pizza place, but a lot of times it’s the little mom-and-pop joints that have the best stuff.
Oh… and don’t miss the wonderful Argentina ice cream. And… well, I can get carried away. Argentines definitely know how to eat.
Oh, and since you’re going in winter, you might be able to get some “locro.” It’s a stew that’s best eaten in winter. Locro con empanadas y vino tinto… man, I wish I were going with you!
@ Tim – thanks for the suggestions. Will definitely try the locro if we come across it. We’re keeping a dinner open for exploring and if we come across something interesting we’ll stop in and check it out.
My personal preference was for the palace, the modern building suite was amazing but the palace was really nice too. It was really nicely renovated and I believe that you’ll find a modern hotel room anywhere but you won’t find a palace everywhere. It’s a personal choice.
The hotel is in the recoletta district and the cemetery where Eva Peron is buried is a nice 10 – 15 minute stroll. There is a great weekend market there too. It doesn’t start till around 10.30 – 11.00 since the Argentines like to stay out late. On the weekends you can also visit “the pink house” and see the seat of government and visit the President’s office, well worthwhile if you get in. La Boca is a vibrant area to go visit but can be dangerous so best to go as part of a group. It’s very colorful and where the city was born. As I mentioned hit up the tango show for sure. Also go visit San Telmo flea market on the weekend, it’s amazing. Stretches for 15 – 20 blocks!
As for restaurants there is a little empanada place five minutes from the hotel called El San Juanino. They had the best empanadas I’ve ever had, it’s a must visit. Very reasonable price and the waiters were very friendly. My stay was over 2 weekends and I arrived late both times so only had two evenings to go out to dinner so only ate at the hotel restaurant. The wagyu beef is the most expensive but was amazing. The wine is a must too!
Check out the Alveear Palace hotel if you get a moment. The hotel has the most amazing lobby and shows you the wealth that Buenos Aires used to have.
And one last tip, if you have an iphone or ipad download the app 4 Days in Buenos Aires. It’ll direct you to many of the places I mentioned to and show you where they are on the map. It also works offline too.
@ Ekrem – Thank you very much for the tips. Sounds like you know the city well.
I managed to see a lot of the city in the few days I was there. We splurged on a private tour guide so saw a lot of things in just a few hours and then went back to see the things I wanted to see in more detail. Was well worth it! Enjoy your trip.