Buenos Aires Travel and Things to Do Guide

Welcome to Cvent's MICE Guide to Buenos Aires, a city guide for MICE professionals. The capital and largest city of Argentina, Buenos Aires prides itself on being a sophisticated city – so much so that it still wears with honor its nickname, "the Paris of South America." It is one of South America's most characteristic, colorful destinations – tango music and dance; a manic celebration of all things futbol; concerts at the renovated but still magnificent Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires has, in fact, more theaters per square mile than any city on the planet) on Avenida 9 Julio (incidentally, the widest street on the planet); and its noticeably different barrios such as working-class and colourful Boca; trendy Palermo; low-key, interesting, innovative, hip San Telmo and grand, architecturally magnificent and neighboring Retiro and Recoleta.

Landmarks include the Obelisco de Buenos Aires, a 222-foot-high obelisk that is on the Plaza de la Republica and commemorates the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city in 1936; ornate Congressional Palace, where the Argentine parliament sits at one end of the Avenida de Mayo; the brightly painted houses arching along Caminito street in Boca; the very nearby La Casa Rosada, or Pink House, the president's official office; But many love Buenos Aires for its street life – the sounds of tango, the bustle of its markets and the smells of its cuisine and roasted meats, known as asado.

The central business district of Buenos Aires is adjacent to Retiro, in an area that is known as El Centro, is unofficially known as Microcento and is technically called San Nicolas. Being the capital of a vast nation, Buenos Aires is the main commercial and government hub, and the area is full of banks, and close by is a large port that sits on more than 500 acres of reclaimed land. Finance makes up approximately 80 percent of Buenos Aires' economy. Buenos Aires is the main distribution hub for a huge chunk of South America, including Uruguay and Southern Brazil.

Buenos Aires is served by the Ezeiza International Airport, which is also known as the Ministro Pistarini Airport. Located just 13 miles outside of the city, Ezeiza International is connected to Buenos Aires by the General Ricchieri Expressway. The airport offers a number of ground transportation options for Buenos Aires travelers.

Buenos Aires meeting venues include the 742-room Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention Center has room for up to 1,800 persons. Elsewhere, Centro Costa Salguero, with six halls and five salons, has a maximum capacity of 5,000 persons for conventions, 3,200 for receptions and 1,800 for banquets; and La Rural has an auditorium, four lounges and four pavilions - of which the largest, Yellow (or Pabellon Amarillo), measures more than 9,290 square meters.

With a population of close to three million (its metropolitan area has more than 12 million) people, known as portenos, or "people of the port," speak Spanish with a decided accent, its ll sound pronounced with a "sh" sound, not with the more common "yay" sound.