Famous for its cemetery, Recoleta is also one of the toniest neighborhoods in town. Home to embassies, 5* hotels, gourmet restaurants and luxury stores, it’s well worth a visit. Read on for the best sights to visit in Recoleta.
The number one attraction in Recoleta is the cemetery. Most visitors come for the tomb of Eva Peron, but a host of famous Argentines and members of the most important families in town have found their final resting place here. Directly outside the burial grounds is the church of Our Lady of Pilar, built in 1732.
On the other side of the cemetery, you come up on the BA Design shopping center where furniture by young Argentine designers is combined with fancy restaurants and terraces overlooking the Plaza and Avenida Libertador. For more shopping there are Luis Vuitton, Cartier, Hermes and a host of other luxury purveyors along Avenida Alvear and a few blocks further along the Patio Bullrich shopping mall. Patio Bullrich started out as an auction house for prize bulls and other valuable livestock and in the 1980’s it’s six floors were converted in to the most exclusive shopping center in the city.
Finally a new shopping center was just opened this year directly across from the cemetery with the original name Recoleta Mall, offering basically the same upscale shops as the various other malls across the city. However, this one also offers Recoleta's first cineplex offering an option for a scarce rainy day.
To get your energy back up, there’s no better stop than the historic La Biela cafe. Named after the piston in an engine, it started out as the hangout for Argentina’s aviation pioneers and in later years became the unofficial club house for some of the most famous race car drivers in Argentina, including 5 time Formula 1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio. Recoleta also has the best sushi bar in town, Koi at Junin 1281
To sleep in style after all this luxury, both the Alvear Palace (voted best hotel in South America many years running) and Palacio Duhau hotels are more than excellent choices.
For those on a budget there is some good news as well: one of the best pizza restaurants in town, the Buenos Aires institution El Cuartito on Talcahuano street is also part of the neighborhood
