We had a wonderful experience at Melia Recoleta Plaza, well appointed, large and very, very quiet room, helpful staff who went the extra mile for us, plentiful and varied breakfast. Location was great and we could walk to many excellent restaurants. Recoleta is safe, nice walking in the area. One of our better hotel experiences. Full service laundry around the corner. I do not remember specifics of exercice equipment. For quiet room, ask for one of the middle buildings as hotel is a series of connected bldgs.

I have stayed in Recoleta and Palermo and I'd say Palermo is a bit more funky . For me it was more of a neighbourhood feel .
Hopefully MarnieWDC and others will help out here

Hey there Kodi.

Yes, we have stayed in Recoleta and Palermo(Botanco)and love them both. They are not far apart in terms of convenience, and many areas of both barrios are quite safe, charming and replete with restaurants, parks, sites etc. For upper east side = Recoleta for upper west side - well, maybe Recoleta again.

I agree with HappyTrvlr that the Melia Recoleta is a lovely place to stay and very well located. The neighborhood is fantastic, but not overly noisy. I don't remember an exercise room either, but we stayed there 6 years ago.

Other hotels on you list are also well located, but I will leave the particulars to those who have actually stayed there.

Enjoy the planning.

Thanks everyone.

Now I'm going to reconsider Palermo. I do like the upper west side better than (my limited experience of) the upper east side.

kodi, you know Toronto -- would you say Recoleta is more like Yorkville and Palermo more like Queen West? Or what other neighbourhoods would you compare them to?

Still hoping for some comments on my hotel list but I might add some Palermo ones now.

Where are avrooster and scarlett when you need them!

Oh gtg this is tough . Not Yorkville .
Recoleta maybe like Church and Front . ... Not as upscale as Yorkville , but very nice . Maybe like Yonge and Lawrence too

Palermo maybe like The Beaches, or even little areas like Kensington . Tree lined streets with little shops and cafes. Or like Mount Pleasant south of Eglington

I hope this helps . I've only been there twice ...
If you settle on an area, I'm sure Marnie would be able to tell you what it's like . She's very familiar with the areas .

Right Marnie ??

Well, that's interesting, kodi, because while Yorkville is very upscale, I think it's gotten pretty boring. But I do love the Church & Front area.

OK, I'm going to look at Palermo hotels. Any suggestions, Marnie?

Palermo is great, but it is a vast area divided into sub areas: what you would be interested in, I think, would be Palermo Viejo (Soho) or Palermo Botanico (where we stay, but fewer hotel options).

Check out these boutique hotels in Palermo: The BoBo Hotel (with a great restaurant) Glu, Malabia House, Home Hotel, Legado Mitico and several others. All good. But, as boutiue hotels, I am unsure about their having a tread mill, but you could ask them if they do - or if there is a gym nearby that permits short-term use. There definitely are some. By the way, I love Palermo, but I have to say that Recoleta is a wonderful barrio to stay in - especially for a first visit.

Thanks so much. I'm going to be house-bound tomorrow because of the snow so I'm going to stay in my flannel jammies all day and look at BA hotels! I hope to have a plan in place by the end of the weekend.

Gtg, I agree with Marnie, who knows better than me .. You'd like Recoleta too .. The area where I stayed was a bit boring , but Marnie has stayed in more interesting areas.

Good luck with the planning and good luck with the storm . Stay in your Jammies

Recoleta reminded us of the Gold Coast in Chicago, Art Deco buildings, etc.

Oh HappyTrvlr, that's great -- I know that part of Chicago and that gives me a really good picture!

"Melia Recoleta Plaza"

I stayed there in Dec 2008 and loved it. I'd definitely stay there again. While in Buenos Aires, I rented an apartment first and loved both the apartment and the area (Hollywood Palermo), but it was noisy as a train track was a block away and the train seemed to run all night. I've been in a lot of cities around the world, but have never been in one as noisy as Buenos Aires. When I got over to the Melia Recoleta Plaza, it was pin-drop quiet and I finally got some sound sleep. And I always travel with earplugs.

Happy Travels!

Guenmai, were you in one of the middle buildings, as HT suggests?

Goddesstogo: I was just rereading my report. As to what building I stayed in, I don't know if it was the middle building or not. I really didn't realize how the building was divided up. But, I was in the room next door to the Ella Fitzgerald room. All of the rooms had names to them. I had a small standard room and I think it was in the area, a floor or so, above the lobby. I just remembered that it was quiet. When I was at the apartment, although I had to sleep, I wasn't in a sound sleep, due to the noise of the train and the city. But, I slept like a baby at the Melia Recoleta Plaza Hotel.

I wrote a very detailed trip report that I'll post for you here as I think it will be quite helpful to you. I originally posted it on the Asia forum as I'm a regular there and personally know a lot of the posters there. Plus, they wanted me to let them know about Buenos Aires. I also wrote a trip report on the South America forum, but a bit of a different style trip report. I'll give you the one from the Asia forum as that group is very active and had a lot of questions and comments and some had been to Buenos Aires and others were going.

Have a great time in BA!

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia/ok-dont-bite-my-head-off-guenmais-trip-report.cfm

Happy Travels!

I just noticed that you will be in Buenos Aires for 2 weeks. If I had two weeks, I'd stay in either 2-3 different hotels and in different parts of the city or a week in one hotel and a week in an apartment. I do that a lot when I'm in other cities of the world.

As for Buenos Aires, I'd pick Palermo Hollywood or Palermo Soho as the first choice. Then second would be Recoleta, and the third area would be Puerto Madero, as it's hip and upcoming.

If I were only going to stay in two different areas, then it would be Palermo Soho or Palermo Hollywood and either Recoleta or Porte Madera.

When I was planning my trip to BA, I was to initially go in our summer as I spend some of winter in Bangkok. But, due to the political turmoil that transpired right before I was to leave for Bangkok, I cancelled the trip and had about a couple weeks, I think it was, to plan a whole new vacation. So, I shifted BA to December. I had already done all of the research, for the summer trip, so I just took the notes out and very quickly planned for December.

The apartment building where I had planned to stay in the summer, just happened to pop up on Expedia, so I went for it. I had initially planned to have gone through the agency www.buenosaireshabitat.com . They offered apartments in the same building. I had researched many agencies and they had gotten the highest ratings.

Happy Travels!

We loved Recoleta, the feel but more importantly the great dining in walking distance. We liked one area of Palermo too, can't recall it's name. You really can't go wrong.
PS.To confuse you even more, loved living in the Gold Coast in Chicago but I don't really like the Upper West Side of Manhattan too much, prefer W. Chelsea, W. Village.

Recoletta is pretty - lots of beaux arts bldgs, whereas Palermo has lots of high rises built in the 60s and 70s with an occasional architecturally interesting bldg. We stayed in Palermo, a good choice for us, since we used public transit a lot. If I recall correctly, there are no subte (subway) connections in Recoletta. Taxis are cheap or at least were when we were there, but I did not enjoy using taxis, the drivers were often reckless and not very pleasant. I felt more comfortable using the buses and subways. We picked up a transit book at one of the magazine kiosks and negoiated the bus system. We speak some Spanish and were able to get around pretty easily. People were always helpful. So you might think about your transportation preferences when you choose one neighborhood over another. Both neighborhoods abound with cafes and restaurants.

Regarding treadmills - a hotel may list a gym among their amenities, but you may be very disappointed when you see the offerings. It may be an outdated treadmill or worse yet, inoperable. You might find a gym nearby a better alternative. I would question them closely regarding their gym equipment.

There is a subte connection in Recoleta if that's consideration.

I BELIEVE the plan for a subway station in Recoleta has been abandoned.

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1552477-recoleta-se-queda-sin-subte-por-una-decision-de-sbase

Hi everyone,
Thanks for all of this. I haven't had a moment to look at Palermo hotels but maybe tomorrow. Hi annetti, hope you're well. Where did you stay in Palermo? Was it a hotel or apartment and, if a hotel, did you like it.

If worse comes to worse, my SO can run outdoors but I'd like to have the treadmill as a back up for him. Hotel Casa Sur Art which I like very much so far, just has one but as you say, it may not be in working order. Of course, we can always depend on a local fitness centre.

As far as transportation goes, we're good walkers and have no concerns about public transportation. Re crazy cab drivers, well, I always figure that if they're still alive, I stand a good chance of making it to my destination with my limbs intact. I did once take a harrowing cab ride through Central Park though!

Aha Avrooster! Good correction! We used the stations called Retiro, and I think it was Callao, that were a short walk from where we stayed in Recoleta.

We had a harrowing taxi ride in Buenos Aires the one time we got into a taxi without having one called for us. The driver started going in the wrong direction from MALBA (where we got into the cab), and when he turned and drove down a rather scruffy looking dead end street, we yelled at him and when we turned to talk to us, we escaped and ran as fast as we could to a major road. We have lived in downtown NY and Chicago and are used to subways, buses, taxis and walikng everywhere but this was terrifying. Our hotel basically said that they'd warned us not to do that!

Happytrvl: We were hit walking across a crowded intersection by a taxi's side mirror as he drove through the hordes of people on Santa Fe. Could not believe he would even venture into such a crowded thoroughfare. It was not as if we were the only pedestrians crossing, there must have been about 30 other people or more crossing the street along with us. He stopped, looked at us for a while, guess he saw we were okay and continued on his way. No one seemed surprised, but us.

Before we went to Buenos Aires, a lot of Fodorites warned us about reckless driving, scams, etc. and though we did use a few taxis, after a bad ride and a surly driver, we decided it was easier to use public transit. Though on one of our bus rides we got into a conversation with a local who warned us about pickpockets and to guard my handbag and my husband's wallet, so I suppose it can be a toss up on what kind of transit to use, though overall I preferred the subte. It was fast and convenient and a side bonus - incredibly cheap!

We have had excellent experiences, in 6 visits, using Taxis in Buenos Aires. We walk a lot, enjoy taking the Collectivos, rarely use the Subte - because we are here in summer and it can be stifling - and we never hesitate to take a taxi if the weather is bad or it is late at night.

True, Taxi drivers sometimes make racecar drivers seem like whimps !

The drivers have been uniformly decent and pleasant...even putting up with conversation in mediocre (at best) Spanish. It is not inaccurate that there are a small number of drivers who try to scam tourists - be alert for that and know about it and you are forarmed. But that has happened to us once, 5 years ago, upon exiting a Tango Show in San Telmo...now we know better than to hail a standing taxi outside a tourist venue. And even he didn't get away with it, because I knew of the scams (from this Forum and others)so challenged him - he backed off.

This is not to ignore the important caveat that taking Taxis OUTSIDE of any port of transportation is potentially dangerous - mostly of huge overcharge. Always opt for transportation arranged INSIDE the Terminal.

As of now - The Recoleta Subway work being done in the park has just been moved across to where the parking lots are , by the Law School, behind the Belle Artes Museum.
All work continues on Pueyrredon for the line which will meet the Santa Fe line.


I hate to say this- but I have never had a bad taxi drive. I have never met a bad taxi driver.

goddess, my friend who posts here as cmcfong, stayed at the Loi Suites. She was very happy with her stay.
It is a suites hotel. It is on a busy street in Recoleta but she never mentioned noise being a problem. It is right in the heart of all the Recoleta sightseeing stuff so I would say it is crazy touristy.
There are other areas of the neighborhood that are not quite so smack dab in the middle of all the touristy stuff.

Palermo Viejo/Soho would be just as bad .. heavy on the tourists there.

The Melia is nice and in a nice spot. Much less touristy noisy too.

I really don't think you/ he needs a treadmill , while staying here.
You will walk for miles , all day. Believe me, a treadmill for a vacation here is totally redundant ~

Hi Scarlett,
I've been hoping to see you here!

I've looked at Loi Suites and I'll look again. My only concern about the Melia is that it gets mixed reviews but so far it's at the top of the list

Let me explain about the treadmill. My SO had a heart attack a couple of years ago. He recovered beautifully, lost a lot of weight, eats well and keeps up with his required exercise regime. He walks/runs about 5 miles 4 or 5 times a week. Walking, no matter how far or how long, doesn't count because it doesn't get his heart rate up to the required beats/minute. We do walk miles and miles when we're on vacation but as far as his rehab treatment centre is concerned, walking is an 'activity' not an 'exercise'. It's all about the heart rate.

Regarding the taxi thing, wow, annetti, that was a close call! So say we're leaving a restaurant late at night and want to take a taxi back to our hotel. Would we ask the restaurant to call one for us? Are they OK with that? And how do we know they're calling an honest cab and not their cousin Fred, the bandit?

Are the Collectivos the city busses?

Yes, goddesstogo, any decent restaurant should be willing to call a radio taxi for you. You should insist on having the radio taxi CALLED, as that creates a record of who picked you up. You should also carry change (no larger than 20 pesos bills) to pay the cab.

We have in this forum any number of threads on this subject, some of them penned by yours truly. NEVER board a cab which does NOT have the driver's data in full view, hanging from the front seat. You could also make sure the cabbie sees you writing down the number of his car's license plate.

The overwhelming majority of BA cabbies are decent, hard working fellows, but, as in any barrel, there are a few bad apples, which tend to concentrate in touristy spots.

And, yes, buses are often called "colectivos" here.

Have a great time in our town.

goddess... listen to the advice about the taxi .. what you can do is ask for a card and you can call the same company/car when out .. Always feel free to ask someone to call a taxi for you at any restaurant .. they do it all the time .
I always take "Radio" taxis which have the light box on the roof and Radio Taxi written on the car .. we have been blessed with good luck here, 6 years and no funny business with taxis.. but lots of wonderful taxi drivers.
We take a taxi at least once/twice a day and I still have no bad story to tell :- )

Never try to give a taxi driver a 100 peso bill.

One last thing, it is remarkable how many taxis there are here. There are times when I look out at the street and it is a sea of black and yellow cars.

Hi avrooster -- well, now I've got all the BA experts here!

Thanks for all the taxi advice. Taking a card and calling the same company is a great idea. Once I get the flight and the hotel all booked, I can take my time reviewing all the other BA threads for restaurant, sights and safety details. That's the fun part.

The only time I was almost scammed by a taxi driver was in NYC (also a sea of cabs) when the driver put in a false meter that clicked over really fast. Fortunately, I knew about the scam and insisted on paying him what I knew to be the correct amount instead of what was on the meter. He didn't give me any argument because I'd written down his cab and licence number.

Other than that we've had lovely and helpful cab drivers everywhere we've travelled. The most unique one was in Tokyo. The cab pulled up to our hotel and the driver got out, put on white cotton gloves, opened the trunk and took out a duster, dusted the back seat and only then allowed us to get into his already-spotless cab. Oh and there were doilies on the headrests of the back seat!

Just saw your "where are avrooster and scarlett when you need them!" from Feb. 7.

There was a part I liked and there was a part I didn't like about that comment. LOL!!!!

If you want me to show y'all around, let me know.

It's booked! We went with CasaSur Art Hotel. Thanks for all the great hotel advice. Now I'll start bugging you for restaurant, event and sight advice but I can take my time with that.

Scarlett, I'm so sad that you're not in BA anymore -- I was hoping to meet you.

Avrooster, thank you for your kind offer and I'm sure we'll take you up on it. We'll make plans closer to trip time, I hope.

Marnie, are you still in BA?

Thanks again everyone.

We are in Uruguay now.

I have high hopes that Casa Sur will be perfect.
You are in a perfect location to walk to some fabulous places for eating .. from fancy to a good cafe.
Don't miss going to Cafe Biela for a bite, outside, people watching at its best.You are just a couple of blocks from some nice places that are always on TA and other places for steak and empanadas, you will be spoiled for choice.
The terrible heat wave has finally broken so I hope your stay is perfect in weather and everything else.