Buenos Aires 7-Day Itinerary: City, Tigre and Colonia

What is the best way to spend 7 days in Buenos Aires?

Use five city days and two trips out. Walk Recoleta and Retiro on arrival, give the centre a full day, ride the train to Tigre’s delta, slow down in Palermo, keep Sunday for San Telmo and La Boca, cross the river to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay, and finish at the Costanera Sur reserve.

A week changes the shape of a Buenos Aires trip. The 3-day itinerary packs the centre, Recoleta with Palermo, and San Telmo with La Boca into three full days; this plan spreads the same districts over five, adds two journeys out of the city and leaves every evening free for long dinners, tango or a show.

It is built from desk research checked on 17 October 2026 against Turismo Buenos Aires, the Subte operator Emova, Trenes Argentinos, Tigre’s municipal tourism office, UNESCO, venue websites and the UK FCDO; we have not walked it end to end. Base yourself in Recoleta, Palermo or Retiro near a Subte station, using where to stay in Buenos Aires, and check your dates against the best time to visit Buenos Aires.

What should you book and check before a week in Buenos Aires?

Book the Teatro Colón tour, a Casa Rosada guided visit if you want the palace interior, and your Colonia ferry, which needs a passport. Check three calendars: Mondays and Tuesdays, when key museums close; long weekends on 23 November and 5–8 December 2026; and the papal visit from 8 to 11 November.

The Teatro Colón runs 50-minute guided tours daily from 10:00 to 16:45, with English departures at 11:00, 12:00, 13:00 and 15:00 and a general ticket of ARS 34,000; there are no tours on 1 May, 24, 25 and 31 December or 1 January. Tours of the Casa Rosada are free but must be reserved through the presidency’s visits website, and you need your passport on the day.

For Colonia, the FCDO says British passport holders can visit Uruguay without a visa for up to 90 days, with a passport valid for the whole stay and a blank page for the entry stamp. Argentina admits British visitors for up to 90 days without a visa (FCDO); other passports should check Argentina visa rules before booking anything non-refundable.

Dates matter more than distance. La Nación lists Monday 23 November and a four-day break from 5 to 8 December 2026, when locals head for Tigre and Uruguay too, and the Holy See lists Pope Leo XIV in Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Luján from 8 to 11 November 2026. Expect road closures and full rooms that week.

• Book before you fly: Teatro Colón tour, Colonia ferry, Casa Rosada visit if wanted
• Carry your passport on days 2 and 6
• Avoid Mondays for the Recoleta museums and Tuesdays for MALBA
• Keep day 3 flexible: Mitre line works can change the trains
• Read the FCDO safety page on bag snatching and taxis before you go

Day 1: how do you ease into Buenos Aires around Recoleta and Retiro?

Keep the first day on foot. Walk Recoleta Cemetery, open daily from 8:00 to 18:00, then the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes if it is not a Monday. Browse El Ateneo Grand Splendid, a bookshop in a 1919 theatre on Avenida Santa Fe, and end at Plaza San Martín in Retiro.

Recoleta Cemetery, the city’s first public cemetery, opened in 1822 and holds more than 6,400 statues, sarcophagi, coffins and crypts, with over 90 tombs listed as national historical monuments; free Spanish-language tours leave at 11:00 and 14:00 from Tuesday to Friday. Across Plaza Francia, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes opens from Tuesday to Sunday and asks for a voluntary contribution.

In the afternoon, walk along Avenida Santa Fe to El Ateneo Grand Splendid at number 1860. The tourism board calls the former theatre, which opened in 1919, one of the world’s most beautiful bookshops, and lists hours of 9am to 10pm from Monday to Thursday, 9am to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and noon to 10pm on Sundays, so it doubles as a rainy-evening refuge.

Finish in Retiro, which the tourism board describes as a district of historic palaces and upmarket hotels around Plaza San Martín, overlooked by the Art Deco Kavanagh building. The FCDO lists Retiro and its bus terminal among places for particular care, so keep phones out of reach of passing motorbikes and take a radio taxi back after dark.

Day 2: how do you give the centre a full, unhurried day?

Start at the Plaza de Mayo, where the Casa Rosada museum opens Wednesday to Sunday. Walk Avenida de Mayo to Palacio Barolo, a 1923 building full of references to Dante’s Divine Comedy, and take an afternoon Teatro Colón tour. On Thursdays, stay for the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, who march at 15:30.

The Plaza de Mayo is the city’s oldest square, ringed by the Cabildo, the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Casa Rosada; since 1977 the Madres de Plaza de Mayo have marched around its pyramid every Thursday at 15:30. The Casa Rosada museum is free and opens Wednesday to Sunday and on holidays from 10:00 to 18:00, with last entry at 17:30.

Walk west along Avenida de Mayo to Palacio Barolo at number 1370. The tourism board says Italian architect Mario Palanti designed it for businessman Luigi Barolo, that it opened in 1923 as the first reinforced-concrete building over 100 metres, and that a private operator runs guided tours that include its lighthouse; check the operator’s site for times. The FCDO names Avenida de Mayo among streets for extra care and says protests are common near Congress.

Finish at the Teatro Colón at Cerrito 628. With a week, there is no need to squeeze the tour between museums: take an English slot at 13:00 or 15:00, then walk to the Obelisco on Avenida 9 de Julio. Lines A, D and E all reach the Plaza de Mayo (Line A), Line D)), and Line C runs north to Retiro (Line C)).

Day 3: how do you reach Tigre and the delta by train?

Take a Mitre line train from Retiro, platforms 1 or 2, for about 50 minutes to Tigre. Browse the Puerto de Frutos market, open daily, then board a river bus from the Estación Fluvial into the delta islands, paying with a SUBE card. Check Trenes Argentinos for engineering works before you set off.

Tigre’s municipal tourism office, Viví Tigre, says trains leave Retiro on the Mitre line from platforms 1 or 2 and take around 50 minutes, or you can change at Mitre station for the Tren de la Costa to Delta station. The branch is in the middle of track renewal: works cut it back to Belgrano C in early March 2026, and Trenes Argentinos flagged altered late and early trains on 16 and 17 October 2026. Check its notices the evening before.

In Tigre, the Puerto de Frutos market opens every day except 25 December and 1 January, from 10:00 to 18:00 on weekdays and to 20:00 at weekends and on holidays; Viví Tigre notes that fewer stalls open on Mondays and more on Fridays. The delta’s river buses, which work like an urban bus line, leave from the Estación Fluvial Domingo Faustino Sarmiento at Mitre 305, are paid with a SUBE card, and their tickets stay valid for 30 days.

Weekdays are calmer: Viví Tigre says weekend demand for boats is high and recommends buying ahead in high season. If the train is disrupted, the same office lists bus 60 from Constitución, about an hour and a half, and a Sturla boat from Puerto Madero’s North Dock (Viví Tigre). A delta day sits well between two city days, so keep the evening quiet.

Day 4: how do you spend a slow day in Palermo?

Treat Palermo as a rest day with good museums. Walk the Rosedal and the Japanese Garden in the morning, then choose MALBA, closed on Tuesdays, or the Museo Evita, closed on Mondays. Line D serves the barrio. In November, the jacarandas on Avenida Figueroa Alcorta and Sarmiento turn the park avenues purple.

Palermo’s parks hold the Rosedal, with more than 18,000 roses, and the Japanese Garden on Avenida Casares, which opened in 1967 and has a koi pond, bridges and a bonsai nursery. The city government says the jacaranda bloom comes every November, with the greatest concentrations along Figueroa Alcorta, Sarmiento, 9 de Julio and San Juan.

For the afternoon, MALBA at Avenida Figueroa Alcorta 3415 opens from 12:00 to 20:00 Thursday to Monday and from 11:00 on Wednesdays, and closes on Tuesdays, while the Museo Evita at Lafinur 2988 opens Tuesday to Sunday from 11:00 to 19:00. Line D’s Scalabrini Ortiz, Plaza Italia and Palermo stations run along the barrio (line map)).

Keep the evening local: Palermo Soho is the obvious dinner district, and arteBA fills La Rural in Palermo from 30 October to 1 November 2026 (arteBA). The FCDO lists Palermo among areas where visitors should be particularly cautious about bag snatching from motorbikes, so keep phones away from the kerb.

Day 5: why save Sunday for San Telmo and La Boca?

Because Sunday is when almost 300 antiques sellers trade at the Plaza Dorrego fair. Spend the morning on Defensa and the square, then head south to La Boca for Caminito’s painted houses and Fundación Proa, staying inside the patrolled tourist area. Leave La Boca before dark and take a booked taxi home.

On Sundays, the Plaza Dorrego fair brings old advertising signs, vinyl records, soda siphons, instruments and clocks to the square, with crafts along Defensa and clothing in Pasaje Giuffra. The tourism board points to the MAMBA modern art museum, in a former tobacco factory, and the comic-strip statues of the Paseo de la Historieta for the rest of the barrio.

Caminito is a street museum of painted houses, regenerated by neighbours in the 1950s beside conventillos built by Genoese immigrants, and Fundación Proa at Avenida Don Pedro de Mendoza 1929 shows contemporary art with a terrace over the old port. The city’s electric buses link Plaza San Martín with Parque Lezama through San Telmo and La Boca, and need a SUBE card (Turismo Buenos Aires).

The FCDO names the San Telmo market and La Boca among places to be particularly careful, asks visitors to stay inside the patrolled Caminito area, and warns about the “mustard” distraction trick. If your week has no free Sunday, swap this day with day 2; San Telmo’s streets and museums still work midweek, without the fair.

Day 6: is a day trip to Colonia del Sacramento worth it?

Yes, if you have a passport and a free day. Colonia, founded by the Portuguese in 1680 on the Uruguayan shore facing Buenos Aires, has had its historic quarter on the UNESCO list since 1995. Book the ferry with a return sailing that leaves time to walk the old town, and allow for passport checks both ways.

UNESCO describes the Historic Quarter of Colonia del Sacramento as the only urban plan in the region that does not follow the Spanish checkerboard grid, shaped instead by the site and its military role, with Portuguese, Spanish and post-colonial styles side by side. It sits at the tip of a short peninsula on the north shore of the Río de la Plata, which keeps the old town compact enough for one unhurried visit.

Buquebus sells Buenos Aires–Colonia crossings and a one-day Uruguay tour; compare its timetable with other operators for your date, and choose an early outbound and a late return so the day is not spent in queues. The FCDO includes the cruise and ferry terminals among places in Buenos Aires for extra care, so keep documents and phones close while you wait.

On entry rules, the FCDO says British visitors need no visa for Uruguay for stays of up to 90 days. If the ferry sells out or the weather turns, swap this day for a slower Recoleta morning and a Teatro Colón performance, or for a second, longer delta trip from Tigre.

Day 7: how do you spend the last day before flying out?

Keep it close to the river. Walk the Costanera Sur nature reserve from 8:00, closed on Mondays except holidays, then the docks of Puerto Madero and the Puente de la Mujer. Leave a generous margin for Ezeiza, 32 km and about 50 minutes from the centre, or use the day for anything you missed.

The Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur opens Tuesday to Sunday and on holidays from 8:00, closing at 19:00 from November to March and at 18:00 from April to October, with entrances on Avenida Tristán Achával Rodríguez and Avenida Hernán Giralt. The tourism board calls neighbouring Puerto Madero the city’s youngest barrio, built in former docks with the Puente de la Mujer as its centrepiece.

Turismo Buenos Aires puts Ezeiza 32 km from the city, about 50 minutes from the centre, and Aeroparque inside the city. Tienda León coaches run from Ezeiza to Terminal Pellegrini at Pellegrini 971 in about an hour; check the fare on the day, because Argentine prices change often.

If your flight leaves on a Monday, swap the reserve for a Retiro walk or a last browse at El Ateneo Grand Splendid. On Sundays and holidays the Subte does not start until 8:00, so plan early airport runs by road.

How do you get around, and how should you reorder the week for rain or closed days?

Ride the Subte, whose gates take contactless bank cards, NFC phones and QR codes, and walk within each barrio. City buses and Tigre’s river buses need a SUBE card. Move the delta and Colonia days to the driest forecasts, keep Sunday for San Telmo, and use museums for wet afternoons.

Emova says Subte gates accept credit, debit and prepaid cards, NFC devices and QR codes at the full fare, up to 10 trips a day and four an hour per card; trains start at 5:30 on weekdays, 6:00 on Saturdays and 8:00 on Sundays and holidays (Emova). The city’s fare table set October 2026 rides at ARS 1,817 for the first 20 monthly trips on a registered SUBE, which you also need for buses (Turismo Buenos Aires).

Rain falls in every month: the 1991–2020 WMO normals for Buenos Aires Observatorio give 1,257.7 mm a year over 76.6 days with at least 1 mm, January is the wettest month at 134.4 mm, and October has the most rain days, 7.9. A week will often meet one wet spell, so keep days 3 and 6 interchangeable with city days. For routes between barrios, see getting around Buenos Aires; for more ideas, things to do in Buenos Aires.