4 ways to get around Buenos Aires (and one to avoid)

Mariana RK • August 7, 2021
Buenos Aires is a huge city, but thankfully our founding people made it easy to get around!

From its creation in 1580 the city was laid out as a grid of blocks of 100mts of length, with very few diagonals or exceptions.

There are many ways of getting around, here's the what's what by a born and raised porteña.

Oh, I didn't see you there!


Traffic regulations are considered more like suggestions than rules! Always check both sides of the road, even if it's one way... we are all one hurried UberEats away from collision!


Let's take a walk


With its flat geography and easy grid layout, walking is a great way of both navigating and discovering the city. Get your favorite playlist, your reusable bottle water, and prepare to meet a sea of eclectic architecture of the city, green and clean parks and -of course- the fast paced, intense and friendly porteñes!

Cruise in style


With exclusive lanes all over town, a near-flat city and a grab-and-go biking system, Buenos Aires is officially a bike friendly city.


Visitors can download the app Tembici, create an account and take a bike for a spin. It'll cost you about 5US per day, for 6 one-hour trips, or about 20US for a monthly pass of 6 one-hour daily passes. That's what you call a ganga!


Cruise through Puerto Madero and the green corridor between Palermo and Recoleta, or go off the beaten path into residential neighborhoods like Boedo, Colegiales or Villa Crespo.

SUBE (hop on) to the public transportation network


Public transportation of Buenos Aires is inexpensive, quick and convenient, as long as you don’t mind the crowds. 


Buy a SUBE card at any subway or train station, or at many kioskos or lottery shops- and charge it up. Boom, that's all you need to get around.


Find the SUBE logo in train or subway mills and by the driver in the bus, tap your card and listo el pollo! Fares are pretty cheap -about 0.20USD and less.


Use Google Maps to get around:  it will tell you how to get anywhere in the city, how much it will cost and even when to expect the next bondi... As someone who experienced waiting for a bus for well over two hours I'm still gagging.


Subte

Best and quickest way to get around the city center and many residential neighborhoods. Trains run from 5am to 11.30pm.


Bondi

The faithful bondi or colectivo -the bus- runs 24/7 accross the whole city. You will find stops at almost every corner, and on big avenues you’ll see the platforms known as MetroBus stops. These have big maps showing the routes of the bus lines, show countdowns to the next bus and have very accessible information. 


Tren

There are 4 train terminals that connect Buenos Aires to the suburbs. The main ones are the Retiro train station -a fantastic belle èpoque building that deserves a visit on its own- that connects to Tigre, San Isidro and the Northern suburbs, and the Constitución train station, that connects to La Plata, a beautiful university city 40 miles south of Buenos Aires. If you're headed to the suburbs, the train's quickest way.



No taxi was ever a friend of mine


Taxis in Buenos Aires are a big no-no. Smoking reggaeton-blasting drivers are the lesser problem: it is quite common to hear taxi drivers scam tourists, giving them bad rates, fake notes and taking the longest and most expensive routes possible.


Taxi drivers almost certainly won’t take credit cards, and will find ways to charge extra for handling even the smaller bags. Of course, there are great taxi drivers out there. When you find one, remember to bring them to the closest Endangered Species office.



Cabify, Uber or private car.


If this is all a little mucho and you want to travel in the comfort of a private car, you can use Uber (tip: UberX is not much more expensive and it's totally worth it) or Cabify. If you want a car available to go out and about, you can hire a car with a professional driver with us (and we'll offest twice the CO2 emissions of your ride by planting native trees in Patagonia).

Is Once a CURSED neighborhood?

By Mariana Radisic Koliren • April 3, 2023
The neighborhood of Once in Buenos Aires is known for many things: its vibrant street life, bustling markets, and diverse mix of cultures. This is, after all, a neighborhood where you will find Chinese, Bolivian, Peruvian, Senegalese and Jewish communities. But there is another side to this lively community, one that is shrouded in darkness and shrouded in mystery. For those who dare to delve into the history of Once, they will find a tale of tragedy and terror that has left a lasting mark on the community.

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By Mariana Radisic Koliren • January 4, 2023
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By Jana Dostert • December 29, 2022
It’s been a few days since I arrived in Buenos Aires for my internship at Lunfarda and I’m only starting to learn about all the cultural differences- it’s the first time I live in a country that is that distinct from mine and, for me, the ways of the Argentines, and their coded body language are still kind of strange. I’m on my way to the bus stop, not paying attention to where I positioned myself. Quickly, a slightly upset-looking person gives me the four-finger-to-one-thumb-pointing-upside-down-sign or as well known as “What do you think you are doing??” This is when I learned that it does not matter that Argentines are disorderly about everything else: the bus line -and its order- is sacred. Quick side Note: You have to wave the bus down at a 45-degree angle arm to the body to stop it! Just telling you because on my first day of university here, I missed about five buses in a row running between the different bus stops until I got to understand that.

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Don’t take it as an insult, it’s just Argentina

By Jana Dostert • October 5, 2022
Language is a way to show norms, and communicate values. It’s a way of expression, status, and policy that reveals the culture that’s lived in one’s homeland. On the Argentinian menu, language comes with a side of insults, jokes, Lunfardo , and Argentinian history. Don’t assume the speaker’s intention too quickly, and even less if you are from a country with a let’s call it: more subtle -or literal- usage of wording. ⚠WARNING⚠ Some ways of expression might sound harsh but they are often not meant that way. On the contrary, it shows how history is carried along and still lived and spoken day-to-day, mouth-to-mouth among 45 million Argentinians, who are the makers of today’s Lunfardo, the local slang. Which is -indeed, a marvelously unique, and eccentric version of its own. If it’s about the very complex humor that doesn’t only often entail one of the many slang or so-called Lunfardo words but also infinite history-rich anecdotes- including years and years of politics flowing into the subtle humor of an Argentine. Be it a pastry that’s named “Friar balls’ or “Nuns sigh” or a “Vigilant” - coined by the worker's movement, that they are eating in all tranca (chill) while sipping through a Mate’s bombilla , professors quoting the Simpsons in their PowerPoints or a bunch of extremely funny memes digesting the daily life, joking about the president, football, or the seeming immortality of Mirta Legrand, the oldest host of the Argentine TV, who, believe it or not, is still at it at age 95 with the energy of a teen.
a group of afro argentine kids sit by a church with a guide explaining about Black History

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By Lunfarda Travel • May 29, 2022
Black kids with tight curls and broad smiles flocked to the gates of the National Historic Museum on a cool, sunny fall afternoon in San Telmo, Buenos Aires. Just their presence there, running freely and playing tag in the patio of the museum seemed like a small act of justice: these kids were laughing and playing on top of an old slave trade market, by a house that had been built by enslaved Black people. Now, 169 years after the abolition of slavery in Argentina, our young audience gathered to experience something momentuous: a Black History Tour to learn the value and the contributions of the Afro-Argentines.

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Our Black Heroine's Homecoming

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By Agustín Canzani, Fernando Olomudzki • November 19, 2021
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