Mendoza - The vineyard of Argentina

Mendoza is the perfect holiday destination with plenty of cheap shopping deals, a great nightlife and some top class restaurants and cafes. Oh and it just happens to be the world renown capital of Argentina’s wine industry. Here you can cuddle up with a vintage or taste the latest gold medal winning wines, and all at ridiculously cheap prices. Most of the restaurants and cafes will serve the best the local region has to offer and you will find yourself making as much room in you suitcase as possible for more bottles to take for the trip home. While you are here you can’t just stop at one or two Vineyard tours, and should instead go on a “Vineyard crawl” and drench yourself in the wine industry (and its tasty products!). The city itself is full of beautiful Plazas and parks which is surprising since the city is also in a desert region. But the city and outlying vineyards have a huge artificial irrigation system which you can see running down the path and roadsides. Also as a final note, if you aim to arrive in February you are likely to time your trip with the Harvest Festival which is great excuse to enjoy even more of the beautiful wine!

Cordoba - The colonial home of Argentina

While Buenos Aires has a great nightlife and plenty of Tango, Cordoba also has the best collection of colonial buildings in Argentina. You will notice pretty quickly that the city was heavily influenced by the 17th century Jesuits, and the huge collection of churches and cathedrals in this city is one of the hallmarks. The Manzana Jesuitica is the section that contains most of these buildings including the oldest Argentinean church; the Compañía de Jesús built in 1671. Apart from all the Cathedrals you will also find an almost endless supply of museums ranging from art museums, typical historic museums to more hands-on science and technological museums. My personal best from these was the Museo Nacional de Meteorología Dr. Benjamin Gould a fantastic astronomy and meteorological museum. Cordoba was listed in 2006 as the Capital of Culture in the Americas so as you can imagine, it’s not just the museums and cathedrals that gives this city such a deep culture. You can also enjoy the extensive art scene including “arte bars” which also hold shows. On top of this, the city has the oldest University in Argentina as well as another 6 university within the city! That’s a lot of students and a lot partying!

Buenos Aires - Tango, tango and more tango

If you want a true taste of South American or even Argentinian culoture then maybe Buenos Aires is not the place for you. But if you are after a magnificant city with a deep history and buzzing atmoshpere that is a fusion of many cultures, then you must go there. Because of the history of the city there is a huge European influence in the city and you will find many buildings similiar in style to buildings in Europe, especially France. Most of the tourist activities are located around the biggest avenue in the world, Avenida 9 de Julio. Here you will find some wonderful parks and places of interest. But lets face it, there are three main reasons to come here, for a cheap and fantastic variety of food – which the city proudly floughts due to its European roots, an insanely buzzing nightlife where most people don´t get back home or to their hotel until at least 5:00am, and Tango. Tango is everywhere, anytime and will be taught to anyone who is interested. Argentina is the home of Tango and Buenos Aires is the proud leading representitive of this exhilarating dance art. If you just want to see the dance rather than shake your money maker, there is plenty of Tango shows as well.

Mar del Plata - Tango and Mate, rico!

Mar del Plata is the usual beach destination for the local Argentineans. Because of this, the beaches are swarmed with people during the summer months of December through until March. Outside of this period, there are much less people in the city, but it is still a fairly large city with over 700,000 people living there. Apart from the obvious white sand beaches and warm sunshine, there are many other activities to do in this delightful seaside city. The Museo del Mar (museum of the sea), holds a staggering amount of seashell exhibits from different species of shellfish from all over the world. There is also a tidal wave exhibit as well as lots of education information. And if you get hungry or tired, try the Confitería Gloria Maris which is surrounded by floor-to-ceiling fish tanks. Pretty cool stuff. Being an Argentinean city, you can also naturally see one of many Tango displays at the Teatro Colon at an incredibly cheap 15 pesos. Also, this is a city of the addictive mate drink! You will be able to buy this bitter caffeine alcohol almost everywhere in the city, and most people walk around with a thermos or gourd close at hand to take a quick drink whenever they fancy.