5 Art and Cultural Tourism Walks in Buenos Aires

Walk and look. Look and walk. If there is something distinguishing Buenos Aires from many other cities in the country, it is the enormous amount of cultural and artistic proposals coexisting at the same time, many of them free or at a very low cost. Museums, murals, music, history, cinema, and design appear on every corner, without the need to enter a shopping mall or spend a fortune.

In a single day—and at a leisurely pace—it is possible to visit striking places and discover details making Buenos Aires a unique city, loaded with stories and cultural layers. So that there are no doubts, here is an orientative guide of five walks to start checking off unmissables of the Rio de la Plata capital.

Don't rush to get the photo with the most likes or the video with the most views: even walking slowly, Buenos Aires surprises with beautiful and unexpected scenes. Think of it as a great open-air art gallery, expressive, creative, and constantly moving. Let's start.

Fileteado Porteño Walk

It is likely one of the first artistic expressions you notice upon arriving in the city. On restaurant and tavern signs, bus facades, subway stations, or neighborhood murals, curvilinear shapes, intense colors, and ornamented typographies appear, repeated like a visual signature. This is Fileteado Porteño, a decorative technique born in the early 20th century and now converted into one of Buenos Aires' identity stamps.

Of popular origin and collective authorship, fileteado is characterized by the use of spirals, symmetries, shadows generating volume, and saturated colors. It often includes phrases from lunfardo (local slang), lyrics from tango, folklore, or national rock, and symbols linked to porteño daily life. Over time, portraits of popular figures like Carlos Gardel, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Pope Francis, or Gilda were also added.

Its cultural value is such that UNESCO declared it Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, recognizing it as a unique expression of the Rio de la Plata. To appreciate it in context, the ideal is to walk through San Telmo, Almagro, and Boedo, traditional neighborhoods where fileteado remains alive. It is also worth paying attention to the decorative details of subway lines A, B, and E stations, true underground museums.

If you would like to explore this artistic technique with more information and detail, we suggest taking this unmissable excursion: it is an artistic walk to know the fileteado porteño in different neighborhoods, and also, the possibility of participating in a fileteado class taught by a master. The experience is completed with a delicious Argentine-style snack (merienda).

Extra tip: although not strictly fileteado, an unmissable visit is the Pasaje Lanín in Barracas. There, artist Marino Santa María intervened facades for years with colored mosaics, creating a free, artistic walk perfect for distinct photos of Buenos Aires.

Tango Walk in Buenos Aires

Tango cannot be left out of any cultural tour of the city. Beyond tourist shows, this music and dance form part of the porteño identity and remain alive in squares, clubs, cultural centers, and entire neighborhoods.

To truly connect with tango, nothing better than approaching a popular milonga, where neighbors, tourists, couples, seniors, and professional dancers dance. You don't need to know how to dance or dress up: the atmosphere is relaxed and diverse. There are also open classes for all levels, ideal for daring to take the first steps.

Milongas change venue and schedule depending on the day, so it is advisable to check the updated agenda at www.hoy-milonga.com.ar, where classes, practices, and dances throughout the city are detailed.

As a complement, a great idea is to tour the Abasto neighborhood and visit with our tour the house where Carlos Gardel lived, at Jean Jaurès 735. Now converted into a museum, it allows knowing the cultural dimension of the "Morocho del Abasto" and understanding why tango remains such a strong emotional reference in Buenos Aires.

Iconic Graffiti and Mural Walks

In addition to tango and fileteado, muralism left a deep mark on the porteño urban landscape. Walking the city is touring a visual archive where art functions as a tool for memory, popular expression, and symbolic dispute of public space.

One of the most emblematic murals is that of Eva Duarte de Perón, located on the former Ministry of Public Works—current Ministry of Human Capital—on Avenida 9 de Julio. Monumental and visible from afar, it became a symbol of Peronism and Evita's presence as a political and emotional figure. Illuminated at night, it functions as an urban beacon loaded with historical meaning.

In Plaza de Mayo, the floor intervened with the white scarves reminds us of the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo and their struggle for truth and justice. It is not a traditional mural, but one of the most powerful interventions in Argentine public space.

The legacy of Latin American muralism is also expressed in the city through David Alfaro Siqueiros, whose work Ejercicio Plástico, made in the 30s, marked a before and after in the relationship between art and politics in Buenos Aires.

In a contemporary key, Martín Ron is one of the most recognized muralists. His portrait of Diego Maradona on Avenida San Juan and the mural of Pope Francis in Flores became obligatory reference points. There are also musical tributes, such as the mural dedicated to Luis Alberto Spinetta in Villa Urquiza, or the work of Alfredo Segatori bringing together Maradona and Charly García at the intersection of Avenida Bullrich and Libertador.

For those preferring a guided experience, there are options in our agency, such as the Graffiti Tour: Murals and Urban Art and the Graffiti Tour: Art and Murals of Argentine Football, touring neighborhoods like Colegiales, Palermo, San Telmo, and La Paternal with guides providing historical and cultural context.

Walk Through Museums and Theaters of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires also stands out for its network of museums and theaters of international prestige, many of them with free admission.

One of the essential spaces is the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (MALBA), an unavoidable reference for understanding modern and contemporary art in the region. Its permanent collection gathers key works by artists such as Frida Kahlo, Tarsila do Amaral, Antonio Berni, and Diego Rivera, among others, while its temporary exhibitions maintain a constant dialogue with global artistic production.

And in the field of performing arts, the Teatro Colón is one of the great Argentine prides. Recognized internationally for its exceptional acoustics and imposing architecture, this theater inaugurated in 1908 is considered one of the best in the world.

A valid option to approach these emblematic buildings with the best guide is to take the Walk Tour and visit to Teatro Colón and MALBA Museum, combining urban stroll, history, and art accompanied by tourism and culture experts.

Now, beyond the great tourist circuits, Buenos Aires offers a wide network of public museums and cultural centers allowing continued exploration of Argentine art without spending extra. One of the unmissables is the Benito Quinquela Martín Museum, located in the heart of the La Boca neighborhood. There, the painter's work forcefully portrays port life, work in the Riachuelo, and the neighborhood's immigrant identity. The visit can be complemented with a tour of Caminito and the surroundings of La Bombonera, adding art, history, and popular culture. In the downtown area, the Palacio Libertad surprises with diverse programming and monumental spaces. Among its great attractions, the kinetic sculptures of Julio Le Parc stand out, inviting interaction with movement, light, and perception, bringing contemporary art closer to audiences of all ages.

The National Museum of Fine Arts, with free admission, is another key stop. Its permanent collection gathers works by Argentine and international artists and consolidates it as one of the most important museums in Latin America. The Recoleta Cultural Center functions as a meeting point between young art, temporary exhibitions, and urban life, ideal for closing an outdoor cultural tour. In Buenos Aires, art is not only visited: it is walked, listened to, and lived.

Last but not least, the suggestion once again is to visit the subway stations with the eyes of a born observer of decorative and ornamental details. These stations hide true jewels: historical tiles, murals, stained glass, and contemporary works transforming a simple trip into a cultural experience. Added to that is modern and contemporary art, present both in museums and urban sculptures, dialogue with the past without losing sight of the present.

"Movie" Walk in Buenos Aires: Film and Series Locations

Buenos Aires is not just a city to see, but also to relive on the big screen. Its streets, squares, stations, and neighborhoods served as settings for numerous national and international films and series, becoming real spaces where fiction and history met. A movie walk through the city allows walking sites you know by heart from the screen, but which take on new life when you see them face to face.

An unavoidable classic is Retiro Station, one of the main porteño transport hubs and setting for several memorable scenes of Argentine cinema. In The Secret in Their Eyes (2009), winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, this train station appears as a key point of the judicial and romantic plot traversing the city, symbolizing mobility, waiting, and the constant return of history. Beyond this film, Retiro was also a location for scenes from the series Los Simuladores, an icon of Argentine television remaining relevant among several generations.

Another of the most famous cinematographic settings is Puerto Madero, with its renovated architecture and open spaces by the river. Scenes from Wild Tales (2014) were filmed there, Damián Szifron's anthology film combining black humor, drama, and urban chaos in independent stories connected by the city.

Plaza de Mayo, the historical and political heart of Buenos Aires, also became immortal on screen. In The Official Story (1985), the first Argentine film to win an Oscar for Best International Film, dealing with memory and the Argentine military dictatorship, the square functions as a symbolic framework for claims for truth and justice, especially by the Grandmothers and Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.

Argentine cinema offers even more recognizable corners as you explore neighborhoods and corners. In Nine Queens (2000), the crime drama starring Ricardo Darín and Gastón Pauls takes place largely in the porteño Microcentro and Puerto Madero, with scenes showing daily life, bars, and emblematic buildings.

The porteño spirit is also seen in productions like Son of the Bride (2001), portraying family life in Buenos Aires with tenderness and humor, or in older films like Así es Buenos Aires (1971), showing classic places like La Boca, El Rosedal, the Planetarium, and the iconic Avenida 9 de Julio, evidencing how the city itself has been the protagonist of stories of love, comedy, and nostalgia.

Beyond national cinema, international productions like Evita (1996) with Madonna at the Casa Rosada or Focus (2015) with Will Smith and Margot Robbie used porteño locations such as streets in San Telmo, La Boca, and Barracas, showing the world the architectural and cultural diversity of Buenos Aires.