Experiences Culture

Architecture
In the larger cities, European architectural styles sit side-by-side North American influenced modern designs and buildings with colonial traits that date back to the Spanish conquistadores. The white-washed adobe villages of the North West, where indigenous tradition and customs prevail, reflect a strikingly different side to the country. The grand estancias, on the other hand, are the inheritance of a past dominated by wealthy landowners and agricultural prosperity.

Art and museums
There are over 500 museums in Argentina. Buenos Aires is home to some of the most significant, such as the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts) or the MALBA (Latin American Art Museum). One of the country’s most fascinating museums is the MAAM Anthropology Museum in Salta. Here visitors can see the remains of the controversial, mummified “Llullaillaco Children” - the ancestors of indigenous communities still alive today.  Considerably further south, in Trelew, Patagonia, the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio is South America’s finest dinosaur museum. Here visitors can see the Argentinosaurus, which used to inhabit the region.

Music and dance
Tango, the art form most associated with Argentina, first appeared at the end of the 19th century but its poetry and melodrama remain in Buenos Aires today. Outside the capital, folk music reigns. In the North East, you will hear the music and see the steps of Chamamé; in the North West, Carnavalito and in the centre, Chacarera.
  
The venue par excellence for classical music is the Teatro Colón, one of the world’s most prestigious lyrical theatres. Other genres of music, such as rock, pop and jazz, have grown in popularity over the last few decades. Buenos Aires in particular has a full calendar of music events every year.
 
Theatre
There are over a thousand theatres in Argentina, most of which are in Buenos Aires. From mainstream productions to small, art house plays, theatre is everywhere. 
 
Literature
A national obsession with books has created a number of great Argentine writers, Jorge Luis Borges being the most famous. Argentina has historically been a literary pole within Latin America and its publishing industry, one of the most successful. Today this literary passion lives on in Buenos Aires’ overflowing bookshops and its annual Book Fair that attracts over a million visitors from across the Spanish speaking world.

Film
Argentine cinema has earned international acclaim in recent years with films like “Nine Queens”, “Bombon” and “Lost Embrace”. The growing presence of Argentine films in international festivals demonstrates this industry’s constant evolution. 
 
Cinemas, showing the latest international releases, are found throughout the country. Films in English and languages other than Spanish are subtitled, not dubbed.

Night life
Argentina’s vibrant night life starts late. Dinner is from 9.30pm onwards, bars do not fill up before 1am and nightclubs stay open until 6am. In Buenos Aires, night life revolves around Palermo, Las Cañitas, Puerto Madero and San Telmo.