Where to stay in Buenos Aires: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

If Buenos Aires ever earned its Paris comparisons, it was here. Recoleta is a district of French-style apartment buildings, embassies and plane trees, built by the cattle fortunes of a century ago. Its best-known sight is the cemetery, a small city of marble mausoleums where Eva Perón is buried, and around it are the fine arts museum, a weekend craft fair and pavement cafés full of well-dressed porteños.

The hotels match the architecture. Avenida Alvear holds the grandest in the country: a belle époque institution of chandeliers and French furniture, and a restored palace with beautiful gardens. Around the corner are quieter boutique hotels on Arroyo and Quintana, many with small spas and heated pools. It is safe, handsome and close to everything.

Palermo is the biggest barrio in the city and the one most visitors fall for. Its northern edge is all parks, lakes and rose gardens, with the polo ground and the racecourse alongside. Its heart, Palermo Soho, is a grid of cobbled streets and old one-storey houses now filled with design shops, parrillas, wine bars and a serious density of good restaurants.

Hotels are small and stylish rather than grand: boutique places with a dozen or two individually designed rooms, a little pool or a spa out the back and a breakfast you will linger over. A larger, modern hotel faces the polo fields, with a heated outdoor pool. The centre is a taxi or Subte ride away; the nightlife is right outside.

Puerto Madero is the newest face of Buenos Aires: a line of nineteenth-century brick warehouses along the old docks, converted into restaurants and lofts, with glass towers rising behind and a white footbridge shaped like a tango step crossing the water. Beyond the towers lies a large ecological reserve on the Río de la Plata, good for a morning walk or cycle.

It has some of the most glamorous hotels in South America, among them a theatrical design hotel in a converted red-brick dock building, a riverside tower with panoramic views, and a big, glass-atriumed hotel with a terrace pool. The area is spotless and peaceful, a short walk from Plaza de Mayo, though it can feel a touch detached from the old city’s bustle.

The historic and commercial centre runs from the pink presidential palace on Plaza de Mayo to the Obelisco, standing in the middle of the vast Avenida 9 de Julio. In between are the Cabildo, the cathedral, the gilded Teatro Colón opera house, the bright lights of Avenida Corrientes' theatre strip and old cafés with waiters in bow ties.

It is busy and noisy by day and quieter at night, and hotel prices are among the most reasonable in the city. Several occupy fine art deco and belle époque buildings, and a couple have rooftop pools or terraces with views across the rooftops. Choose it if you want to tick off the sights on foot and have the Subte at the door.

Retiro sits between the Centro and Recoleta, around the jacaranda-shaded slopes of Plaza San Martín. Pedestrian Calle Florida starts here and runs south past the Galerías Pacífico, a shopping arcade with painted domes that is worth a visit even if you buy nothing. The main railway and bus stations are at the bottom of the hill.

This is big-hotel territory: tall international towers with pools, spas and convention halls, alongside a few smaller, classically styled hotels facing the park. It is not the most atmospheric barrio, but it is hard to beat for convenience, and both Recoleta and Puerto Madero are an easy walk.

San Telmo is the Buenos Aires of the imagination: crumbling colonial houses, iron balconies, antique dealers and corner bars that have barely changed in a century. On Sundays a street market takes over the main drag for a dozen blocks, ending at Plaza Dorrego, where couples dance tango between the café tables.

Accommodation is simpler and cheaper here, from a well-run design hostel near the plaza to modern mid-range hotels, with one large, classic five-star on the northern edge towards the Centro. It is a little rough around the edges after dark, so take taxis late at night. For atmosphere, though, nowhere else comes close.