The Classy Neighborhood of San Telmo

San Telmo, located just south of the city center (El Centro), is one of the nicest neighborhood in Buenos Aires. It totally has the feeling of an old European City, with narrow cobbled streets and low-story colonial houses. It used to be a sketchy and marginal neighborhood, with a lot of gangster fighting. But then it started to improve and attracted a lot artists and Bohemian types to move to this classy neighborhood. They even have a film school here!

Of course, it is also getting touristy and very gentrified now. Many courtyards now host boutiques, cafe, or even souvenir shops. Weathy people's moving in may also push artists out of the neighborhood, like in New York City (like my Lower East Side). I even found a professional dogwalkers in this neighborhood, the only one I saw in Argentina!

The center of San Telmo is Plaza Dorrego. The famous Sunday antique market is there. At weekends, there are also free Tango performnce in the Square. Unfortunately, the days I stayed at Buenos Aires are Monday through Wednesday. There was practically no interesting activities at all when I visited.

Please click the thumbnail on the pictures to see enlarged images

The Tri-lingual Map for the neighborhood of San Telmo. I think the Tourism Office does a great job.

Street corners of San Telmo...

A film school also locates in the Neighborhood. I should have gone to the School to learn filmmaking here. It must be (much) cheaper than NYU...

You can also see some colorful graffitti in the neighborhood...

Some nice hidden courtyard in the neighborhood.

Photo directory and introduction like this is everywhere in Buenoas Aires. And you can see it is tri-lingual (with Spanish, English, and Portugese). Buenos Aires is doing a good job in helping tourists.