A Sunday in San Telmo

Empanadas. Antiques. History. Art. Malbec. Tango. Need I say more?

Buenos Aires is one of the most spectacular cities to visit for so many reasons. The people are incredibly welcoming and kind. The food is next-level perfection bursting with flavor, like the medialunas that literally melt in your mouth, and so much meat. The museums are fantastic and there are bookstores everywhere. It is a wonderfully walkable city; the colorful little flower vendors that dot corners throughout the city is just one bonus of exploring on foot. And to top it all off, everything is incredibly inexpensive for tourists at the moment.

Cobblestone streets and crumbling colonial architecture make San Telmo one of Buenos Aires’ most charming neighborhoods to explore. The best day to visit is on a Sunday, when the famous antiques market takes over Plaza Dorrego, and most of the streets surrounding San Telmo Market—the beating heart of the neighborhood—are closed to cars to make way for street vendors selling all sorts of goods and wares.

Spending a Sunday in San Telmo is something I’d highly recommend to any type of traveler. Here are our top tips on where to go and what to eat! If you make a day of hitting these spots and explore San Telmo on foot, like we did, you’ll be rewarded by some fantastic street art and greenery-covered facades nearly everywhere you turn.

Devour the best choripan at Nuestra Parilla

This place earned a spot as one of the best places we ate in seven months of travel. And we’re tough food critics! The vibe of Nuestra Parilla is completely centered around its grill, which takes up about 70% of the tiny storefront nestled in the corner of San Telmo Market. And it makes itself known: emitting some remarkable smells and heating the entire place quite a bit.

Nuestra Parilla brings the laid-back vibe to a new level: for instance, it opens whenever the grill-master decides to open it, so we waited anxiously about thirty minutes after the listed opening time until they had rolled up the shutter to open for lunch and joined the queue. While in line, we watched, completely mesmerized, as the grill-master manned the massive grill—covered with chorizos and massive slabs of pork—with an incredible rhythm. After watching a few orders go through, we decided to not only order the infamous choripan—a large chorizo sandwich (we’re talking the size of my face) covered in fresh and flavorful chimichurri that is a Buenos Aires staple—but also the bondiola, because that’s what most of the people in front of us in line were ordering. It is three massive slices of pork loin doused with salt and pepper, and really weighing down some fresh bread. Needless to say, we didn’t come close to eating all of it but we gave it our best try. The choripan was absolutely the star of the meal.

Shezaad, overcome with emotion upon devouring the choripan, put it best: “I want to cry, that was so good.”

Wander through San Telmo Market 

Housed in a massive, historic building flooded with light that opens onto several of the busiest drags in the neighborhood, the San Telmo Market is worth wandering through. There are stalls that sell everything from antiques and jewelry to creepy dolls and alpaca sweaters.

You could spend an entire day eating and drinking inside, as many people seemed to be doing when we were there. There’s several wine shops with tastings, a few empanada spots, a little French bistro and a taco spot, and many craft beer bars—all sharing large communal tables that fill most of the walkways in the market. As we wandered around noon on a Sunday, nearly every eatery and bar was completely packed, so you should try to go early or late in the day if you want to get a seat. We opted for some fresh seafood paella at Pescaderia Antonnino. The service left a bit to be desired (which is likely to be expected at any of the spots in San Telmo Market), but the paella was delicious and a massive serving for the low cost.

Take stock of hundreds of antiques at Feria de San Telmo

The antiques market that fills Plaza Dorrego every Sunday dates back to the 1970s and wandering through the stands feels almost like a museum.

Some of my favorite goods? Antique telephones are so nostalgic and delightful; I think telephones just might be the next hipster good, the way typewriters and record players are currently. And a lot of the stalls boast equally impressive collections of antique cameras. Not to mention the classic collections of old watches, jewelry, glasses, keys, pins, and family photos; this market is chock-full of gems.

Experience the bohemian vibes in Parque Lezama 

Walking through Parque Lezama gives you a full dose of the hippy vibes that the neighborhood is known for. We were there on a sunny Sunday afternoon and there were people hoola-hooping, yogis bending into amazing poses, and a percussion circle calling for liberation.

Browse the history of Tango on the windows of Bar Sur 

Bar Sur is one of San Telmo’s most famous tango bars. Since we were there during the day, it was far too early to catch live tango unfortunately, but there are some amazing photos of tango dancers and celebrities who have filled Bar Sur over the years tiled onto it’s exterior windows—so walking by is worth it, too.

Find a used English book at Walrus Books 

We happened upon Walrus Books while walking from the subway to San Telmo Market, and I’m so happy we did. It’s a quaint little shop full of used English books and it has great selection at low costs (for instance, a barely-used copy of Where’d You Go, Bernadette? was about 6 USD). A wonderful place to stop in for a few minutes if you’re in need of a new book while traveling through Buenos Aires, or if you’re like me and love going into bookstores wherever you go.

Drink strong coffee while people-watching at Coffee Town

Situated right in the middle of one of the bustling walkways in San Telmo Market, Coffee Town serves up fantastic, strong coffee and espresso drinks. Perch on a stool alongside their baristas for some top-notch people watching.

Ponder whether you need Tango shoes at Arte Tango 

Tango shoes are such beautiful, elegant creations and wandering past Arte Tango‘s little storefront overflowing with tango shoes in all different colors and shapes made me actually ponder whether I needed some. (Read: I’ve never needed anything less.) But if you’re less practical than me or are learning tango while in Buenos Aires or even at home, please go buy some here and let me live vicariously through you and your shoes.