Buenos Aires Guide
Retiro
Given the small area covered by Retiro – squeezed between Recoleta to the west, Avenida Córdoba and the microcentro to the south, and inhospitable docklands to the north and east – the central barrio is unexpectedly varied in character, combining aspects of the affluent northern barrios with features of the more modest south. Nowhere is Buenos Aires' favourite nickname – the "Paris of the South" – more apparent than in the neighbourhood's smart streets or its magnificent French-style palaces built in the first two or three decades of the twentieth century. Many of these palaces have been converted to ministries and embassies, clubs and museums, but some remain as examples of the city's priciest residential real estate. At the same time, few areas of the capital demonstrate so clearly the divide between haves and have-nots: the northeast fringes of the barrio, along the water, are taken up mainly by urban wasteland and one of the city's most notorious slums.