DISCOVERING BUENOS AIRES, THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS (OR SO IT SEEMS) Young travelers are flocking to Buenos Aires to experience its non-stop nightlife and vibrant culture, at a fraction of the cost of other cities

By Matt Stabile

Let’s face it, in the last year or so, travelers have been talking more and more about Argentina: the best place for nightlife, the best place to visit with a weak American dollar, the best place to see before it’s overrun with tourists. Not one for putting things off too long -- and with winter just around the corner -- I booked a flight to Buenos Aires to find out first-hand what all the talk was about.

Back in August, while exploring various sites, I came across an unbeatable deal -- US$550 -- on a flight to Buenos Aires from New York on American Airlines. (After taxes and various other fees that this particular web site tacked on, the fare came out closer to US$800, so instead I booked directly through American’s web site and nabbed a ticket for US$750.)

I landed in Buenos Aires on a Friday morning after an overnight flight nonstop out of JFK. I grabbed my suitcase, waded through the crowd of drivers gathered near the airport exit, and hopped into one of the yellow cabs waiting patiently on the street. About half the price of a car service, my ride in a slightly beat-up taxi cost about 75 pesos or US$25 (the exchange rate has been hovering around 3-to-1 for the last few years).

Which brings me to one of the main reasons Argentina has emerged as a favored destination. As is usually mentioned when speaking of post-financial-crises Argentina (in 2002 the Argentinean peso was unpegged from the dollar, causing much of the nation’s wealth to be wiped out overnight), Argentina is an extremely affordable place to visit for foreigners. With a recovery only now beginning to unfold, Americans should expect to pay about a 1/3 (and even better for the British and Europeans) for everything from lodging to food and drinks.

After about 20 minutes, we turned off the highway and wound our way through Buenos Aires’ outer barrios, finally arriving in the neighborhood where I’d be staying for the next four nights: Palermo Soho. With its young, stylish population, Palermo has recently emerged as the “in” neighborhood, home to some of the city’s best art galleries, shops, bars and restaurants.

A few weeks before my trip, I consulted my borrowed Lonely Planet and did a quick web search and found Hostel Giramondo (located at Guemes and Santa Marie de Oro -- about a 10 minute walk to the center of Palermo Soho). Even amongst the leafy streets and pastel colors of the eclectic neighborhood, the hostel, with it’s lime green façade and imposing iron doors, is hard to miss. Inside the converted Victorian, the hostel has a subterranean bar (which comes alive on the weekend with a surprisingly large number of locals stopping by), a rooftop terrace, kitchen, and about twenty rooms, accommodating up to four people each. The hostel is run by a pair of brothers and the young staff running the front desk are likely to hang out in the lobby with you during downtimes and play a few songs on their guitar or grab a drink with you.

After arriving I was told my bed wasn’t ready yet, so I left my bag and walked down the street to Plaza Serrano -- the center of Palermo Soho -- to check out the mix of funky, hip shops that line the streets south of the plaza. The shops in Palermo sell everything from ultra-modern home furnishings to casual clothing and many are located in converted warehouses that have been given a sleek, tropical makeover, which makes the area feel like Soho (New York) crossed with South Beach.

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