Early Argentine art is derivative, but Buenos Aires is the heart of a vigorous contemporary painting, sculpture, and multimedia scene. Its numerous art museums—including the state-of-the-art MALBA—and galleries could occupy art lovers for weeks on end. There are also folk art traditions like the urban craft of filete, a sort of calligraphic sign painting on display at the Feria de San Pedro Telmo in Plaza Dorrego.

Buenos Aires still displays a variety of architectural traditions, though there are only a handful of late colonial constructions around the Plaza de Mayo. The city really came into its own around the turn of the 20th century, when Francophile architects erected mansard-crested palacetes for oligarchic families, and the wealth of the pampas funded grandiose public buildings like the Congreso Nacional. Modern landmarks include the MALBA, but there are also vernacular traditions like the brightly painted, metal-clad houses of La Boca.

Argentina’s finest colonial art and architecture survives in the northwest, on an axis that runs south from Jujuy and Salta through Tucumán and Córdoba. Several chapels and churches are de facto galleries of ecclesiastical art from the colonial tradition of Bolivia and Peru, including the distinctively indigenous Cuzco school. Like Buenos Aires, the region has a tradition in its adobe buildings, sometimes embellished with details like Moorish arches that use cardón cactus timber for support.

Contrasting with Mesopotamia’s verdant subtropical vegetation, bright red sandstone blocks distinguish Mesopotamia’s colonial Jesuit missions; indigenous Guaraní artisans crafted the elaborate adornments.

Day 1
Arrive at Aeropuerto Internacional Ministro Pistarini (Ezeiza) and transfer to a Buenos Aires hotel. Visit main historic sites like the Plaza de Mayo, the Casa Rosada presidential palace, and the Congreso Nacional.

Day 2
Take in a full-day’s sightseeing including colonial San Telmo (home to Buenos Aires’s finest filete and the Museo de Arte Moderno) and the architecture of the barrio of La Boca (also home to the Museo Quinquela Martín and the Fundación Proa).

Days 3–4
Visit the Francophile mansions of Retiro, Recoleta, and Palermo, key art museums (Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Museo de Arte Decorativo, Museo Sívori, and especially Museo de Arte

Latinoamericano Buenos Aires—MALBA), and private galleries in Retiro and Recoleta.

Day 5
Morning flight to Puerto Iguazú, with afternoon visit to the falls. If the timing’s right, return for the evening full-moon tour.

Day 6
Overland to the historic Jesuit mission at San Ignacio and other ruined missions en route, with an overnight at the city of Posadas. From Posadas, time permitting, take an excursion across the Paraguayan border to the well-preserved missions of Trinidad and Jesús.

Day 7
Return flight to Buenos Aires, continuing to the colonial city of Salta. Visit the city’s key colonial churches, monuments, and museums.

Day 8
Take an excursion to the archaeological sites and colonial monuments of the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a World Heritage Site in nearby Jujuy Province. Stay overnight in Purmamarca or in Tilcara, site of several notable provincial art museums.

Day 9
Return to Salta, continuing to Cafayate, the pre-Columbian ruins of Quilmes, and the museums at Santa María. Overnight in Cafayate.

Day 10
Overland to Cachi, visiting several colonial churches and Cachi’s archaeological museum, returning to Salta via Parque Nacional Los Cardones and the scenic Quebrada de Escoipe. Catch a return flight to Buenos Aires.

Day 11
Morning flight to Córdoba, with afternoon visit to Jesuit constructions at Manzana de las Luces, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Jesuit ruins and museum at Alta Gracia.

Day 12
Return flight to Buenos Aires. Afternoon visit to Belgrano art museums including Museo Yrurtia, Museo Larreta, and Museo Badii.

Day 13
Full-day excursion to the gaucho capital of San Antonio de Areco, home to many artists and artisans. Or, ferry across the River Plate to the World Heritage Site of Colonia, Uruguay, a walled city that’s one of the Southern Cone’s best-preserved colonial sites.

Day 14
Full-day excursion to La Plata, the Buenos Aires provincial capital created as a planned city in the late 19th century. Known for its European-style architecture, La Plata also has notable murals.

Day 15
Full day for exploring Buenos Aires, including the Museo de Arte Moderno, before an evening departure.