The paths in the Rose Garden in Parque 3 de Febrero
The park has nice, wide, tree lined walkways and bike paths
Despite never having lived in a really large metropolitan area, it sometimes surprises me how much we love massive cities. We have yet to meet a large, chaotic city that we didn’t like (let’s throw out Delhi, though, no one likes Delhi). Chicago, New York, Buenos Aires, Lima, Bogota, Santiago, Bangkok, Hanoi, Saigon, and Mumbai are all cities we loved visiting during our travels.
And while the hustle and bustle, the energy, the myriad of food, drink, and entertainment options, the public transport, and the constant crush of people are all things we oddly enjoy about major metropolitan areas, it’s always nice to get a respite from that urban chaos.
Central Park in New York City is fantastic and perfectly placed in the middle of Manhattan. Hanoi has the area around Hoan Kiem Lake that is teeming with locals at the crack of dawn every morning and offers just a brief break from the hecticness. Lima has several green areas throughout the city to get away from the concrete mass of the rest of the city. Our hometown of St. Louis has massive Forest Park (larger than NY’s Central Park) plopped right down in the middle of the city.
What about Buenos Aires? Buenos Aires has Parque 3 de Febrero, located in the very cool and very chic barrio of Palermo. We took the subte from our little apartment in San Telmo many an afternoon to hang out in this beautiful and fun-filled 62 acre park that has your feel as though the madness of the city is far, far away.
Parque 3 de Febrero has a lot to offer both travelers and locals alike, so be sure to stop in for at least an afternoon. It’s easy to access, it has plenty of entertainment, most for free, and it’s just a great place to spend a day or two relaxing and distancing yourself from the 12 million people of BsAs.
The highlights are many, so don’t skip out on any.
Rose Garden
The Rose Garden is gorgeous, not only for the roses but for the beautifully landscaped ground, complete with several little ponds and rivers and bridges.
Japanese Garden
We were surprised to learn that this Japanese Garden is the largest outside of Japan itself. It was quite impressive.
Zoo
The zoo at the edge of the park was also a fun to place to visit with all the usual suspects a zoo has plus some really interesting buildings and architecture.
Botanical Gardens
Despite being home to a ridiculous number of cats, the Botanical Gardens are also quite lovely, and the trees and shade were quite welcome in the heat of summer.
Picnics
There’s no better place in the city to grab a blanket, your favorite snacks, and of course a bottle of Malbec, and just plop down to watch the world go by.
Boat Rental
There are several little lakes (ponds, really) to rent pedal-boats and little row boats.
Nearby Attractions
In the immediate vicinity of Parque 3 de Febrero is Plaza Italia, a very nice little plaza/park across the street from the zoo. The Planetarium, the Hipodromo Argentino (Palermo racecourse), and the Museo Arte Moderno Eduardo Sivori are all in and immediately around Parque 3 de Febrero.
Mullets
I would be remiss not to mention our afternoon of mullet hunting. Despite being a very fashionable and modern city, for some odd reason, Buenos Aires has a large number of mullets. So one day while in the park, we decided to try to capture this phenomenon on film. It was hard work, and we had to employ some shady tactics, but it was all worth to get the following shot of not only a man with a mullet, but also a she-mullet and the classic unbuttoned all the way shirt and belly-button pick. We were quite happy with ourselves.
Taken nearly two years ago, I still laugh my ass off when I see this.
