Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
So while transportation is relatively easy, finding a chill place to hang out is a little more difficult. Simply put, there are three types of places where you can hang out. There are resto-bars, which are restaurants with bars that stay open late at night, the usual bars/pubs, and boliches. Boliches are dance clubs, which can be filled with younger people, or older couples, or a mix of both. They can have salsa music, reggaetton, or tango music, but many more are filled with old 80s dance music from around the world.
Nightlife is usually restricted to those above 18 years of age, because any place that sells alcohol is prohibited to minors, but those 16 year olds always manage to find a way in.
From what I have seen, Argentine culture is built around hanging out, and having chill time. People take their days slowly here, with some jobs not beginning until 9 or 10, and people taking one to two hour lunch breaks.
The main difference from American culture—the drinking. While in the United States the drinking age is 21, and bars often have a “last call for alcohol”, the drinking age in Argentina is 18, and most bars do not close until 6 or 7 in the morning. This means, the culture of drinking is more social, with people wandering in groups from bar to bar, or pub to pub, sharing a jug/bottle, and very few people taking shots. Drinks and cigarettes are communal; if you are the type of person who would guard their drink, you probably should not come to Argentina. The idea is to share, and to relax with friends. So people buy drinks and share them, buy bottles or rounds for the people around them, and just celebrate their night out.
You can sometimes find a bar full of people, where very few are drinking, and people are just chilling out. I have been to pubs on Monday and Tuesday nights, where everyone was having coffee. The point is not usually to get drunk, but to enjoy the experience, and the atmosphere of the pub/restaurant. This is not to say that binge drinking does not happen; simply that I have not witnessed it yet.
One of the major problems with heading out: if you head out alone, extra caution is needed. Just like in any major city, people seek to take advantage of tourists who travel alone, so stick to public streets, and try to travel with friends.
The best way to enjoy Buenos Aires is to spend some time in each area, and get to know what kind of nightlife you really enjoy.
If you are like me, you like to chill sometimes, dance sometimes, and in between, you just want to make some new friends.
The best way to do that: get on the bus, take the train, and get out there, the nightlife is waiting.
