Pasajes and landmark walks

Entre Talcahuano y Uruguay, uniendo Juan D. Perón y Bartolomé Mitre · Balvanera

On the same walk: Add it to a walk through Tribunales, near the courts and Plaza Lavalle.

Designed by Petersen, Thiele and Cruz and finished around 1924, this is the only street in the city built as a mirror image, with identical facades facing each other. The Parisian look has made it a favourite backdrop for films and photo shoots. It runs for a single quiet block near Tribunales.

Zelaya, zona del Abasto · Balvanera

On the same walk: Walk it with Pasaje Carlos Gardel and the Abasto for a full tango circuit.

Two blocks in the Abasto covered with murals of Carlos Gardel by street artists. There are at least six different portraits of the singer along the walls, from black and white realism to mosaic and pop art. An open air tribute to the neighbourhood's most famous resident.

Pasaje Carlos Gardel, saliendo de Anchorena, Abasto · Balvanera

On the same walk: Combine with the Casa Museo Carlos Gardel and Pasaje Zelaya.

A passage flanked by tango murals and named after Carlos Gardel, who lived in the Abasto for years. Public art and plaques keep his memory along the walk, and the house where he lived, now a museum, is steps away.

Entre Brandsen 2100 y Av. Suárez · Barracas

On the same walk: Combine it with Parque Lezama and the San Telmo antiques circuit heading south.

A small residential lane in Barracas with around forty facades intervened by the artist Marino Santa María: abstract figures, Venetian mosaics and coloured tiles from one end to the other. He started with his own house in 1990 and the neighbours joined in over the years.

Pasaje Marcoartú, paralelo a las vías del Sarmiento · Flores

On the same walk: Combine with a walk through central Flores near the Basílica de San José de Flores.

Named after a Flores resident, this passage runs parallel to the Sarmiento railway and is flanked by an early 20th century housing complex by the engineer J. Arnavat, built for railway staff. Its quiet brick facades are a low key example of company housing from the railway era.

Caminito, saliendo de Av. Pedro de Mendoza · La Boca

On the same walk: Continue to the Vuelta de Rocha and the Museo Quinquela Martín.

One of the most photographed street museums in the world, following the curve of the city's first railway line, with cobbles and brightly painted tin conventillo houses. Open air tango, art stalls, and the Teatro de la Ribera and Museo Quinquela Martín steps away.

Entre Av. de Mayo y Rivadavia · Monserrat

On the same walk: Fold it into a walk down Avenida de Mayo, close to Palacio Barolo.

Named after its first owner, this commercial gallery was built in 1878 and remodelled when Avenida de Mayo was opened. Stained glass, curved shop windows and bronze woodwork, plus a barbershop that Pope Francis is said to have used. A small, atmospheric detour off a grand avenue.

Av. de Mayo 1370 · Monserrat

On the same walk: Visit it with Pasaje Roverano, both on the same stretch of Avenida de Mayo.

Built by the Italian architect Mario Palanti for Luigi Barolo and opened in 1923, the building and its interior passage are laid out following the structure of Dante's Divine Comedy. It was briefly the tallest building in South America, and the lobby and lighthouse dome are full of esoteric symbolism. You can climb to the top for the view over Avenida de Mayo.

Entrada por Bartolomé Mitre 1531, también sobre Montevideo y Paraná · San Nicolás

On the same walk: Pair it with a walk along Bartolomé Mitre toward Plaza San Martín.

One of the oldest passages in the city and the only one shaped like a horseshoe, with strong Italian facades mixed with later French touches typical of the 1880s. It inspired Borges and has housed several well known residents. Still a residential pocket hidden off a busy downtown street.

Defensa 1179 · San Telmo

On the same walk: Combine it with a stroll down Defensa toward Plaza Dorrego, a few blocks away.

A two storey casona from the 1880s, once home to the Ezeiza family, now full of small shops and studios. Rooms open onto a side gallery and the ground floor has three patios: del Tiempo, del Árbol and de las Baldosas.

San Lorenzo, entre Defensa y Bolívar · San Telmo

On the same walk: Pair it with the San Telmo fair on Defensa, a short walk away.

Most of the buildings along this two block cobbled cortada date from the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th. Inside it is Los Patios de San Telmo, a colonial era casona that now holds artisan workshops. One of the quieter, more residential passages of the old town.

Entre Defensa y Paseo Colón · San Telmo

On the same walk: Walk it with Pasaje San Lorenzo and Plaza Dorrego on a San Telmo circuit.

Named after José Modesto Giuffra, a lawyer and radical politician of the 1893 and 1905 revolutions, this two block passage sits in the middle of San Telmo. On Sundays it holds a small artisan fair with a character of its own, apart from the big antiques market nearby.