Buenos Aires has been called "the world capital of nostalgia" – and nowhere is this spirit stronger today than in the city's many "old-school" cafés and bars, said Chris Moss in The Times.
Memories of the "Old World" and the Argentinian capital's own storied past pervade these neighbourhood institutions, beloved by locals for their "authenticity and atmosphere", but rarely noticed by tourists. A new website, bardeviejes.com.ar, lists hundreds of them. With their "sepia" lighting, creaking ceiling fans and vintage coffee machines, they are wonderful places to sit and daydream over an espresso (or a glass of wine or something stronger). And the website's map makes it easy to plot long walks through the city with stops at the most captivating of these bars.
For an introductory nine-mile stroll, start with breakfast at Bar Británico, which opened in 1928 and hasn't changed much since. It sits on a "picturesque" corner opposite the park where Buenos Aires is believed to have been founded in 1536. From there, you might walk through San Telmo, with its colonial-era buildings, and past the Plaza de Mayo, where Eva Perón addressed her "shirtless ones". Stop next at the Saint Moritz bar, which counts Jorge Luis Borges among its past habitués. With its 1950s leatherette chairs and waistcoated waiters, it is "reassuringly unpretentious".
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From there, you could proceed through wealthy Palermo Chico and the rose gardens of Parque 3 de Febrero to the "staunchly lower-middle-class" barrio of Núñez, for a plate of revuelto gramajo (hash, ham and eggs) at Bar la Escuela – "the perfect foodie finale".
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