The city is geographically contained inside the province of Buenos Aires, but it is politically autonomous.
Its coordinates are 34º 36' S, 58º 26' W.
The city extends on a plain covering 19.4 kilometers (12 miles) from north to south and 17.9 kilometers (11 miles) from east to west.
Approximately three million people live in the City of Buenos Aires (the Federal Capital of Argentina with 202 square kilometers equivalent to 78.3 sq miles). The City is divided into 48 districts or barrios. Together with its metropolitan area or Greater Buenos Aires (Gran Buenos Aires) this is one of the ten most populated urban centers in the world with over 10 million people. Most of the country's activity is highly concentrated in this single city and its surroundings.
Buenos Aires constantly receives tourists from all over the world and offers a large choice cultural events, nightlife, restaurants and pubs, so you can expect good services and a wide range of options.
Buenos Aires has also one of the largest homosexual communities in Latin America and there is a liberal attitude towards gay society. Within Capital Federal gay couples can form a legal civil partnership. Following the economic recovery, in recent years there has been an increase in gay-friendly businesses such as real estate, apartment rental, travel agents, language classes, tango classes, bars, restaurants, hotels and guesthouses. Year 2006 has seen arrivals of more gay cruise ships, the commencement of construction of a gay 5-star hotel and a general increase in gay tourism.
Newspapers
If you want to learn about local issues, there are many newspapers in Buenos Aires, most of them with internet versions. Some of them:
Eat
In October, 2006, a new smokefree law went into effect that made all bars and restaurants less than 100 square meters smokefree. Larger establishments are permitted to have a designated smoking area.
If you're not vegetarian, you will want to try asado (beef/steak barbecue). In addition, if you want to try the meat specialities on offer, you should go to a parrilla, one of those are restaurants that specialize in roasted meats. There are fancy expensive parrillas, and more simple ones. Everybody eats a lot of meat here and the way that it is prepared makes it very tasty. The bife de lomo (tenderloin) is unbelievably tender in comparison to US beef and is more reminiscent of European cuts.
The Italian and Spanish food are almost native here, as the cultural heritage heralds in great part from these two countries. Other popular meals are pizzas and empanadas (traditional meal, small self-contained pastries, stuffed with various ingredients; the traditional one is the meat empanada), you will find it comes in many varieties. They are quite a popular home delivery or takeaway/takeout option.
The pizza is excellent in Buenos Aires,...
