Mar del Plata

Mar del Plata grew at the end of the nineteenth century as the resort of the Buenos Aires elite, and became the summer city of everyone else. The Rambla, the casino and the old Hotel Provincial face the Bristol beach; the port has its fishing fleet, its sea lion colony and its seafood restaurants; south of the city, cliffs and long beaches run down the coast. The dusky dolphins of the Patagonian coast range this far north.

It rarely appears on an international itinerary, and that is part of its interest: two nights here show Argentines on holiday the way few other places do. It is four or five hours by road from Buenos Aires, or a short flight, and works for travellers with family links to the coast, for a different end to a journey, or combined with an estancia in the southern Pampas on the way.

January and February are full, hot and loud. December and March are mild and calmer, the best time for a visit. In winter the beaches empty, but the city, the port and the restaurants keep working.