Christmas in BsAs

[tangobob]

I will be back in BsAs for most of December, and I wondered if anybody has suggestions as to what one can do over the Christmas period. I am hoping that everything does not shut down. Do restaurants serve Christmas lunch? I prefer steak to turkey, but so long as we are not sat hungry in the street.
Obviously my main concern is that the milongas are open. Any help?

 

[hotmama]

Its pretty empty here at Xmas time. However, there are restaurants and some hotels open. Its also super hot as its summer. I hope that helps.

 

[tangobob]

Thanks, I like the sound of Hot, nice to know some retaurants are open, do you know about the milongas?

 

[Granadaiscool]

Avoid BA at c-mas time untill early march. Or you need to have family there

 

[tangobob]

Still waiting on any replys. We are comming so saying do not come is no help.
Does anyone have suggestions where we can get a decent Christmas Dinner?

 

[thatguy]

Last time I checked everything was open in December. In no way is Buenos Aires like a ghost town described here My favorite restuarant is Kansas, they have some great food. Or another is a cuban restuarant, but they don't have steak. I am sure there will be lots of restuarants with steak open. Also, I would recommend taking a trip to the beach.

 

[tangobob]

Thanks for the tips, but one other point I do not have a car here, do taxis operate on 25th Dec? There is not much point in booking a dinner if I cannot get there.
We are staying in Palermo until our flat is ready.

 

[sergio]

Five star hotels like the Marriot Plaza, Park Hyatt, Four Seasons etc will serve an impressive Christmas lunch/dinner but expect it to be an expensive affair. Someone mentioned Kansas. That would seem a less expensive and more informal alternative but I suspect you had better book ahead. I have no idea about milongas. Aren't there some blogs dedicated to this theme.

 

[BAJoe]

For X-mas lunch it should be like a fairly normal holiday, but Christmas Eve is actually Argentina´s most important holiday, similar to Thanksgiving in the US where virtually EVERYBODY goes home for dinner with the family. ALL malls, and virtually all restaurants close down for the evening.
Another characteristic that reinforces the shutdown is the widespread MIS-use of fireworks by unsupervised kids and foolish adults. You wouldn´t want to be walking in the line-of-fire from 10pm to 1 or 2 am. It becomes a real "ghost-town", the air even gets full of gunpowder stench.
By comparison, New Year´s Eve repeats the taxi, and fireworks situations, but people tend to go to visit friends or out to restaurant parties, instead of family. The city is only half full by then; after X-mas the vacation exodus begins.
Remises and taxis will be hard to find, but you can call in a reservation a few days in advance with a nearby remise or cab agency for pre-arranging drop-off and pick-up times-places. Usually they will ALL be away from 8-9 pm till 1 or 2am, but you would also be having your dinner so it kind of works out well.
I would imagine in Puerto Madero, or in the Palermo area, you would find a Christmas party for tourists and local singles. In the suburbs you have the restaurant strip at Acassuso, by the "hipodromo" racetrack that always has a few open places. But you better look into all this yourself, check and ask if the ambience is of your particular liking, and make your own reservations in person.

 

[schef4711]

Hi,christmas in BsAs is a little bit different. In real many restaurants are opens but closed for privat dinner - this is the biggest problem. So if you don't have a invitation for one or a reservation you don't get a dish.Best place to get a dish is in the neighborhood of Las Cañitas because this is a more touristic zone. But much more expensive. To get taxis is at some times very difficult. But the buses will go but with longer interval. So check this out because it is much cheaper at the moment (0,80 Pesos - arround 0,25 US$) as a taxi where you pay as lowest the "goin" fee of 3,10 Pesos (arround 1 US$) plus the distance fee.

bye Alex