Hotels near San Telmo and the Feria de San Telmo

San Telmo is the oldest surviving barrio in Buenos Aires, laid out in the eighteenth century and left largely intact after the wealthy families fled north to Recoleta during the yellow fever epidemic of 1871. Cobbled Calle Defensa runs its full length. On Sundays from about 10:00 to 17:00 the Feria de San Telmo takes over some ten blocks of it, running from Plaza de Mayo down to Plaza Dorrego, with several hundred stalls selling antique soda siphons, silver mate gourds, vinyl, leather and a good deal of ordinary tourist stock.

The permanent Mercado de San Telmo at Bolivar 970, a covered iron-and-glass hall from 1897, trades every day and has quietly become the best place to eat in the barrio: empanadas, choripan, sandwiches de milanesa and a few newer coffee bars sharing floor space with butchers and greengrocers. Plaza Dorrego fills with tango dancers in the late afternoon, though the daytime performers work for tips and the evening dancing is the genuine article. Midweek San Telmo is a different, far calmer place.

Pro Tip: Walk the feria south to north, starting at Plaza Dorrego around 10:30 before the crowd thickens. Carry cash in small notes - most stalls take nothing else and nobody has change for large bills.