Café Tortoni

Café Tortoni is the most famous café in Buenos Aires and, according to the city's tourism board, the oldest. It was founded in 1858 by a French immigrant, Jean Touan, who named it after the Café Tortoni in Paris. It first stood on the corner of Esmeralda and Rivadavia, moving in the 1880s, and in 1894 his successor, Celestino Curutchet, opened the entrance on the new Avenida de Mayo. The architect Alejandro Christophersen designed the avenue façade in 1898, and Curutchet is remembered as a pioneer of putting tables and chairs out on the pavement.

Inside, the marble tables and walls full of history give the room a sense of continuity with its past. The guest list over the years reads like a cultural history of the 20th century: Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Federico García Lorca, Luigi Pirandello, Arthur Rubinstein and Carlos Gardel all came here. According to the poet Enrique Cadícamo, Gardel kept a table on the right of the room, by the window as you enter from Rivadavia, away from his fans.

The café is also linked to tango. Jazz and tango shows are staged in the basement, and the Academia Nacional del Tango and the Museo Mundial del Tango are close by, so it is worth asking at the door about the evening programme. During the day, most visitors come simply to sit at a marble table with coffee and something sweet and soak up the atmosphere.

The tourism board lists the café as open every day from 08:00 to 21:00, so it works for breakfast, an afternoon coffee or an early evening drink. Because it is so famous, it is worth coming early in the day if you want a quieter table. Allow 45 minutes to an hour, and keep in mind that the Museo del Mate is also nearby if you want to learn about mate.

It suits first-time visitors, literature lovers and anyone interested in the history of the city. The café is at Avenida de Mayo 825, so it fits naturally into a walk along the avenue that takes in the Casa Rosada, the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Palacio Barolo, which stands at number 1370.