Plaza San Martin
The park we lived off for a week, at its purple best in November.
Explore → Get Early Access🏛️ Plaza San Martin Essentials
🧭 Why Visit
We stayed a block from this park and crossed it several times a day, which turned out to be the best accident of the trip. It slopes down from the palaces to the station under old trees, the tower stands at the bottom of it, and in the middle of November the jacarandas make the whole thing purple. Everything else in the city started with a walk across it.
🏛️ A Little History
The square carries the name of Jose de San Martin, who liberated Argentina, Chile and Peru, and who drilled his grenadiers on this ground before taking them across the Andes. The palaces around it went up when the country was briefly one of the richest on earth, and the Palacio San Martin, built for one family in 1909, has belonged to the Foreign Ministry since 1936.
💡 Did You Know?
The clock tower at the bottom of the slope was a gift from the British community for the 1810 centenary, finished in 1916, with a clock and bells copied from Westminster. It was the Torre de los Ingleses until 1982, when the Falklands War cost it the name. It is the Torre Monumental now, and the square beside it was renamed too.
The Square
Our week ran off this park. The hotel was a block away and everything else in the city started with a walk across it.
After Dark
The tower is lit until late and the park keeps its shape long after the light has gone.
Live Prices & Availability
Getting There & Around
- It is a flat twenty minute walk from here to Recoleta through the best streets in the city
- Retiro station sits at the bottom of the slope for trains north and the long-distance buses
Local Know-How
- The jacarandas peak in the middle of November and the fallen blossom on the paths is half the show
- Sit on the grass in the late afternoon; the whole city does, and it is the best free hour in Buenos Aires
Frequently Asked Questions
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