The city's great green lung: lakes with paddle boats, a rose garden of thousands of bushes around a white bridge, a Japanese garden of koi and lanterns, and 25 km of paths to cycle under palms and jacarandas.
The Bosques de Palermo, officially the Parque Tres de Febrero, were laid out in the 1870s on the former estate of the dictator Rosas, and they remain where porteños go to run, cycle, picnic and row on weekends.
The park has lakes, the Rosedal, a rose garden with thousands of bushes, a Poets' Garden of busts and a white Andalusian patio, and a Japanese garden of bridges, koi ponds and stone lanterns given by the Japanese community. Around them run 25 km of paths, past the Planetarium and the Galileo Galilei telescope dome.
Weekends bring the city out to roller-skate and drink mate on the grass; weekday mornings are calm. The city's free bikes and the hire stands at the lake make a two-hour loop of it.
A clockwise ride from Plaza Italia.
Collect an EcoBici from a dock near Plaza Italia and ride into the park along Av. Sarmiento.
Lock up and walk through the Japanese garden's bridges and ponds, with a tea house in the middle.
Ride to the lake and wander the Rosedal, the Poets' Garden and the white Andalusian patio.
Circle the lakes on the ring road, closed to cars in parts, with paddle boats and geese.
Finish at the Planetarium's sci-fi dome and return to Plaza Italia for a coffee.
The city's bike scheme works through an app; visitors can register with a passport. Short rides are cheap or free on weekdays.
Private stands by the lake rent bikes, tandems and skates by the hour, no app needed.
Subte line D to Plaza Italia, or any bus along Av. Santa Fe or Av. del Libertador.
Buenos Aires practical notes →Wikimedia Commons photographs are used under their licences.
