The Notable Bars and Cafés of Buenos Aires

People-watching, reading, writing, or getting together with friends to chat, all at a beautiful and historic Buenos Aires café, has been a major part of Argentina’s identity for over a century. Many of these cafés or bars are called café notables, or “notable cafés”, and have been deemed of cultural importance by the city government.

The city has declared over 80 historic bars and cafés as "notables". According to the law,  ley N° 35, these cafés are the most culturally significant places in the city and are recognized by the government for their history, tradition, architectural value, local relevance, and overall cultural impact.

Walk into many of these cafés and you feel like you instantly step back in time. Most of these corner cafés still give a look into Buenos Aires’ past: They have been carefully preserved, walls filled with nostalgic memorabilia and original architecture intact, and still act as a refuge from the bustle of the big city. 

The 1950s style Palermo café has been a haven for artists and writers for decades. The café rarely closes, staying open from 6 am to around 3 am, seeing many different crowds throughout the day. 

They serve everything from cortado coffee to aperitivos, like Fernet and coke and Cinzano with soda water. They are also known for their milanesas and tostados, a simple toasted ham and cheese sandwich typically consumed for breakfast or during merienda tea time.

El Bar Celta first opened its doors in 1941, but it wasn’t until the mid-90s when it became known for its incredible jazz concerts and jam sessions. 

Celta Bar, like many bares notables, are open all day long for breakfast, lunch, merienda (a late afternoon snack), and dinner or after dinner drinks. Want to wake up like a true Porteño? Order a cortado con medialunas for breakfast, coffee with a croissant-like pastry.

Los Galgos, which means greyhounds, revives the city’s nostalgic café culture for the modern age. The bar dates back to the 1930s, but it was renovated in 2016 to focus on quality food and drinks. 

Like many Buenos Aires bars, Los Galgos pays homage to the hora de vermut, or vermouth hour, when cocktail lovers come for pre-dinner aperitivos and charcuterie picada platters. 

It’s famous for its pickled turkey sandwich, which was said to be invented there in the 1940s. 

A neighborhood known for its artists, cultural events like exhibitions and book launches are held in Café Margot. Fileteado, a type of lettering characteristic to Buenos Aires, used to adorn signs, taxis, and buses, can be seen throughout the bar. The café also has a wall that pays tribute to the barriologos, historians of the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires.

Many of these cafés, like Café Poesía in the heart of San Telmo, were known as hangouts for important literary, political, musical figures, especially the great poets of the 1960s. 

Books, artifacts, and portraits of this city’s literary greats line the walls, along with vintage bottles of classic Argentine aperitivo drinks. 

Unlike cafés in other parts of the world, in Buenos Aires it is customary for regulars to sit for hours reading a book or use the space as a meeting point to catch up with friends or chat up strangers.