Puerto Madero and the Puente de la Mujer

Puerto Madero is the newest and most polished neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, and its story is one of the city's great turnarounds. The port was built in the 1880s and 1890s to a plan by the merchant Eduardo Madero, with four long rectangular docks lined by handsome red-brick warehouses, but it was badly designed for the growing ships of the age and was overtaken within a couple of decades by the new port to the north. For most of the twentieth century it lay largely abandoned. In the 1990s the city launched a major redevelopment, and the warehouses on the western side of the docks were restored and converted into offices, lofts, restaurants and university buildings, while the eastern side filled with luxury apartment towers, office blocks and hotels. The result is a long, walkable waterfront promenade a few blocks from the Casa Rosada, with the old cranes left standing as reminders of the past. Its streets are named after notable Argentine women, and its centrepiece is the Puente de la Mujer, the Woman's Bridge, designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and opened in 2001. The white pedestrian bridge, with a single angled mast and cables, is said to evoke a couple dancing tango, and its central section swings on a pivot to let boats pass. Nearby, the Fragata Presidente Sarmiento, a nineteenth-century navy training ship, is moored as a museum, and the Colección de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, a private art museum in a striking glass-and-steel building, holds Argentine and international art. Behind the towers lies the Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve, a wild green expanse on the river.

When to go: Puerto Madero is at its most beautiful in the late afternoon and at sunset, when the light catches the brick warehouses and the towers reflect in the docks, and after dark, when the bridge is lit. Walk the length of the docks on the western side, cross the Puente de la Mujer for photographs, and continue along the eastern side. It is one of the safest and best-maintained areas in the city, with a strong security presence, and it is flat, so it suits families with strollers and anyone who wants an easy walk.

Eating and drinking: the converted warehouses are lined with restaurants, many of them large steakhouses with terraces on the water. They are reliable and the setting is lovely, but prices are higher than in Palermo or San Telmo, and locals tend to see the area as a place for business lunches and special occasions rather than everyday dining. For the best value, have a drink or a coffee on a dockside terrace at sunset, then go elsewhere for dinner, or choose a restaurant on a set lunch menu.

How to combine it: Puerto Madero is a short walk from the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada, so it fits neatly after a morning in the historic centre. Continue east to the Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve for birdlife and river views, or visit the Fragata Sarmiento and the Fortabat collection. On weekends, the food stalls along the Costanera serve choripán, the classic sausage sandwich, a cheap and cheerful alternative to the dockside restaurants.