• Best Luxury Hotels: The Alvear Palace Hotel is a gilded confection of carved marble and ornate French furniture. It's the ultimate grand hotel experience in Buenos Aires, complete with butler service. The Four Seasons Hotel offers subdued luxury (elegance without the flash), quiet pampering, and a refuge from the bustle of the city in the hotel's walled garden.
  • Best Historic Hotel: The Plaza Hotel is the oldest of the grand hotels in Buenos Aires, and its location on Plaza San Martín can't be beat. (Note: the Plaza Hotel closed for renovations in 2017; projected date of reopening is 2023.) The Hotel Castelar sits on Avenida de Mayo, once the city's most glamorous street. This hotel, adorned with Italian marble and bronze, was the favorite choice of Lorca and other Spanish writers in the 1930s, when Buenos Aires was the intellectual and literary capital of the Spanish-speaking world. Today it's a great budget choice.
  • Best See-and-Be-Seen Hotels: The Faena Hotel, located in the Puerto Madero district, is the fashionista's see-and-be-seen choice. The hotel was designed with several bars in the lobby and a pool out front, so that any new arrivals would know exactly who else was around. In Recoleta, the Park Hyatt—Palacio Duhau, built into the old Palacio Duhau, has the best garden in the city. It's here that fashionable ladies come to lunch and be seen and businesspeople make decisions over drinks alfresco.
  • Best Boutique Hotels: Home in Palermo Viejo offers a home away from home that's both trendy and welcoming, and has kept prices reasonable in spite of its popularity. Nearby, Legado Mítico has large rooms, each named and designed after a famous Argentine; a book- and wing-back-chair-filled English-style lobby; and pampering wine-based toiletries.
  • Best Budget Hotel: A property of the French miracle chain Hotel Ibis wins in this category. The efficient service and location overlooking Congreso make this an excellent choice.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.