Café Tortoni: Buenos Aires Travel Guide (4.5★)

A salon on Avenida de Mayo

Café Tortoni opened in 1858, which makes it the oldest café in Argentina. The entrance faces Avenida de Mayo, the boulevard running between Plaza de Mayo and the Congress building. Inside, dark wood panelling lines the walls and small marble-topped tables fill the long room. A stained-glass skylight lets in colour from overhead.

Waiters in waistcoats work the floor. Framed photographs and caricatures of former regulars crowd the walls. Writers, painters and musicians made it their meeting place for generations, among them Jorge Luis Borges and the tango singer Carlos Gardel. Life-size figures of Borges, Gardel and the poet Alfonsina Storni sit at a table near the back, and most visitors queue for a photo with them.

What lands on the marble

The menu is classic porteño café fare. It is mid-range for the city: you are paying partly for the room. What people come for:

• Chocolate con churros, the house order: thick hot chocolate with fried dough for dipping
• Medialunas, the small sweet Argentine croissants, with a café con leche
• Submarino, a bar of dark chocolate dropped into a glass of hot milk
• Tostados, the ham-and-cheese toasted sandwiches, if you want something savoury

In the evening the back room becomes a small theatre for tango shows. They are ticketed separately from the café, so book ahead and confirm show times when you do.

Beating the line at the door

This is one of the most-reviewed cafés in South America, and a queue regularly forms on the pavement. Staff at the door seat people as tables free up. The line moves, but slowly at peak times.

• Go early. On weekends it is quietest from 8am to 9am, right as the doors open.
• Current hours: 8am–9pm, seven days a week. Check before you go, as holiday schedules can differ.
• Don’t rush, but don’t camp either. Lingering over one coffee is normal porteño behaviour. When the line is long, pay the bill once you’ve finished.
• Paying: ask for la cuenta. A tip of about 10% is customary in Argentine cafés. Leave it in cash on the table if you can.
• Ordering: waiters speak enough English for the menu. A simple un café con leche y medialunas, por favor is always welcome.

Getting there and what’s nearby

Subte Line A stops at Piedras, under Avenida de Mayo and about a block from the door. Line C’s Avenida de Mayo station is a few blocks west at Avenida 9 de Julio. Allow 45 minutes to an hour for the café, or longer if you’re seeing a show.

Tortoni sits on a walk you can do in a morning:

• Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada, a few blocks east along the avenue
• Catedral Metropolitana, on the plaza’s edge
• Palacio Barolo, farther west at Av. de Mayo 1370, with its Dante-inspired design and lighthouse dome
• Congreso, where the avenue ends

Pair an 8am breakfast here with Plaza de Mayo, which is quieter early in the morning too, and you’ll have done the area’s main sights before the day gets busy.