Parque Lezama

Low-key, local and leafy Lezama
Noteworthy for: Although not a destination in itself, if you’re in the area, this park makes for a welcome respite.

Word to the wise: A Sunday crafts fair can be found between Calle Defensa and Avenida San Juan, which also sells second-hand clothes.
Porteños playing chess, local families enjoying a picnic, workers on their lunch break reading a book and drinking mate: this is a real neighbourhood park enjoyed by the community. Despite being in a relatively rough area between San Telmo and La Boca, it is still pretty, studded with monuments and offering shade under the branches of exotic trees and palms.

Enjoy the church – the Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa – on the park’s north side with its beautiful blue domes, or pop into the Argentine National Historical Museum, Museo Historico Nacional. Although not worth a special trip, if you're in the area, it does give some background on important figures and episodes in Argentina's past and admission is free. After you've ticked that educational box, reward yourself with a drink at the quintessential Buenos Aires cafe Bar Britanico, which has been at that spot since 1928.