Cafés Notables: A Visitor’s Guide to the Bares Notables in Buenos Aires
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In most cities, an old café survives on luck. In Buenos Aires, it can survive by law. The bares notables in Buenos Aires are cafés, bars, billiard halls and confiterías that the city has formally recognized for their age, architecture or cultural importance, and that a special commission works to protect and promote. Since a 1998 city law created the program, more than 90 venues have been named, and the city’s tourism office currently lists over 70 historic cafés you can visit.
Here is how the system works, six famous cafés worth your time, and what to order once you sit down.
Key takeaways
- Law 35 of 1998 created a city commission to catalog, protect and promote notable cafés, bars, billiard halls and confiterías.
- A venue qualifies through links to cultural history, or through its age, architecture or local importance.
- Café Tortoni, founded in 1858, is the city’s oldest café; Las Violetas dates from 1884.
- The classic order is a cortado with medialunas, the small Argentine croissants.
In this article
What “café notable” means
On June 4, 1998, the Buenos Aires city legislature passed Law 35. It set up the Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Notable Cafés, Bars, Billiard Halls and Confiterías, bringing together city officials, legislators, heritage bodies and business groups. Its jobs include:
- keeping a catalog of notable venues and promoting it to visitors;
- proposing conservation and restoration projects, with technical advice;
- encouraging listed venues to take part in the city’s cultural life.
Under the law, a venue counts as notable if it is linked to significant cultural events or activities, or if its age, architectural design or local relevance gives it value of its own. Importantly, the law aims to preserve not only buildings and furniture but also the social life that happens inside them: the regulars, the conversations, the long afternoons.
The numbers
| Fact | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Law passed | June 4, 1998 | Buenos Aires Official Bulletin |
| Venues declared notable by 2017 | 92 | La Nación |
| Historic cafés listed by the city tourism office today | Over 70 | Buenos Aires tourism office |
The difference reflects closures and changes over the years: being listed helps, but it does not guarantee survival.
Six bares notables in Buenos Aires to visit
| Café | Opened | Where | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Café Tortoni | 1858 | Avenida de Mayo 825 | The oldest café in the city; Belle Époque interior; tango and jazz shows |
| Confitería Las Violetas | 1884 | Rivadavia and Medrano, Almagro | Stained glass, cakes and elegant merienda |
| La Puerto Rico | 1887 | Central Buenos Aires | One of the city’s long-running traditional coffee houses |
| El Faro | 1930s | Villa Urquiza | A classic neighborhood corner café |
| La Biela | Traditional | Recoleta | Terrace under a giant rubber tree, near Recoleta Cemetery |
| Café de los Angelitos | Traditional | Balvanera | A tango-linked café restored as a show venue |
Café Tortoni: the grand old man
French immigrant Jean Touan opened the Tortoni in 1858 at the corner of Esmeralda and Rivadavia, naming it after a famous Paris café. It moved to its current site in the mid-1880s. Celestino Curutchet, who ran it from 1879, opened an entrance on the new Avenida de Mayo in 1894, and architect Alejandro Christophersen designed the façade in 1898. Over the years, the city’s tourism office notes, figures such as Jorge Luis Borges, Federico García Lorca, Luigi Pirandello, Julio Cortázar, Arthur Rubinstein and Carlos Gardel passed through. Today there is often a line of visitors outside.
Las Violetas: the comeback
Las Violetas opened on September 21, 1884, on a corner in Almagro. On July 1, 1998, the same year the notable law was passed, it closed abruptly. It reopened in July 2001 after almost three years. In 2017, a public vote organized by the city named it the best café notable, narrowly ahead of Café Roma and Café Tortoni.
Beyond the famous names
The real charm of the program is in the neighborhoods: billiard cafés, corner bars with old wooden counters, places where poets once met. The tourism office mentions venues such as La Poesía, a former meeting place for poets, and San Bernardo, a pool and games club. Pick one near where you are staying and become a regular for a week.
What to order in a café notable
| Order | What you get |
|---|---|
| Café (expreso) | A short espresso |
| Cortado | Espresso “cut” with a little hot milk; the city’s default order |
| Café con leche | Coffee with plenty of hot milk, usually at breakfast |
| Lágrima | Literally “tear”: hot milk with just a drop of coffee |
| Café con crema | Coffee topped with cream |
| Medialunas | Small crescent pastries, sweet (de manteca) or savory (de grasa) |
| Merienda | The late-afternoon snack of coffee with cake or pastries |
Coffee often arrives on a small tray with a glass of water. If you like the cortado, our guide to what a cortado is covers how it differs elsewhere.
Visiting tips
- Go at merienda time, roughly late afternoon, to see cafés at their liveliest.
- Nobody rushes you. Lingering over one cortado and a newspaper is part of the culture.
- Check opening hours. Some cafés close around 7 pm; others stay open late and serve dinner and drinks, and a few host tango shows.
- Pair it with other coffee cities. If you love historic cafés, our guides to Paris cafés and Caffè Florian in Venice are good next stops.
A Buenos Aires cortado at home
A cortado wants a smooth, chocolatey espresso that is not too sharp. Our Brazil Santos is a balanced medium roast with cocoa, gentle nuttiness and low acidity, an excellent espresso base. Medium Blend is a versatile house coffee that works from moka pot to espresso. Pull a short shot, add an equal splash of steamed milk, and serve with a medialuna. Browse our best sellers for more.
Bares notables FAQ
What is the oldest café in Buenos Aires?
Café Tortoni, founded in 1858 and now on Avenida de Mayo.
How many bares notables are there in Buenos Aires?
The city had declared 92 by 2017; its tourism office currently lists more than 70 historic cafés.
Do you need a reservation?
Usually not for coffee. Tango shows at venues like the Tortoni need booking.
What is a typical Argentine coffee order?
A cortado with two or three medialunas, especially at breakfast or merienda.
Sources
- Ley 35 de 1998, Boletín Oficial de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires.
- Historic cafés, Buenos Aires city tourism office.
- Café Tortoni, Buenos Aires city tourism office.
- Las Violetas fue elegido como el mejor café notable de Buenos Aires, La Nación, 2017.
- Bares notables de Buenos Aires, Argentina.travel, official tourism site.
Facts checked in October 2026.
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