25 Buenos Aires Hotels in Old Mansions and Palaces
A Recoleta palace that was a wedding gift, the agriculture minister’s French-style mansion, a former grain warehouse on the docks, and the Avenida de Mayo hotel where García Lorca lived.
Buenos Aires turned its Recoleta palaces, a grain warehouse on the docks, and the mansions of San Telmo and Palermo into hotels. This list has the Beaux-Arts palace said to have been a wedding gift, the French-style mansion of an agriculture minister, the Puerto Madero grain warehouse that is now the Faena, and the Avenida de Mayo hotel where Federico García Lorca lived in the 1930s.
The list is grouped by character, not ranked. Where a hotel’s own site could be confirmed, its name links there; most are listed by name only, and a quick search of the name finds the hotel’s own page.
The grand old names
Alvear Palace Hotel · Recoleta
The Alvear Palace opened in 1932 on Avenida Alvear, Recoleta’s most exclusive street. It was designed in a French Louis XV and XVI style and has long been regarded as the city’s grande dame, a member of Historic Hotels Worldwide. Its tearoom and L’Orangerie have been a fixture of Buenos Aires society since the 1930s.
Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt · Recoleta
The Palacio Duhau was built in the 1930s as the neoclassical French-style palace of the aristocratic Duhau family; Luis Duhau was a national agriculture minister. It reopened as the Park Hyatt in 2006, joining the restored palace to a new tower across a terraced garden. Its formal garden follows French Versailles-style landscaping.
Four Seasons Buenos Aires (La Mansion Alzaga Unzue) · Recoleta
La Mansión, a Beaux-Arts palace, was built in 1916, and is said to have been a wedding gift within the Alzaga Unzé family. The Four Seasons runs the restored mansion alongside a modern tower. Madonna stayed here while filming Evita in 1996.
Marriott Plaza Hotel · Retiro
The Plaza opened in 1909 facing Plaza San Martín, in Retiro, designed by the architect Alfred Zucker in an academic European style. It marked its centennial in 2009 and has put up visiting heads of state across the 20th century.
Casa Lucia · Retiro
Casa Lucía opened in 2023 in a historic building on Arroyo Street in Retiro, a member of the Meliá Collection. The building is an early-20th-century Art Deco tower that previously held the Sofitel Buenos Aires.
Recoleta and Retiro, old and new
Algodon Mansion · Recoleta
The Algodón Mansion is in a 1912 Belle Époque petit hôtel in Recoleta. It was restored and reopened as an all-suite boutique hotel around 2010.
Hub Porteno · Recoleta
Hub Porteño is an eleven-room, all-suite hotel in a Recoleta townhouse. It is listed in the Michelin Guide’s hotel selection for Buenos Aires.
Hotel Bel Air · Recoleta
The Bel Air is in an early-20th-century French-style building on Arenales Street, on the Recoleta-Barrio Norte border. It runs as a boutique hotel behind the preserved facade.
NH Collection Buenos Aires Lancaster · Retiro
The Lancaster is in the former Hotel Lancaster, a traditional Buenos Aires hotel on Avenida Córdoba near Plaza San Martín. It runs now under the NH Collection brand.
The center and the Avenida de Mayo
NH Collection Buenos Aires Crillon · Microcentro
The Crillón carries the name of the old Hotel Crillón, a mid-20th-century society hotel in the city center. It runs now under the NH Collection brand.
Claridge Hotel · Microcentro
The Claridge opened in the mid-1940s in the Microcentro and marked its 80th year in 2026. It was built in an English Tudor style, with a clubby wood-paneled bar often likened to a James Bond set.
Hotel Chile · Avenida de Mayo (Monserrat)
The Hotel Chile was built in 1907 on Avenida de Mayo, one of the avenue’s landmark Art Nouveau buildings. It was designed by the French architect Louis Dubois and crowned by a corner cupola. It is protected as part of the city’s architectural heritage.
Hotel Castelar · Avenida de Mayo (Monserrat)
The Castelar opened in 1929 on Avenida de Mayo, attributed to the architect Mario Palanti, who designed the Palacio Barolo. The Spanish poet Federico García Lorca lived here during his stay in Buenos Aires in the 1930s. It closed in 2020 after about ninety years and later reopened as the Castelar Hotel & Spa.
Tango de Mayo Hotel · Avenida de Mayo (Monserrat)
Tango de Mayo is in a restored early-20th-century building on Avenida de Mayo, in Monserrat. It is themed around tango and the avenue’s Belle Époque heritage.
San Telmo stories
Anselmo Buenos Aires, Curio Collection by Hilton · San Telmo
Anselmo sits near Plaza Dorrego in San Telmo; when it joined Hilton’s Curio Collection in 2016 it was the brand’s first hotel in Latin America. It is named for the tango composer Anselmo Aieta, and takes in a restored San Telmo building.
Patios de San Telmo · San Telmo
Patios de San Telmo is in a former cigarette factory on Avenida San Juan, tied to the early-20th-century Piccardo tobacco company. It is built around the interior patios that give the hotel its name.
Mansion Dandi Royal · San Telmo
Mansión Dandi Royal is in a restored early-1900s San Telmo mansion. It runs as a tango-themed hotel, with its own tango academy on site.
Cassa Lepage Art Hotel · San Telmo
Cassa Lepage is in a historic San Telmo building, run as an art-themed boutique hotel that combines art and architecture.
Mansion Vitraux · San Telmo
Mansión Vitraux is in a restored early-20th-century mansion on Carlos Calvo Street, known for its stained glass. It runs as a boutique wine hotel, with a wine lounge and cellar.
Palermo houses and the waterfront
Legado Mitico · Palermo
Legado Mítico is a boutique hotel in a restored Palermo house, each room given to a mythic Argentine figure, from Borges to Gardel. It is listed in the Michelin Guide’s hotel selection for Buenos Aires.
Miravida Soho · Palermo
Miravida Soho is in a restored townhouse in Palermo Soho, with its own wine cellar and wine bar. It runs as a small boutique wine hotel.
Magnolia Hotel Boutique · Palermo
The Magnolia is in a restored early-20th-century house in Palermo. It is a small boutique hotel with a rooftop terrace.
Vain Boutique Hotel · Palermo
Vain is a Palermo Soho boutique on Thames Street, counted among the early examples of the neighborhood’s boutique-hotel scene, reopened after a renovation. It sits behind the facade of a restored building.
1555 Malabia House · Palermo
The 1555 Malabia House is a boutique hotel in a restored early-20th-century building in Palermo Soho. It is a small design-focused guesthouse with garden patios.
Faena Hotel Buenos Aires · Puerto Madero
The Faena opened in 2004 in a converted early-20th-century grain warehouse, El Porteño, in the redeveloped Puerto Madero docks. Philippe Starck reimagined it for the hotelier Alan Faena, keeping the brick shell and filling it with theatrical interiors. Its crimson Cathedral dining room and Library Lounge are signature Starck spaces.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these hotels ranked?
No. The groups sort them by character, and the order within each group carries no meaning.
What made a hotel interesting enough for this list?
A story. Every entry was a Recoleta palace, an Avenida de Mayo landmark, a San Telmo tango house, or a Palermo townhouse with a past. Comfort alone did not qualify a hotel.
Why are there no prices?
Rates change daily and a priced list goes stale in a month. Search a hotel by name for its own site, where the rate is current and you book direct.
Which hotel puts me closest to the day trips on this site?
Most day trips from Buenos Aires leave by road or coach, to the Tigre Delta and the pampas estancias, or by ferry across the river to Colonia in Uruguay. The Microcentro and Retiro hotels sit most central.
Do the small hotels book out faster than the grand ones?
Usually. The small Palermo and San Telmo houses — Legado Mítico, Miravida Soho, the Magnolia — hold few rooms and fill first. Book those well ahead.