Mar del Plata

Mar del Plata began as a resort for the Buenos Aires elite at the end of the nineteenth century and became, after the 1940s, the beach city of the whole country, filling each January with hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers along kilometres of Atlantic sand. Its landmarks are from that first era: the enormous casino and Hotel Provincial on Playa Bristol, designed by Alejandro Bustillo, and the surviving mansions and chalets of the old summer colony scattered among modern apartment towers. At the working fishing port, orange trawlers unload the catch and a colony of southern sea lions basks on the breakwater, close enough to photograph. Beaches range from the packed central sands to quieter southern breaks favoured by surfers.

What you actually see

• The beaches - kilometres of Atlantic sand from central Bristol to southern surf breaks.
• The casino and Hotel Provincial - the monumental 1930s buildings on the seafront.
• The sea lions - the colony on the breakwater at the fishing port.
• The old chalets - surviving mansions of the early resort era.

When to go

December to March for the full beach season, with January the busiest and most expensive. Spring and autumn are pleasant, quiet and much cheaper, though the sea is cold. Winter is windy and grey but the port and museums still work.

Honest expectations

In January the city is genuinely packed, with crowded beaches, traffic and high prices. The Atlantic here is cold and often rough. Outside summer many seasonal businesses close, and the seafront can feel deserted.

Nearby

Balcarce lies inland; Villa Gesell and Pinamar are north along the coast.