12 Things to Do in Buenos Aires With Kids

The Tigre Delta, one of the most requested things to do in Buenos Aires with kids, sits less than an hour from the center by train. It’s far from the only option, though. The city also has museums where touching everything is the whole point, free parks along the river and an amusement park a few minutes from Tigre station.

This list of things to do in Buenos Aires with kids covers interactive museums, free parks and full-day excursions. There are free options, paid ones and full-day trips to suit almost any age and budget, plus a few concrete ideas for a Sunday in the city.

1. La Boca and Its Colorful Houses

Caminito and the painted houses of La Boca are almost always a hit with kids, especially if there’s any soccer culture at home. The neighborhood is the birthplace of Club Atlético Boca Juniors. If that’s your family, book the Boca Juniors and River Plate football tour, which visits both La Bombonera and the Monumental. It runs 3 to 6 hours, so it works better with older children.

Come during the day to catch the neighborhood at its liveliest. If you’d rather walk it with someone explaining what you’re looking at, the La Boca free walking tour covers the most colorful streets in about 2 hours, a good pace for tiring out small legs without wearing them down.

2. Tigre and the Delta

Tigre is probably the most popular day trip from Buenos Aires with children. You get there by train from Retiro, either the Mitre line’s Tigre branch or the more scenic Tren de la Costa, in about 40 to 50 minutes. Once you arrive, everything happens on the water: catamarans, boats of every size and the collective launches that run the Delta channels and show you how the island families live.

For a first taste of the Delta, a short catamaran ride is plenty. The Tigre, Luján and Sarmiento rivers catamaran cruise lasts 1 hour 15 minutes, which is about right for small children who run out of patience quickly. If you’d rather make a full day of it straight from the city and skip the train entirely, the Tigre Delta boat trip sails the River Plate and the Paraná Delta over 8 hours.

How Do You Get to Tigre From Buenos Aires?

By train from Retiro station, on the Mitre line’s Tigre branch, or on the Tren de la Costa, which is more scenic and stops in towns like San Isidro along the way. The journey takes 40 to 50 minutes.

3. Parque de la Costa

This is Tigre’s amusement park and the best known in the area, with around 60 attractions: gentle rides for the youngest, roller coasters for the bigger ones and, in summer, the AQUAFAN water section. It usually opens Tuesday to Sunday, though exact hours and opening days shift with the season, so check the official site before you go.

The same goes for prices: they’re in Argentine pesos and get updated often because of inflation, so the figure you see today may not hold in a few months. If you’d rather not organize the trip yourself, the Parque de la Costa day trip handles the whole 8-hour day from the city. And for something calmer to round it out, the Recreo El Alcázar boat trip takes you to a riverside resort with outdoor activities built around families.

4. Bioparque Temaikèn

It’s in Escobar, about 50 minutes from the city, and it’s one of the plans that pays off best with small children. There’s an aquarium holding 260,000 gallons (1 million liters) of seawater, aviaries with more than 2,500 bird species from every continent, and a farm called La Chacra with cows, hens and a vegetable garden growing close to 30 varieties.

There’s also a 360° cinema showing a nature documentary that tends to go down very well with the youngest visitors. Without a car you’ll want to allow extra time for the trip out, and it’s worth confirming opening hours and ticket prices on the official site before you set off, since both change through the year.

5. Museo de los Niños

If you’re in the city for several days and need something to keep the youngest ones busy, this one delivers. The Museo de los Niños sits on the second floor of Abasto Shopping (Av. Corrientes 3247) and is a city built at child scale, where kids get to play at being grown-ups: supermarket, bank, television studio, house and even a pirate ship to climb.

It’s open to children up to age 12, and it’s a perfect plan if you’re in the central part of the city and need a short breather.

• Hours: this interactive museum opens Tuesday to Sunday and public holidays, 12:30 PM to 8 PM, with timed entry slots. During the winter school break it usually opens daily
• Prices are in pesos and worth checking before you go, as are the hours, which can vary by season

6. MIJU, the Museum of Imagination and Play

It opened recently in Puerto Madero (Av. de los Italianos 851) and it’s organized by age bracket: one floor for babies from 0 to 3, another for children from 4 to 7 and a third for those from 8 to 12, each with interactive exhibits and climbing structures. It’s a good indoor option for a rainy day.

Booking a time slot is required, and the visit lasts around an hour. Each child has to be accompanied by an adult, who goes in free.

• Hours: Wednesday to Friday, 11 AM to 6 PM, and Saturday, Sunday and public holidays, 10 AM to 6 PM
• Entry is free on Wednesdays. The rest of the week there’s a charge in pesos that’s worth checking before you reserve, since it changes often

7. Museo Participativo de Ciencias

Inside the Centro Cultural Recoleta (Junín 1930), this museum has been inviting visitors to touch, press and experiment since 1988. Here, not touching is what’s forbidden. Its displays on visual perception, mechanics, electricity and sound are pitched at ages 4 and up, so it works with small children and teenagers alike.

• Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 12 PM to 5 PM, and Saturday, Sunday and public holidays, 3 PM to 8 PM. Hours may vary by season, so it’s worth checking before you go

8. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales and Parque Centenario

The Museo Bernardino Rivadavia, at Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, is the best call if there are dinosaur and mineral fans at home. It sits right next to Parque Centenario, which is free and open to everyone, with plenty of grass for the kids to run around on after the visit.

• Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 2 PM to 7 PM. There’s a charge for entry, and both hours and prices are subject to seasonal changes

Parque Centenario also has an accessible playground on a space theme, with slides, swings and balance platforms designed for different ages. Ideal for a pause in the itinerary.

• Parque Centenario hours: free public access, open daily. Hours may vary by season

9. Planetario Galileo Galilei

Its 66-foot (20-meter) dome, inside Parque Tres de Febrero in Palermo, projects stars, planets and satellites into a semispherical hall with reclining seats. It’s a short plan, under an hour, and it pairs well with a walk through the Bosques de Palermo the same day.

10. Ecoparque Buenos Aires

What was the Buenos Aires zoo for more than a century is now a conservation park in Palermo (Av. Sarmiento 2601), with no traditional cages, plus aviaries, trails and native species you can watch up close. It works just as well with small children curious about animals as with older ones interested in conservation.

Entry is free for Buenos Aires city residents, children under 12, over-65s and people with disabilities. Other Argentine visitors and foreign travelers pay an entry fee in pesos, worth checking before you go since it’s updated often.

• Ecoparque Buenos Aires hours: Tuesday to Sunday and public holidays, 11 AM to 6 PM. It closes on rainy days and hours may vary by season

11. Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur

At 865 acres (350 hectares) in the middle of Puerto Madero, this is the largest green space in the city and entry is free. Its trails, upgraded since 2023 to be more accessible, let you spot more than 50 different bird species in a single two-hour visit.

• Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 8 AM to 6 PM in winter and until 7 PM in summer. It closes Mondays and on rainy days, and it’s worth confirming before you go since this can change

12. Bosques de Palermo and the Jardín Japonés

Parque Tres de Febrero, known as the Bosques de Palermo, has a lake, a rose garden and more than enough grass for a picnic with kids. Right next door, the Jardín Japonés adds wooden bridges, koi ponds and a few food stands, though it does charge for entry.

• Bosques de Palermo hours: free public access, every day, 24 hours. El Rosedal and the Jardín Japonés are fenced, so they keep their own hours and the second charges entry

Sunday Plans in Buenos Aires With Kids

What can you do on a Sunday in Buenos Aires with kids? Sundays run on their own rhythm here. The San Telmo fair, in Plaza Dorrego, mixes antiques, live music and street performers who tend to hold children’s attention. Over near Recoleta, Plaza Francia has a crafts fair on weekends with open-air shows. Both are free and open to everyone.

• San Telmo fair (Plaza Dorrego) hours: Sundays, roughly 10 AM to 5 PM
• Plaza Francia fair (Recoleta) hours: Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 11 AM to 8 PM

Hours at both fairs can shift with the weather or the season, so it’s worth confirming before you head out.

What you do in Buenos Aires with kids depends a lot on the day of the week. Museums work better midweek, while Tigre and the fairs come into their own at weekends. Alternating free plans you can take at your own pace with the odd full-day excursion is the formula that works best on most family trips.

Plenty of city squares put on free puppet or children’s theater shows on Sunday mornings. It’s worth checking each neighborhood’s cultural listings, since the program changes week to week. Pairing one of these fairs with a walk through the Reserva Ecológica or the Bosques de Palermo covers a good chunk of a family Sunday without spending much.

Getting Around Buenos Aires With Kids

Buenos Aires is a big city and family plans tend to be spread across neighborhoods that sit a long way apart, so the logistics matter as much as the activity itself. The subte is fast but not always easy with a stroller, since not every station has an elevator, and taxis or ride apps work well for short hops, though rush-hour traffic can stretch the journey.

To get from the airport into the city, book a private transfer in Buenos Aires. Routes cover Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP) and Ministro Pistarini International Airport (EZE), as well as the Colonia Express terminal in the southern part of Puerto Madero. During booking you can see whether the assigned vehicle has a child seat available.

Several of the trips outside the city solve the transport question for you. The Parque de la Costa day trip and the Tigre Delta boat trip both start and finish in the city, so there’s nothing extra to organize on the day.

If you’d rather not rely on public transport with small children, the sightseeing bus is one of the most comfortable options: double-decker buses stopping at the main sights, which you can get on and off as often as you like on a single ticket.

The Gray Line sightseeing bus covers 25 stops on 24, 48 or 72-hour tickets, with unlimited hop-on hop-off access and an audio guide in English. If you choose the 48-hour ticket, it can also include a 40-minute boat trip on the River Plate from La Boca to Puerto Madero, which usually goes down well with kids.

If you’d rather book the activities in advance, the full Civitatis catalog in Argentina brings together these excursions and many more. For a wider picture of the continent, there’s also a guide to the best places to visit in South America. And if your next trip takes you somewhere else entirely, you’ll find the best activities in English all over the world at Civitatis.