About 10 days into our time in Buenos Aires, we took a day trip to the town of Tigre on the delta of the river. We chose a Wednesday for our trip because I didn’t have any calls scheduled and we wanted to avoid any weekend crowds. The name Tigre refers to the jaguars that were in the area when the Spanish arrived. They apparently assumed they were tigers. So the symbol of the city is actually a jaguar even though the name is Tigre.

Getting to Tigre

One attraction of Tigre is that you can get there on the suburban train. We took a bus to Belgrano station and then the direct train to Tigre. Another option is the supposedly scenic Tren de la Costa, which departs from Maipu station to the other station in Tigre. We took that line back and though we made sure to sit on the correct side for water views, it was too far inland for the most part and had a mostly commuter crowd. From most places in Buenos Aires, the Retiro-Tigre train is more convenient so the Tren de la Costa isn’t worth the extra effort. 

However, our bus to Belgrano was a bit delayed so it took us a bit longer to get to Tigre than I’d hoped. Google maps had it at about an hour with a 10-minute bus ride to Belgrano and 40-minute train to Tigre. However, it took us closer to 90 minutes due to long waits for both the bus and train. The train seemed to depart every 20 minutes and we’d just missed it when we arrived at Belgrano station. But the ride was comfortable and we enjoyed seeing the suburbs from the train along the way.

Initial Impressions

We started our time in Tigre with coffee and croissants at Cucuy Cafe at short walk from the train station. My macchiato, Chad’s cappuccino, and our pair of croissants were all great. After, we had about half an hour before our boat excursion, so we just walked along the riverfront.

Five or Six Rivers Cruise

One of the main attractions in Tigre is to take a catamaran tour of the river delta. There are several routes to choose from. I decided to book online in advance from Sturla Viajes and chose their 12 p.m. Five Rivers Cruise for around $20 per person. However, there were plenty of ticket kiosks open for day-of purchases for anyone who doesn’t want to make an advance plan. I checked in at the Sturla kiosk at the dock about 15 minutes before departure and was given a paper voucher to board. We went ahead and lined up then behind just one other family, which allowed us to get good window seats on board. The route the cruise actually took seemed to follow their six rivers route, rather than five, but it was very pleasant. There was audio commentary in Spanish, English, and Portuguese talking about the history of the delta area, how it’s home to many rowing clubs, and what it is like to live on the delta’s many islands. It was very interesting and the seats were comfortable.

Lovely Lunch and Walk

We returned to the dock just in time to walk down to Vivanco Restaurant attached to Canottieri Italiani Rowing Club where I’d made a 1:30 p.m. reservation for us. On a Wednesday we didn’t need it, since there were plenty of tables available. We enjoyed a great, long lunch of empanadas, torrontes rose, grilled white fish, and a grilled vegetable salad. We enjoyed seeing the many rowing trophies on display in the second room.

After lunch, we walked across the Rio Tigre on the Puente Sacriste bridge and enjoyed a lovely riverfront walk to our next destination, the Museo de Arte Tigre at the former Tigre Club. We took our time and lots of photos on the walk, so we arrived at the museum a little before 4 p.m.

Tigre Museums and Gelato

The museum had a free bag-check for our backpack and affordable ticket price of around $5 each, which was well worth it for the beautiful building alone. We also really enjoyed the art. Much of it was painted in and of the area, which was fun to see. We were glad we did the museum after the boat tour so we could recognize some of the vistas. The views from the rooftop terrace were especially nice.

We spent a little under an hour at the art museum and then walked down for some gelato at Heladería Vía Toscana. They had lots of options and we decided to go more fruity with cherry cream and lemon pie as our two flavors in a cone. After the ice cream, we walked the rest of the way to our final destination, the Museo de la Reconquista. Although the name of the museum comes from the 1806 British invasion that was rebuffed by the locals prior to the revolution, the invasion ended up being just one exhibit of a nice little local history museum. We learned a lot more about the rowing clubs, the Tigre Club, and Tigre as a destination for wealth Porteños (citizens of Buenos Aires) in the mid-19th century. Like most local history museums, it was located in a historic building. And it was free, so definitely worth the visit. 

Return and Summary

After the museum, we walked to the Delta train station, a bit farther down than Tigre station and next to a large amusement park. We barely missed the 6 p.m. train but when the next train arrived we were able to get seats on the left side of the train for potential water views. The train got pretty crowded, probably due to the time of day. From Maipu station, we were able to catch the 152 bus back to our neighborhood and even managed to get seats on the bus, which was good because we were pretty tired from all our walking in Tigre. We could have gone to place to place by taxi, but generally prefer to walk.

We both agreed that Tigre was a fun day trip and definitely worthwhile for anyone spending more than a few days in Buenos Aires. It was a nice break from the big city, very culturally interesting, and a very pleasant place. I can understand why the old-timey rich people liked it so much.