Experience the best of Mar del Plata

Mar del Plata began as a fishing and salting village on a rocky stretch of the Atlantic coast of Buenos Aires province and grew into the country's favourite seaside resort in the twentieth century. Its wide beaches are divided by rocky headlands, and the seafront is lined with a promenade, a casino building from 1939 and rows of apartment towers.

The port is home to a fishing fleet and to a colony of sea lions that haul out on the southern breakwater. Torreón del Monje, a small castle-like tower on the rocks, and Villa Ortiz Basualdo, a French-style mansion now used as an art museum, recall the wealthy families who built summer houses here. Playa Grande is known for surf, and the low Sierra de los Padres hills inland hold woodland and a lagoon.

Fish and seafood define the table: cazón, a small shark, rabas of fried squid, prawns and the day's catch grilled near the port. Alfajores, soft biscuits sandwiched with dulce de leche, are the local sweet, eaten by crowds in summer and by far fewer in the cool, windy winter.