Milongas

In Buenos Aires there are a ton of milongas aroung the city. Most of the best Milongas are around the barrio of Palmero but there are some good ones around congresso and downtown Buenos Aires. The first thing that you need to do when you arrive in Buenos Aires is to find a free "Tango Map Guide". The map guide is a free monthly publication that lists all the Milongas going on that month. The guide shows you what milongas are occuring on each day of the week. The guide also advertises tango stores such as the essential tango shoe conglomerates. The guide also comes with a very good map that shows the locations of milongas. You will find that you will be referencing the guide every day.

Finding a Milonga

When finding a milonga it is important to understand that each milonga draws a different crowd. There are milongas where the Argentines go to, there are milongas where the tourist go, and there are milongas where the young dancers go. Milongas are set up by organizers and each organizer draws a different crowd. When selecting milongas in the Tango guide book, pay more attention to who is organizing the milonga rather than the venue.

Argentine (Local Crowd) Milongas

Most young Argentines are not that serious about Tango and are more interested in American music, so when you go to an Argentine Milonga you will see a much older crowd. The dancers at these Milongas are actually quite good especially considering their age. There will also be breaks where they will play rock and roll music where they will dance swing and also breaks for Cumbia so these milongas are not necessarily all Tango. Below is a list of Argentine Milongas:

A Puro Tango: Sunday 19-23 Hrs. and Wednesday, 16-23 Hrs. Salon Canning

La Cachila: Thursday 20-03 Hrs. Club Gricel

Pura Clase: Saturday 15-20 Hrs. Confiteria La Ideal

Tourist Milongas

Tourist Milongas are where most of the tourist go. You will notice that most of the Tango tourists are European rather than American. Most Europeans know how to speak English so you will be able to carry out conversations and make friends even if you don't know much Spanish. Tourist Milongas will bring out a more diverse age group and have a more exciting atmosphere. Tourist milongas will have nightly shows with professional dancers and/or Tango musicians. Below is a list of Tourist Milongas:

Parakultural: Monday, Tuesday, Friday 23-04 Hrs. Salon Canning

Porteno y Bailarin: Sunday, Tuesday 22-03 Hrs. Porteno y Bailarin

Soho Tango: Thursday, 21-02 Hrs. Club Villa Malcolm

Young Milongas

The younger crowd mainly dances at the Club Villa Malcolm venue. Club Villa Malcolm is famous Tango hot spot where many of the golden age Tango musicians have played. The younger crowd is a little more picky about who they dance with so you may have a hard time finding dance partners until you make friends with the dancers there. There is also a "after hours" milonga at La Viruta that the young crowd goes to after the regular milongas close. At La Viruta you can dance until 6 in the morning.

El Motivo: Monday 21-02 Hrs. Club Villa Malcolm

Fruto Dulce: Wednesday 22-02 Hrs. Club Villa Malcolm

Milonga 10: Saturday 22-05 Hrs. Club Fulgor

La Viruta: Wendesday - Sunday 23-06 Hrs. Associacion Armenia

My Tango Schedule

Below is a list of places that I danced at during different days of the week. You may want to try out this schedule the first week that you are there just to get a feel for the milongas.

Sunday: Porteno y Bailarin

Monday: Parakultural

Tuesday: Porteno y Bailarin

Wednesday: Fruto Dulce

Thursday: Soho Tango

Friday: Parakultural

Saturday: Milonga 10