Mar del Plata
Argentina'S Largest Seaside Resort City, Founded 1874; Host Of The Mar Del Plata International Film Festival · Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires
Mar del Plata is where Argentina goes to the beach. Four hundred kilometres south of Buenos Aires on the Atlantic, it began as an elite resort in the late nineteenth century, when the landed families built half-timbered villas and the grand casino and Hotel Provincial on the seafront, and became the mass holiday city of the twentieth. In January and February its population swells several times over, the beaches are packed with umbrellas and the theatres run summer seasons of comedy and revue. Around the city centre are the Rambla with its sea lion statues, the Torreon del Monje lookout, and the fishing port where a colony of South American sea lions lives on the breakwater among the orange fishing boats. The villas of the old elite survive in the Los Troncos district, and Villa Ocampo, Victoria Ocampo's summer house, is a cultural centre. South of the city are quieter beaches and surf breaks. The water is cold. Out of season the city is calm, grey and half closed, and in November it hosts one of Latin America's oldest film festivals.
Playa Bristol, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, B7600, Argentina
Beaches are open at all times; lifeguards and beach clubs operate in the summer season, roughly December to March. The casino, theatres and nightlife run late. Many seasonal businesses close or reduce hours out of summer.