Walks · Our pick in Buenos Aires
Colonial Buenos Aires: from the Manzana de las Luces to El Zanjón
The oldest city
From the Jesuit block in Monserrat down Defensa to the tunnels of El Zanjón and Parque Lezama.
Photo Credit
In the area: A white Belle Époque corner building in San Telmo. Image courtesy of © Banfield · CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia CommonsAbout Colonial Buenos Aires: from the Manzana de las Luces to El Zanjón
Begin at the Manzana de las Luces, at Perú 272, with the Iglesia de San Ignacio, the oldest church still standing in the city. Walk south down the Calle Defensa into San Telmo for a booked tour of El Zanjón, at Defensa 755, where tunnels and cisterns lie beneath a 19th-century house, and finish in Parque Lezama, where some historians place the city’s first founding in 1536. On Sundays the Feria de San Telmo fills Defensa on the way.
Our take
- Book El Zanjón
- Best on Sundays
- Allow a morning
- Address
- Monserrat and San Telmo, Buenos Aires
Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Colonial Buenos Aires: from the Manzana de las Luces to El Zanjón before you go.
Last checked: October 2026 How we choose
Location
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