Cordoba is Argentina’s second largest city with more than three million people. With seven universities and a student population of 10%, it has plenty of energy and culture as well as many things to do in Cordoba. Add to that the fact that it has several nearby towns worth a day visit, and we thought it could be a good place to stop off for a week. It was!
The great colonial architecture of Cordoba
Contents
Things to do in Cordoba
1. Visit the main plaza
Plaza de San Martin with the Cathedral in the background
The first thing to do in Cordoba is visit the main plaza. The main plaza has lots of trees, and a high statue of San Martin on a horse. It is lined, like lots of plazas in South America, with the government offices and the cathedral. It has a lot of energy and is a great place to hang out.
It is also a useful place to visit, as this is also where you will find a town museum in the former government administration building, and the tourist office which is full of ideas for things to do in Cordoba. Argentina’s first colonial administration was based here before Buenos Aires became the capital.
2. Go on a walking tour
Cordoba is a very walkable city, so I designed a walking tour for us to check out many of the things to do in Cordoba.
Monestary of the Carmelites
Our tour started off at the main plaza, then moved on to the cathedral next door. There are a lot of churches in Cordoba. The cathedral looked like it was closed except for tours so we moved on. Our next church was the Monastery of the Carmelites. We couldn’t go into that one either, but it looked quite pretty.
The next church down the road was open and so we checked inside. The Iglesia de Compania de Jesus is the country’s oldest church. To be honest the interior, apart from the impressive roof, was much like any other old church in these parts.
Around the university
Our walk took us through the National University of Cordoba area, once the Jesuit College. The national museum is located in part of the campus which we tried to check out but you need to be part of a tour and we couldn’t find one of those to join. Still, the pedestrian malls and streets around this part of town are a great place to walk around. The tree lined streets have lots of beautiful buildings on either side and a very relaxed feel.
3. Relax in Parque Sarmiento
Parque Sarmiento is a massive city park in Cordoba. Like everywhere in Cordoba it was a lovely walk to get there. We passed lots of big apartment buildings, some very well maintained older buildings and a lovely church.
At the park, we hung out by a duck pond for awhile until an egg fell out of a tree onto Josh. Very strange (and gross)! There are peddle boats as well.
4. Go shopping
One of Cordoba’s pedestrian streets
Another thing to do in Cordoba is to go shopping. There are lots of shops and shopping centres in Cordoba and I had fun picking out a new wardrobe for great prices.
5. Paragliding in La Cumbre
J’s top pick of the things to do in Cordoba is to go paragliding. He had an amazing experience paragliding in the nearby town of La Cumbre.
6. Visit the Che Museum in Alta Gracia
Joshua with a young Che at the Che museum
Another small town near Cordoba is Alta Gracia, the site of the childhood home of Che Guevara. One of his old homes are now a museum dedicated to this fascinating man. Read more about our visit to the Che Museum.
7. Check out Carlos Paz
We were not very impressed by the nearby town of Carlos Paz but perhaps that’s because it was census day and everything was shut! You can decide for yourself.
Best Cordoba accommodation on a budget
We stayed at the lovely Hotel Garden as they had good rooms and a fantastic location. The price was good too!
Some other good, central, budget options are:
If you click on any of those links, you will be able to see the current prices across a variety of hotel booking engines.
Getting there and away
Cordoba has a huge bus station and it is not hard to get here from all over the country. We caught a 21 hour bus ride from Puerto Madryn in Patagonia to get here and our onward journey was to Argentina’s third largest city, Rosario.
Our verdict?
We liked Cordoba a lot. There were lots of great things to do in Cordoba, and it is also a nice place to just take it easy.
It has a great vibe and energy and they obviously take their tourism industry seriously (except on census day). Anything remotely of interest to tourists seems very well looked after and the city is very pleasant to walk around. The weather was gorgeous and there’s many surrounding towns of interest.
It’s hard to think of any negatives. It’s a bit off the main gringo trail so you don’t find so many foreign tourists but they are well set up for them. There are plenty of English speakers around the place. It really should be a must see on a trip to Argentina and a week is a great length of time to spend here.
Read more about our travel in Argentina.
What is your favourite thing to do in Cordoba?
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you make a booking after clicking on these links then we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Tags: Argentina Travel Blog South America
