Best After Work Bars in Buenos Aires

One of the defining after-work institutions in Buenos Aires, El Preferido de Palermo has been serving vermouth, wine, and honest empanadas on Jorge Luis Borges Street since 1952. The long marble bar fills with office workers from Palermo's creative agencies every day at 6pm. The house vermouth is made to a proprietary recipe. The sandwiches de miga (crustless sandwiches) are a Buenos Aires institution in themselves. Come once and you will come back every time you are in the city.

The bar that reignited Buenos Aires' love affair with vermouth. La Fuerza makes its vermouth in-house with Argentine botanicals, serves it in a beautiful space on Murillo Street, and charges prices that make after-work drinking an entirely sensible proposition. The aperitivo hour here is the best in the city. The food matches the vermouth with appropriate intelligence.

Opened in 1930 and declared a Bar Notable by the city of Buenos Aires, Los Galgos is a protected cultural institution as much as a bar. The all-day format means it functions as a morning cafe, afternoon meeting place, and evening drinking destination. The vermouth service at 6pm is the ritual that defines the space. The room itself — marble floors, tin ceiling, original bar fixtures — is extraordinary.

The Puerto Madero location of Antares draws the financial district after-work crowd with its 10-tap selection of house-brewed craft beers. The waterfront setting is unusually pleasant for a working Thursday evening. Happy hour runs 5pm to 8pm with substantial discounts on all pints. The food is better than the average after-work destination.

Another Buenos Aires speakeasy, accessed through a phone booth in the back of a shop on Arce Street. Frank's Bar has a 1920s American prohibition atmosphere executed with genuine flair. The cocktails reference the golden age of American bartending. A step up from vermouth in both price and formality, but equally rewarding for an after-work occasion when you want to mark the transition from day to evening properly.

The 160-year-old San Telmo institution also functions as one of the city's great after-work bars, particularly for those based in or near the historic southern neighbourhoods. The traditional menu — vermouth, Fernet-Branca with Coca-Cola, empanadas — is served at prices that feel anchored to a different economic era. The afternoon shift at the marble bar is a Buenos Aires ritual that has outlasted everything around it.

A Palermo Soho wine bar that has outlasted a dozen competitors by consistently offering a better glass of Argentine wine at a reasonable price. The patio is one of the neighbourhood's most pleasant outdoor spaces. The list focuses on Mendoza and Salta producers with a quality floor that is unusually high. Combine with dinner at one of the date night restaurants in the area for a complete Palermo evening.