Mendoza Nightlife, Argentina

Mendoza nightlife starts around midnight, which helps explain the three-hour siesta tradition that virtually every local follows. The city is not nearly as rowdy as Buenos Aires or Cόrdoba, but if you feel like catching a few drinks and dancing the night away, there are plenty of places to let your hair down or simply sit back and watch everyone else get their groove on.

Aristides Villanueva Street is crammed with pubs, bars, and restaurants, and is where most of the mendocinos and tourists will be (the critically serious partygoers tend to flock to the clubs that line Ruta Panamericana.

If you’d like to learn to dance before hitting the floor, be sure to join the locals at Plaza Pellegrini for authentic, casual tango instructions on Friday or Saturday night. Teatro Las Sillas, San Juan 1436 offers milonga shows so you can see how the professionals do it. Once you think you’ve got the knack, you can hit C’Gastόn, Lavalle 35 and Abril Café, Las Heras 346, two of the local tango bars.

For a wide variety of shows, the Plaza Independencia has something to entertain everyone in your party. Spanning four blocks in the heart of the city, it is not unusual to find live music or capoeira being performed, or trapezes hanging from trees.

Wherever you go, you will fit in as long as you are in jeans and a nice t-shirt. Mendoza, it’s not about fashion, it’s about fun.