Some 320 km north of Buenos Aires alongside the Rio Parana is the beautiful old port of Rosario, Argentina’s third largest city, which has been likened to a smaller-scale Buenos Aires but without the tourists. Rosario was never officially founded and grew slowly until blockades were removed from the Rio Parana in the early 1850s, after which the population grew eight-fold in less than 20 years. And with the arrival of the railway in the late 1800s immigrants flooded in, particularly from the north, and for a time Rosario became the country’s second largest metropolis as well as a flourishing port.

The city has a fine mix of late-19th century architecture, including many English and French-style mansions. The Paseo del Siglo close to the Plaza 25 de Mayo has some excellent buildings. The Museo Municipal de Arte Decorativo Firma y Odilio Estevez is a wonderful flamboyant mansion, once home to the Estevez family, who were wealthy mate producers. Other outstanding museums include the Museo de Bellas Artes Juan B Castagnino, considered to be one of Argentina’s finest, and the Museo Historico Provincial, both of which are in the beautiful Parque de la Indepedencia, a lovely leafy park designed by French landscape architect Charles Thays. The former red light district of Pichincha is now home to a plethora of antique shops, trendy bars and fine restaurants as well as the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Rosario, a group of brightly-painted grain silos, which hosts the works of local artists. Between the cathedral and the Palacio de los Leones is the Monumento a la Bandera, a symbolic sculpture to Argentina. The Parque Nacional de la Bandera runs beside the Rio Parana and all the way along the Costanera there are sandy beaches, restaurants and bars, while boats operate trips to the nearby delta islands.