Getting a Taste of the Tango in Argentina

Passionate, sensuous and haunting, the tango originated in the slums of Buenos Aires at the end of the 19th century. Now a new hostel in Buenos Aires is offering a taste of Argentina’s national dance by pairing a tango lesson with student-guided night tours of the city.

The Hostel Inn at Humberto Primo (two blocks from the popular San Telmo Arts & Crafts Fair; telephone 011-54-11-4300-7992, fax 011-54-11-4300-7993, Internet https://hostel-inn.com) is in the San Telmo section, which is considered the tango district. It’s an area of cobblestone streets and formerly elegant mansions, similar to Paris’ Latin Quarter or New York’s Greenwich Village. Be alert in the district, because street crime is a problem.

The tours, led by bilingual students, cost $39 and start at 9 p.m. with a 30-minute lesson from professional tango dancers.

That’s followed by visits to tango clubs where the dancing goes till 4 a.m., Irish pubs on Reconquista Street in the middle of downtown and a disco in the Arcos de Palermo area.

The 80-bed Hostel Inn, which opened July 1, has double, triple and multi-bed rooms starting at $10 per person. Breakfast and linens are included. It has a kitchen, lockers, cable TV, Internet access, two courtyards and a sunny terrace.

Guests can make free international calls, and the hostel’s staff, on duty 24 hours a day, can book student-led day tours and provide information on areas such as Patagonia and Iguazu. Reservations can be made by Internet at https://www.hostelworld.com.

For information on other hostels in Buenos Aires, log on to https://www.hostelargentina.com. For links to government travel advisories and South America travel information, South American Explorers is helpful: https://www.saexplorers.org.

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In London this fall, bus fares are decreasing and several key tourist sites are dropping entrance fees.

The 145-gallery Victoria & Albert Museum admits full-time students for free, but after Nov. 22, everybody will be admitted free. After Dec. 1, all national museums will be free. Among the London attractions are the British Museum (home of the Elgin Marbles and the Rosetta Stone), the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate Modern and the Tate Britain galleries.

The red London Transit double-decker buses are cheaper now. A booklet of six tickets costs $2.75, reducing the cost of a ride from $1.45 to 95 cents. A one-day bus pass now costs $2.90. For more information, log on to https://www.londontransport.co.uk.

To use the city’s complete transit system, a one-day Travel Card, which can be purchased at Tube (subway) stations, is still the best budget bet at about $7. It’s valid after 9:30 a.m. weekdays or 10 a.m. on weekends and holidays on the Tube, London Bus Services, the Dockland Light Railway, Tramlink and most National Rail services within London. For central London (zones 1 and 2) the price is $5.75.

For more information on traveling in Britain for youths, log on to the British Tourist Authority’s Web site, https://www.uktheguide.com. Information on hostels is available at https://www.budgetbritain.com.

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Lucy Izon is a Toronto-based freelance travel writer and author of “Izon’s Backpacker Journal.” Internet https://www.izon.com.