Argentines are accustomed to their country’s dizzying peaks and despairing troughs: South America’s second-biggest economy oscillates wildly between double-digit growth and devastating implosion. Back in the 1990s, with the peso pegged to the dollar and prices to rival Manhattan’s, CEOs of blue-chip multinationals flocked to Buenos Aires to shell out billions of dollars on a raft of former state-owned businesses. The money was real enough, but the financial construct that surrounded it little more than a fiction. When unpayable debts curtailed the heady narrative in 2001, the peso plummeted, taking a penniless government and shuttered banks with it—and leaving Argentines with barter as their best means of survival. Incredibly, the country is again on the rise. Hungry Chinese are snapping up Pampas-grown soybeans, European vacationers are flocking to view Patagonia’s icy spires, and American retirees are funneling 401(k) funds into prime real estate. Flush with cash for the first time in years, middle-class Argentines are pushing consumer spending to record levels. Cautiously, execs, lawyers, and bankers are creeping back.

Where to Sleep
Royalty and heads of state—along with business moguls such as George Soros and Ted Turner—traditionally take a suite at the august Hotel Alvear Palace, which rides Argentina’s roller-coaster fortunes with sublime indifference. Top-end newcomer Palacio Duhau/Park Hyatt, also in leafy Recoleta, unites an opulent neoclassical mansion and a sleekly minimalist 17-floor tower. Stellar service is a draw at the 144-room Sofitel Buenos Aires: The concierge even sourced a pedigree dog for one demanding guest. For pure excess, though, mimic Madonna, who, while filming Evita, opted for the Mansión Alzaga Unzue, the ultra-luxe wing of the Four Seasons Buenos Aires; not content with the presidential suite, she booked the entire mansion. In the city’s renovated docklands, the avant-garde Faena Hotel & Universe boasts interiors by Philippe Starck. Casas Concierge Alcorta, set among embassies on the patrician Avenida Alcorta, houses spacious lofts sufficient to host a dinner for eight (indeed, a chef is on call if needed).

Where to Eat
With more cows than people, Argentina is understandably big on beef. Pick your way around the dizzying array of cuts at La Cabaña, an Orient-Express Hotels–owned grill house that tempts oilseed trader Jorge Born Jr., investor and rancher Martín Blaquier, and bookstore owner Eduardo Gruneisen. The Caesar Park Hotel’s Agraz updates regional Argentine recipes—try the llama carpaccio cured with palo santo wood—with approval from nutritionist and health educator Dr. Alberto Cormillot. Disney Latin America’s Diego Lerner prefers the Alvear Palace’s La Bourgogne, Argentina’s only Relais Gourmand–badged eatery, where French master chef Jean-Paul Bondoux nurtures the flavors of hunted game with landmark Mendoza wines. When he’s in town, Chicago-based real estate developer turned newspaper owner Sam Zell dines at Patagonia Sur, a diffusely lit, velvet-and-satin den set in dark and desolate La Boca, where chef-owner Francis Mallmann brings panache to classic Argentine dishes. Neighboring workers’ steak house El Obrero appeals equally to slumming celebs and the city’s mayor (64 Agustín Caffarena; 54-11-4362-9912).

Where to See and Be Seen
Socialite Mirtha Legrand and media chums gather for Sunday brunch at the Four Seasons Hotel, where unlimited Schlumberger champagne eases the transition from tortas, puddings, and sorbets to oysters, sushi, and paella. Score points with locals by suggesting a superclásico at La Bombonera, home stadium to Argentina’s most fanatically supported soccer team, the Boca Juniors. For high culture, the near perfect acoustics of the sumptuous Teatro Colón assure world-class performances; admire the Félix Gaudín stained glass and 700-lamp chandelier in the marble foyer (under renovation until 2008). A warren of nooks and private corners makes Milión, a bar-restaurant housed in a three-story mansion with a creeper-draped garden, perfect for a private chat. Italian clothing magnate Luciano Benetton, former Disney chairman Michael Eisner, and Woods Staton, McDonald’s man in Latin America, enjoy ritzy Casa Cruz; dozens of champagnes, thousand-peso wines, and sophisticated dishes make this a place to celebrate.

Where to Close a Deal
Hash out the final terms over lunch at El Claustro Santa Catalina, a former convent built in 1745 that today has a restaurant within its cloisters, arcades, and vaulted corridors. Shake hands in the darkly attractive jade-and-black bar at the venerable Marriott Plaza Hotel. Savor success by puffing on a Cuban puro at Gran Vega Cigar Bar, run by Havana émigré Noel Tortoló Solanas. Celebrate at Maat Club Privado, a gourmet club serving some of the city’s most sophisticated cuisine in a Beaux Arts town house in Belgrano (the membership fee is a hefty $2,000, but guests can eat three times before signing up). Announce your deal at El Zanjón, a unique event space set within a museum of sixteenth-century tunnels, cisterns, creeks, and courtyards.

Local Codes
Although business English is widely spoken, most non-professional Argentines speak only Spanish. Don’t be surprised to find a business meeting held in a café: Porteños, the city’s residents, treat them like a home or office. Expect extravagant gestures and intimacy in even simple conversations—taxi drivers, for instance, might offer an ersatz anthropological lecture on Argentines’ chronic inability to work together or divulge their marital problems. Opinions can fluctuate wildly: Fiercely proud of their country’s achievements, locals despair at its unfulfilled potential.

Airport Intelligence
Ezeiza—officially, Ministro Pistarini International Airport, after Perón’s one-time minister of public works—is 21 miles from town; figure on a $25, half-hour taxi ride. Customs officials scan arriving passengers’ bags and insist on matching each with its bar-coded claim tag. An $18 tax is levied on all departing passengers (credit cards are accepted). Foreign passenger traffic has more than doubled in five years, and the facilities are feeling the pinch. Several airlines operate club lounges; passengers without access to one have to cope with overpriced cafés, a single bookstore, and pushy sales staff in the duty-free store. Frequent strikes and adverse weather regularly leave travelers stranded; some have recently stormed check-in counters and runways. To escape at any cost, charter a helicopter from Patagonia Chopper or a private aircraft from Air Dispatch.

The Three-Hour Tour
Eternautas-Viajes Históricos offers excellent customized half-day city tours that are led by historians and sociologists and are peppered with pertinent comments. For a do-it-yourself walk, explore Puerto Madero, the city’s renovated docklands. Just 20 years ago, its warehouses, jetties, and loading bays were abandoned except for the rats, thieves, and junkies. Millions of investment dollars from multinational businesses, hotels, and developers have transformed it into Buenos Aires’s cleanest and safest barrio, with apartment prices now double those on, say, Chicago’s waterfront. To shop for something a little more affordable—handmade polo boots or a rare Art Deco vase—consider hiring a personal shopper to provide access to private collections, viewings, and artisans’ workshops (Ana Ines Ochoa: 54-911-4413-6793; anainesochoa@yahoo.com.ar; $30 an hour).    

–Colin Barraclough