Córdoba is the capital of an Argentine province of the same name
and, with 1.35 million inhabitants, the second largest city in the
country. It is located in the geographic center of the country, at
the transition from the low mountain range of the Sierras de Córdoba
to the Pampas and the Chaco.
The city is best known for its
colonial buildings in the center, which have been declared a UNESCO
cultural heritage site, and for its university, the second oldest in
South America and the oldest in Argentina. It is still the most
important cultural center in central Argentina and became known
nationwide for its cheerful, lively Cuarteto music.
Córdoba
is the industrial, cultural and commercial center of central
Argentina. The city is nicknamed "La Docta" because of its numerous
educational and teaching institutes, including the oldest and
currently second largest university in the country, the Universidad
Nacional de Córdoba. The city feels very young and lively because of
the many students who populate the central district of Nueva Córdoba
in particular. The cultural offer is rich and very diverse, but is
often neglected in the national media - and also in most travel
guides - in favor of the Buenos Aires scene. An exception is the
Cuarteto music, popular with young people, a happy, fast dance music
that mixes European and Caribbean elements and has become a mass
movement.
The city is particularly popular with tourists for
its colonial buildings in the center, which were built by the
Jesuits in the 17th and 18th centuries and are now listed buildings.
An entire block was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.
However, Córdoba is also an important convention center and
therefore receives many business travellers.
Today, the city
has expanded far beyond its actual borders, especially in the north
and north-west. There are also numerous other cities in the area,
which together form a large metropolitan area. The entire built-up
area is called "Gran Córdoba" and has about 1.8 million inhabitants.
The city was founded in 1573, making it one of the oldest cities in
the country. For a long time it was the largest town in deserted
colonial Argentina. The university was founded by the Jesuits as early
as 1613. With the establishment of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la
Plata, the importance of the city declined somewhat in favor of Buenos
Aires.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, Córdoba was
considered a stronghold of conservatives in Argentina because of the
influence of the church. It was at times nicknamed "Rome of Argentina".
In 1918, the university's students rebelled against the corrupt and
arch-conservative professors of the clergy, triggering the Reforma
Universitaria, a massive wave of reforms in the country's universities
that spread throughout Latin America and created a progressive
educational model with autonomous, independent universities and
extensive rights for the students resulted in.
The 1940s and
especially the 1950s brought a new boom to the city under the government
of Perón and his successors: industrialization. The automotive industry
in particular settled here and caused a massive influx of immigrants.
The first poor barrios for the workers emerged. Their social potential
erupted in 1969 and 1971 in two popular uprisings against the right-wing
military government, the "Cordobazo" and the "Viborazo", both of which
were responsible for the downfall of the regime.
In addition to
the industry that is still present, Córdoba is above all a service
metropolis in which, for example, advertising agencies and call centers
also cater for foreign customers, e.g. T. in English, work. The city is
also proud of the software industry, which has been based here since the
mid-1990s and now employs over 10,000 people.
Because of its central location, Córdoba is very easy to reach from
all parts of Argentina and neighboring countries.
By plane
Ingeniero Taravella Cordoba Airport (IATA: COR) is located in the north
of the city, about ten kilometers from the center. It flies to several
domestic destinations in Argentina as well as the following destinations
abroad:
Santiago (Chile)
Lima (Peru)
Sao Paulo (Brazil)
Porto Alegre (Brazil)
Panama City (Panama)
Miami (United States)
Montevideo (Uruguay)
From Europe there are often offers via
Buenos Aires, Santiago or São Paulo. Foreign cities have the advantage
that the annoying and time-consuming airport change in Buenos Aires
(Ezeiza to Jorge Newbery, approx. 40-90 minutes driving time) is no
longer necessary.
You can get from the airport to the city center
either by taxi or by Remis (price around €10-15), with the Transfer
Express minibus, the city bus 25 (only recommended for travelers with
little luggage, travelers with a lot of luggage are often rejected by
the bus driver, so he drives right past the bus station). If you don't
mind a short walk, you can take an Interurbano bus (bus company
Intercórdoba, approx. every 30 minutes) from Ruta E-53 (200 m west of
the airport) to the bus station; there are also buses in the direction
of Río Ceballos.
By train
Miter Train Station, de facto
Cordoba's main train station, is located one kilometer east of the city
center near the Río Suquía River on Bulevar Perón, just 200 meters from
the bus station. At the moment only the cities of Buenos Aires and
Rosario (twice a week) as well as Villa María (four times a week) are
served (status: 2014). The station can be reached directly by bus lines
70, 25 (airport shuttle), 27, 29 and 31, but most bus lines stop within
400 m of the station.
Another train station is two kilometers
north of the center in the Alta Córdoba district. There is a short
regional train, the Tren de las Sierras, to Cosquín.
By bus
The bus station is on Bulevar Perón, less than a kilometer east of the
city centre. It consists of two terminals, T1 - mainly for long-haul
routes - and T2 - for most short-haul routes. The complex is about 700
meters long, so if you don't know the bus platform, get there early.
Especially the old terminal T1 offers many shops and snack bars,
telecentros, an internet café, a supermarket and a tourist information
point. The airline Aerolíneas Argentinas also has an office here
(convenient to book through immediately).
There are bus
connections to almost all major Argentinian cities as well as to Brazil,
Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile, and there are also options to book through
to Bolivia and Peru. Tickets are sold in T1 in the basement, in T2 at
two locations near bus platforms 95 and 50.
A taxi to the center
costs about 1-2 euros, but you can also walk (best via Boulevard Illía
and Av. Chacabuco at night, as the side streets in the area are dark and
unsafe). Many city bus routes run from the southwest corner of the bus
station (Bulevar Perón, Corridors 2 and 7, see Mobility) or on Boulevard
Illía (Corridors 1 and 8).
In the street
The city lies at the
crossroads of several national roads. The journey from the various
cities and regions of Argentina is as follows:
from the east and
south-east (Buenos Aires and Rosario) via the Ruta Nacional 9 highway
from the northeast (Santa Fe, Entre Ríos province) via Ruta Nacional 19
(is gradually being expanded to four lanes)
from the north and
northwest via Ruta Nacional 9 (via Santiago del Estero) or Ruta Nacional
60 (via Frías, also from Catamarca)
from the West (San Juan) via Ruta
Nacional 20
from the southwest (Mendoza) via Ruta Nacional 7 to Villa
Mercedes, then via Ruta Nacional 8 to Río Cuarto and Ruta Nacional 36 to
Córdoba
from the south (Patagonia) via Rutas Nacionales 35 and 36.
First for orientation: All streets change their names at the
north-west corner of Plaza San Martín (the "zero" point from which all
street numbers are counted). The San Martín is called Independencia to
the south, the Déan Funes to the east is Rosario de Santa Fe, and all
streets that meet any of these four streets and their extensions also
change their names there. Sounds complicated, but you get used to it
quickly and can use it to find out which area of the city you are in.
By bus
Cordoba's public transport system does not do justice to
the size of the city and is rightly often criticized by residents. So
far there are no suburban trains or subways, only city buses, but their
frequencies are not too dense and where comfort is a foreign word, they
are often overcrowded. The exception are the so-called diferenciales,
which cost twice as much as the normal buses.
Payment is made
exclusively with a bus card (tarjeta de colectivo or tarjeta Red Bus),
which can be topped up like a telephone card and is valid for all
inner-city lines (including trolleybuses, diferenciales, annulares and
barriales). Tickets are best available at official sales points
(blue-green or gray houses in the center), nearby kiosks, at the bus
station and at the airport (kiosk at Departures), while stocks last. The
price is quite cheap at around 40 euro cents (price in pesos is updated
frequently due to inflation). Bus drivers do not accept cash. However,
as a last resort if the card is missing or forgotten, you can ask other
passengers if they can borrow the card against payment of the fare.
The bus network is divided into corridors, two of which are
connected with one colour. Each corridor can be identified by the first
digit of the line number. The color is identified with the operating bus
company, combinations between two lines of the same company are free,
otherwise a 25% surcharge applies.
1 Naranja (orange) in
northwest-southeast direction
2 Azul (blue, in practice red) in
north-south direction
3 Rojo (red) in north-east-south-west direction
4 Amarillo (yellow) in south-west-north direction
5 Amarillo (yellow)
in west-east direction
6 Naranja (orange) in southwest-northeast
direction
7 Azul (blue, red in practice) in east-west direction
8
Rojo (red) in northwest-southeast direction
The main lines of the
corridors, which can be recognized by line numbers that can be divided
by ten (e.g. corridor 1: line 10), all run through the center. The same
applies to most secondary lines that carry the other line numbers (e.g.
in Corridor 1: lines 11 to 19). The major hubs are Plaza San Martín by
the Cathedral (to the west and north) and Avenida Colón by the Cinerama
complex between Tucumán and Jujuy streets (to the east and south), where
about 80% of the lines stop. There are also district lines that are
marked with a B (e.g. B10) and do not reach the city center.
There are also two ring bus lines (500-501 and 600-601) that go around
the center. These lines cost a little more than regular buses, but run
away from most tourist attractions. In addition, there are three
trolleybus lines (A, B and C) that operate only in the central area and
cost the same as the regular buses. The more comfortable and expensive
diferenciales buses, including unfortunately the airport shuttle, were
discontinued in 2015.
Current line plans and transfer options can
be seen on the Mi Autobús website, and Google Maps also has a layer for
the Córdoba bus routes. The timetables can be found with the operating
companies ERSA and Coniferal (sub-item "Horarios" in each case),
Autobuses Santa Fe does not yet offer online timetables.
Interurbanos are buses that go to suburbs and nearby towns that are not
in the urban area. They have staggered prices (from about 60 euro cents)
and often run more frequently than some city bus lines. Most depart from
the bus station. There are particularly frequent connections (every
15-20 minutes) to Alta Gracia, Villa Allende, Unquillo, Mendiolaza,
Villa Carlos Paz, Río Ceballos, La Calera and Jesús María. These buses
are usually not numbered, often the same line is served by several bus
companies, small deviations are common.
taxi
Taxis are quite
cheap compared to other places in Argentina. You can easily recognize
them by their bright yellow color. Taxis and buses are flagged down with
an outstretched arm. Crime committed by taxi drivers is relatively rare
compared to Buenos Aires, but it is still safer to call a central taxi
company when traveling with valuables or to go straight to a draw. The
price is made up of a basic price and price units based on kilometers
and time, which can be easily read on a clearly visible taxometer.
In addition to taxis, there is another type of chauffeur-driven
rental car, the green-painted depots, which are ordered by telephone.
They also have taximeters, but their price depends only on the distance.
They are not officially allowed to be stopped on the street in the
center (to keep taxi drivers at bay from annoying competition), but in
practice many do so anyway.
By bicycle
In general, it can be
said that cycling in Córdoba is still relatively little used for daily
travel, although there are some cycle paths. However, there is
relatively little infrastructure and secure parking. Possibilities to
rent bicycles are also rare.
Especially in the center you should
only park your bikes in guarded parking lots. Although all car parks are
obliged to accept bicycles, many do not comply or charge the
significantly higher price for motorcycles. In the center we recommend
the following multi-storey car parks and parking spaces with reasonable
prices:
Maipu Parking, Av. Maipu corner 25 de Mayo.
Playa La
Argentina, 25 de Mayo corner Salta.
For example, there are the
following options for renting bicycles:
Córdoba Rental Bike, Av
Lugones 126. Tel: +54 (0)351 4272716.
, also tandems and vintage
bikes
Baluch Backpacker's Hostel, San Martin 338.
, vintage
bicycles
Córdoba has a fairly large network of cycle paths.
However, most cycle paths are poorly maintained, and some of them pass
through run-down areas and are not recommended for travellers. Bike
lanes have also been laid out on a few avenues downtown. A cycle route
map can be found on the city government website as well as on some
independent web portals (search for Ciclovías Córdoba).
Recommended are the bike paths along the banks of the Río Suquía (east
to San Vicente/Juniors), to La Calera, in Sarmiento Park and in the
southwestern part of the city, but only in daylight on the outskirts.
The scenically attractive cycle path to the northwest (Ciclovía Los
Andes), which is laid out on a railway line and is suitable, for
example, for short tours to Saldán and Villa Allende as well as longer
tours to the Sierras de Córdoba, should only be used from the
intersection with Avenida Monseñor Pablo Cabrera, since in front of it
lies Villa Nailon, a hotbed of crime, a slum notorious for drug
trafficking and gang crime.