The name Retiro (literally "retreat') goes back to the period when spiritual retreats were held outside the city, but now the words traffic and clamor are synonymous with this zone which surrounds the train station built by the English, the renovated Bus Terminal and the Torre Monumental (Monumental Tower, formerly the English Tower) with its Big Ben style clock, donated by the British government.

In front, the lawns of the plaza San Martin invite you to rest and enjoy the sight of the big mansions that belonged to families of lineage. The bronze statue of General San Martin, the liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru, is visible on the crest of the square, while on the east side is the Monument to the Fallen of the Malvinas War where the names of the soldiers that lost their lives in the war are engraved in black marble.

On Florida Street, you will find the Kavanagh building: a symbol of modern Buenos Aires. The first skyscraper in the city was inaugurated in 1935 after being entirely built of concrete in record time, merely 14 months. It has 30 floors and is 120 meters high and harbors innumerable anecdotes and memories associated with illustrious names of people that chose to live in its apartments which give on the square and the river.

Nearby you can walk down the Florida Street footpath, a long shopping street used daily by thousands of people who work in the downtown area. Street performers, folk musicians and living statues entertain passersby in front of shops that sell leather goods, clothes, jewelry, electronic equipment, records and books.

Also in the San Nicolas neighborhood are the Colon Theater, a magnificent building that offers opera, ballet and classical music, the wide Avenida 9 de Julio and the Obelisk located at the intersection with Corrientes Street which is mentioned in more than one tango song and is the symbol of Buenos Aires that never sleeps. In the section that extends from Callao Avenue to Florida Street there are theaters, cinemas, "cafés" and pizzerias, as well as several bookstores that remain open until late at night and offer all kinds of publications.