Buenos Aires is often compared to other cities around the world. Many a guidebook waxes lyrical about the “Paris of the South”. Puerto Madero is Manhattan (at least to those who have never been to Manhattan) and the leafy parks of Palermo have reminded more than one visitor to the large open space of Central Park. I like a good comparison and today I began wondering how did Buenos Aires stack up to other world cities in terms of size. I know it’s 80 square miles with a population of a shade under 3 million, but what does that mean, when comparing to another city I know well, such as London? I decided to find out.

So here we have a map of London, taken from Google maps with the outline of Buenos Aires at the same scale overlaid. I’ve highlighted some of the well-known spots in the city to make it easier to gauge the size. The Plaza de Mayo is roughly where London Bridge is, which puts Plaza Dorrego round about Waterloo, Caminito in Peckham and Plaza Italia the other side of Regents Park on Primrose Hill and Congreso de Tucuman way out in Hendon.

Paris may have influenced Buenos Aires from an architectural point of view, but the student certainly outgrew the master, with Paris nestling nicely within the Argentine capital, taking up around 50% of the land area.

Unsurprisingly, New York is much more of a match for Buenos Aires with the 5 Boroughs dwarfing Capital Federal. Note the size of Central Park; about the same sort of distance as Plaza Italia to Chacarita – huge!

Any requests? More cities you’d like to see compared? let me know in the comments!

This post was originally published on Buenos Aires Local Tours.