Living in La Plata, Argentina: a plaza every six blocks, if you are inside the square

Districts

Casco Urbano

The original square inside the ring avenues: Plaza Moreno and the cathedral, the shopping streets 8 and 12, university faculties. A plaza and a shop are minutes from any door and the streets are level. Housing is older buildings and student towers.

Near the Bosque

The north-east edge of the square beside the Paseo del Bosque, with the natural history museum and two football stadiums. The greenest part of the city, loud on match days, and close to the Roca line station.

City Bell and Gonnet

Towns of houses and gardens to the north-west along Camino Centenario and Camino General Belgrano. Quiet and leafy. Shops line the two roads, and nearly everything else needs a car.

Living in La Plata, Argentina, is easy on foot inside that square. Outside it the picture changes fast. Inside the square the score stays high almost everywhere, because each sector has its plaza, bakery, pharmacy and bus stop. The categories tell addresses apart: parks are stronger by the Bosque, shopping by Calle 8, and along the ring avenues noise starts to cost points.

Many residents commute to the capital. The Roca train takes over an hour to Constitución, and buses on the highway are quicker. Add the station at 1 and 44 as one of your own places to see how many minutes it is from the door.

Is La Plata, Argentina, safe? Crime is not part of the score, and the answer changes by area and year, so read local news. What the report shows for City Bell is physical: a kilometer without a sidewalk between a house and the nearest shop, which the without-a-car profile puts on its first line.