Five best: Hip hotels in Buenos Aires

Five Cool Rooms, Palermo Soho

This hotel in fact has 16 rooms, all of which are indeed very cool. The "five" relates to the number of people in the family of the owners, siblings Adriana and Gustavo Teplixke. Located in the heart of the hip Palermo district, the former boarding house is a minimalist but tropical urban enclave of concrete, wood and bamboo. There are sliding windows, white walls and llama-wool rugs in the rooms, which are divided into Small (very small), Medium and Large. The building's crowning glory is its roof terrace, complete with hot tub, loungers and barbecue.

Five Cool Rooms, Honduras 4742 (00 54 111 5235 5555; www.fivebuenosaires.com). Doubles from US$121 (?67), inc breakfast

Home, Palermo Viejo

When Argentine PR supremo Patricia O'Shea and British record producer Tom Rixton decided to marry in Buenos Aires, they were struck by the lack of cool accommodation for their guests. And so the idea was formed for Home, which went on to become one of the first design-minded hotels to open in the north of the buzzing Palermo Viejo district 18 months ago. The 17-room hotel is a study in cool design: think funky floral wallpapers, retro furnishings and clean, modern lines. DJs spin the decks on Friday nights as guests sip rosemary and sorrel vodka martinis in the glass-fronted restaurant overlooking the pool garden. The party continues on Sunday afternoons with poolside barbecues, while those nursing hangovers can recover in the spa.

Home, Honduras 5860, Palermo Viejo (00 54 11 4778 1008; www.homebuenosaires.com). Doubles start at US$139 (?77), inc breakfast

Faena Hotel+Universe, Puerto Madero

Shrinking violets were clearly not what Argentine fashion mogul Alan Faena and designer Philippe Starck had in mind when creating Faena Hotel + Universe. Set in the newly fashionable docklands area, the seven-storey former grain factory is a stylish celebration of all things flamboyant and rococo – from lashings of dark red velvet and gold furnishings to the etched mirrors and portraits of Eva Peron in each of the 108 guest rooms. And it claims to be more than just a hotel: there are cutting-edge exhibitions in El Academy, shows in El Cabaret and an experience manager, assigned to each guest, who can help arrange anything from tango classes to vineyard tours.

Faena Hotel + Universe, 445 Martha Salotti, Puerto Madero (00 54 11 4010 9000; www.faena hotelanduniverse.com). Doubles start at US$423 (?235), inc breakfast

The Cocker, San Telmo

This 19th-century Art Nouveau town house, with its five quirkily stylish suites and lush roof gardens, is on a tree-lined street in the historic San Telmo district. Its British owners, Aidan Pass and Ian Spink, fell in love with it during their honeymoon, and spent a year transforming it into a boutique hotel, which they named after their resident cocker spaniel Rocco, and opened last summer. A grand piano, ornate balconies and a fireplace set a distinguished tone in the living area, while the suites feature a mix of modern design classics and antiques. One of the most striking is the 19-03 garden suite, where a modern white four-poster bed and a bathroom within a glass cube stacked on top, takes centre stage.

The Cocker, Av Juan de Garay, San Telmo (00 54 11 4362 8451; www.thecocker.com). Doubles from US$80 (?44), inc breakfast

BoBo, Palermo Viejo

Another stylish pied-à-terre in the southern Palermo Viejo district, this 1920s town house is a celebration of both the bourgeois and the bohemian, hence the name. The decor of the hotel's seven rooms reflects this theme, and they are all individually designed, including the "Pop" room, with its yellow, red and white 1960s-inspired fixtures; the monochrome " Minimalist" room; and the warm, natural hues of the "Rationalistic" room. At the heart of the hotel is its buzzy restaurant, which serves an intriguing and mouthwatering fusion of Mediterranean, Argentine and Asian cuisine.

BoBo Hotel, Guatemala 4882, Palermo Viejo (00 54 11 4774 0505; www.bobohotel.com). Doubles from US$145 (?80), inc breakfast