The stunning belle-epoque building that houses the Museo de Arte Tigre in the Tigre Delta of Argentina opened as a social club a century ago, when rich bohemians would visit to get away from Buenos Aires. The building eventually fell into disuse before reopening as a museum in 2006, refurbished with marble, bronze and stained glass as part of a municipal improvement project.

Its fortunes mirror those of the delta, 45 minutes by train from Buenos Aires. The area has been rediscovered by the leisure class that had abandoned it for beach getaways.

“There are three places in Buenos Aires which are changing, which everyone is talking about,” said Diana Saiegh, the director of the Museo de Arte Tigre. “San Telmo, Palermo Viejo, and now, Tigre. The most rich people of Buenos Aires have come here.”

The renaissance comes after a long decline, as Tigre developed a rundown feel. Recently, however, Tigre has renovated waterfront walkways along the Rio Lujan and the shopping arcades near the main train station. Developers have also become attracted to Tigre, building homes and spas on its remote islands, aiming at the very wealthy.

The region is vast. At 14,000 square kilometers, the Tigre Delta is among the world’s largest, and it is one of the only major deltas that does not empty into a sea or ocean. It flows instead into the Rio de la Plata, which separates Argentina and Uruguay. With its islands and canals, Tigre is what Venice might have looked like before development.

Tigre is named for the jaguars - which were called tigers - that once roamed here, before the islands became important agriculturally for wicker and fruit in the mid-1800s; the British built trains bringing these products to market. After an 1877 yellow fever epidemic in Buenos Aires, Tigre was seen as a healthful retreat. British character pervades Tigre, with Victorians and half-timbered mock Tudors.

Tigre still attracts artists, like Sebastian Paez Vilaro, son of the Uruguayan artist Carlos Paez Vilaro. His atelier, where he makes bronze and copper repousse art, is a miniature of his father’s amorphous Casa Pueblo in Punta Del Este. Mr. Paez Vilaro, 25, said he finds Tigre inspiring “because I can enjoy nature and the land and still be close to Buenos Aires.”

But it is the delta’s remote, carefree islands that provide a greater reprieve from urban life. A number of spa resorts and gated communities have opened on the islands.

One is the Isla el Descanso, a small island occupied by a retreat that highlights its natural attributes: lagoons, channels and gardens. The owner, Claudio Stamato, created the retreat when he converted his weekend home with sculptures by Alberto Baston Diaz, an Argentine artist. Its most famous visitor was Madonna, who came in 2008.

Another is Rumbo 90, which opened in 2005. It’s intimate, with only seven guest rooms and a rustic-romantic candlelit dining room whose menu emphasizes river fish and other local products. Paula Gezzi, an owner, said that day-trippers are limited to maintain the sense of solitude.

Ms. Gezzi, 32, vacationed as a child in Tigre. “Twenty years ago,” she said, “the only thing to do was have some fun in the day and then return to the city, but now people choose to stay on the islands.” She added, “you are only half an hour from land, but you feel very far away.”

Norma Effron of Buenos Aires, who was celebrating her 54th birthday at Rumbo 90, said: “I love the vegetation. I love the water. Tigre is a way to refresh the head.”

Susana Neira, 53, a Buenos Airesbased tour guide, finds the mainland just as restorative. Ms. Neira is a member of the Buenos Aires Rowing Club. Among her favorite pastimes is rowing along the Tigre waterfront.

As she paddled there on a recent trip, people waved from the Puerto de Frutos, the tourist market. At water level, the intimacy is astounding: kayakers stop one another for directions, and one can hear the conversations emanating from the docks of island houses built on stilts.

Ms. Neira paddled back to Tigre as the sun set, casting a golden glow over the lapping water, silhouetting the Parque de la Costa amusement park.

Ms. Neira stopped rowing, taking in the view. “I spend all my free time here in Tigre,” she said.


By MICHAEL T. LUONGO