Villa Gesell Partido is a partido on the Atlantic coast of

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The provincial subdivision has a population of about 24,282 inhabitants in an area of , and its capital city is

Villa Gesell Villa Gesell is a seaside resort city in Villa Gesell Partido, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It was founded in 1931, with the intention of turning a dune field into a timber plantation.

, which is around from

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Economy

The economy of Villa Gesell is dominated by the summer tourist season, which sees thousands of holidaymakers make their way to the Atlantic coast of Buenos Aires Province. The main tourist season lasts from December until February, after the end of the main holiday season most of the hotels, bars and restaurants close up, but some of the local establishments and hostels remain open all year round.

History

In 1931 Don Carlos Idaho Gesell purchased of sand dunes, and over the years he planted many thousands of trees and built a home for his family. Between the 1940s and the 1970s the population of Villa Gesell swelled as hippies and free thinkers fleeing the crowded metropolis of

made their way to the picturesque coastal village. In the early years of Villa Gesell, Don Carlos Gesell introduced the "Plan galopante" (galloping plan) which meant if a householder would purchase a property inside Villa Gesell, and if they built a home within a specified period of time, a percentage of the purchase price would be discounted, in time bringing in thousands of people from around the world, especially Germany and Italy and other European nations, seeking a quiet and peaceful place to live. Around 1970, Villa Gesell gained its status as a city, and as the settlement of Villa Gesell grew in popularity, commercial interests took over, spoiling Gesell's idea of a tranquil village surrounded by nature. As the sand dunes were bulldozed to make space for seafront bars and restaurants, the settlement of

Mar Azul Mar, mar or MAR may refer to: Culture * Mar or Mor, an honorific in Syriac * Earl of Mar, an earldom in Scotland * MAA (singer) (born 1986), Japanese * Marathi language, by ISO 639-2 language code * March, as an abbreviation for the third month ...

was established in order to reestablish Gesell's ideal of urban development in tune with nature. Since 2004, work has been undertaken to remove many of the concrete slab seafront bars and restaurants, in order to return the coastline of Villa Gesell to the state Gesell had intended. Villa Gesell is host to "Le Touquet", one of the largest motocross races in the world. These races are held at nearby cities from time to time. It has been said that "there is no better place to raise a family, than Villa Gesell".

Settlements

Mar de las Pampas Mar, mar or MAR may refer to: Culture * Mar or Mor, an honorific in Syriac * Earl of Mar, an earldom in Scotland * MAA (singer) (born 1986), Japanese * Marathi language, by ISO 639-2 language code * March, as an abbreviation for the third month ...

* Las Gaviotas *

External links

*
Villa Gesell Partido Main Website
(Spanish)
Federal Website
(Spanish) {{Authority control Partidos of Buenos Aires Province 1978 establishments in Argentina