Estancia Y Dia De Campo - Deal Or No Deal?

[Bajo_cero2]

I read roaring reviews for Estancia Margarita here, plus a few bad ones on TripAdvisor, however USD130 per person a day sounds like a tourist price rather than a local price.
Perhaps it is worth the money for horse fans, but to me it sounds like out of our budget (it adds up to USD180 if we include travel by bus). For that money, we should be spending a weekend in Punta del Este, no?

For low budget día de campo Check "Rodizio campo".

 

[Noruega]

Reviving this thread: Any specific recommendations, other than Margarita, for places no more than two hours away from capital, with a nice pool and beautiful grounds? Preferably horses too, and not too many people (not the places in Areco that receive 100 or more people a day.) Accommodation can be simple as long as the place is nice and welcoming. Gracias!

 

[Girino]

I still can't help Noruega in her search, but I wanted to post my first experience at an estancia.

On Dec 24th we went to Estancia Don Silvano in Capilla del Señor (West-NW of BsAs - http://donsilvano.com/estancia.html) with family from Italy. We do not have a car and we were looking strictly for a dia de campo due to limited time. Also, since someone else was buying, price was also of concern.
In the end, there were not many options of Dia de Campo offering transportation. La Bamba in San Antonio de Areco looked promising, but cost 3 times as much as Don Silvano and doesn't arrange for transportation. Again, it was not my call but I am happy anyway.

We were picked up in Plaza San Martin, in front of the Plaza Hotel, at 9.30 AM, with a micros (other pick up points available, though). The estancia is about 80 km from BsAs and it takes 60-80 minutes to get there without traffic (on 24th Dec. the city was DESERT).

There were 20 seats of the micro, all filled. Later that morning arrived another micro with about 10 people. So in the end we were 30 guests that day, all foreigners (except my husband and MIL) from various countries - Japan, US, Australia, Brazil, Italy, etc. However, for Christmas they were expecting 130 guests!
During the travel from the City to the Estancia, a young lady explained the life of the gaucho, the typical argentinian stuff (empanadas, mate, boleadoras, el gaucho y la china, the dances of the gaucho, el poncho, el falcon, etc.), with pictures shared on board. The lady spoke Spanish and then repeated in English - though a bit rusty, it was understandable.

Once arrived we were offered a glass of wine and empanadas fritas (yummy!), then the tour began. First, horse riding. It is actually a small tour of the estancia on a horse, and there are 22 horses available, more or less. I didn't do it because of ethical issues. Then, carriage riding. A 10 minutes rides around the estancia, the other way round. After this, we gathered in the garden and one of the young ladies explained what is mate, where it comes from, and we had a mate sharing session. After mate, we went to the kitchen to learn how to make empanadas. You assist, only. but can make questions afterwards.

There is a small (and imo pricey) talabarteria on site where you can buy souvenirs, leather stuff, alpargatas, ponchos, etc.
The estancia has several buildings, one with rooms available to spend the night, the old mud oven, an old kitchen with old cooking tools, etc. I lurked into one of the guest room and I have to say that they are very simple and basic, so not everybody might like that style.

There are a lot of peacocks roaming freely in the estancia, a small pond with geese, ducks, flamingos, two rabbits, turkeys, guinea-fowls, lot of horses. There were some areas labelled for goats and sheep, but there was none in sight. The granja was small, there is no animal petting.

At around 1 PM we went in the galpon for lunch, which was a typical Argentinian lunch consisting of cream spread, chimichurri, bread, and potato salad, carrot salad with hard-boiled eggs grated, mixed salad with green salad, onion and tomato. Then they started serving asado, from morchilla+chorizo, then chicken, and finally the best part, bife de chorizo, asado de tira, etc. During lunch they offered an entertaining session of songs and dances (the dances were SO GOOD), listening to classic Argentinian songs sung live by a young fella. The dancers danced typical gaucho dances (sorry I can't remember their names), and then tango. They closed the act with a display of boleadoras that I appreciated greatly.
They served a budin de pan with dulce de leche and coffee. The dessert was home-made and very tasty!

We left the galpon and went to the pool, but after 30 minutes the gaucho show started. Basically, there are a gaucho and a china running on their horses and playing a gaucho game pin a circle hanging from above while horse riding). The gaucho then shows how to "tame" a horse (make it lie on his back and hug him).
After the gaucho show we were offered a merienda consisting of pastelitos and another salty fried snack I didn't grasp the name of, with mate.

Then it was time to leave (at around 4.30-5 PM).
I enjoyed my day and I think it was a comprehensive tour of the gaucho experience, more commercial and tourist oriented than authentic. I don't suggest spending the night there since all activities are scheduled for the dia de campo guests, and after they are gone, there is nothing more to do. They repeat the same tour/show every day.


Price: around 45 USD, all inclusive (transportation+meal+activities). Discount of 10% with Hospital Italiano
Booking policy: you have to pay in advance 200 ARS/person if you require transportation, then you pay the rest on site. Everybody paid cash.
Style: family
Amenities: 2 pools (I think one was for children), not very deep (1.50 mt)
Distance from BsAs: 80 km - 60-80'
Location: Capilla del Señor