Travel can seem daunting, and once you’ve settled into Buenos Aires, it can be easy explore this urban wilderness and miss out on cool adventures beyond the city limits. Planning a weekend trip outside of Buenos Aires sounds expensive, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Don’t fret! Here is a easy affordable plan to have an estancia experience, while learning about the history and experience campo (country) life. From transportation to lodging, from horseback riding to asados (BBQ), here is LandingPadBA.com’s guide to a do-it-yourself campo vacation!
San Antonio de Areco is a traditional gaucho town that lies just 1½ hours from Buenos Aires on the Areco River. It was founded in 1730 and is declared a City of Historic National Interest by the Argentine Government.
How to get there?
Getting to San Antonio de Areco couldn’t be easier. Buy a ticket by phone or in person from the bus line Nueva Chevalier. Their offices are in the upper level of the Retiro bus station located past the train station off of Plaza San Martín. Tickets cost AR$27 each way. The bus depot is at the entrance to the historic part of town within walking distance of bars, museums, parks and restaurants.
Where to stay?
Budget accomodation: the Gaucho Hostel is the best place to hang your hat (and half-empty pockets). Located across from the Areco River, this hostel is very affordable, rents bikes and offers free breakfast to all their guests.
Comfort traveler: The estancia La Posada del Recuerdo is ideal. This traditional house is located 5km from the town center (taxis into town from La Posada Recuerdo cost about AR$12 each way). For about AR$100 per person, you can enjoy private rooms, a delicious breakfast, common room with big screen TV, a pool and very comfy beds. Laura is the owner and she is extremely helpful when it comes to making last minute plans.
How to get around?
San Antonio de Areco has a few taxi companies that are very reliable and always available. They use regular cars that look pretty beat up, but this is the campo not Beverly Hills. The drivers are very sweet and will provide a receipt if you request. You won’t spot them on the street but any store owner will call one for you.
Fancy yourself more of a pedestrian? Bikes are available to rent from the Gaucho Hostel and are perfect for peddling around on a sunny day. That said, walking is the preferred form of transport in San Antonio de Areco, especially considering the fact that most important streets and activities are located within a 10-block radius.
What to do?
All of the action in San Antonio de Areco takes place between the Areco River and the main plaza. You can think of them as parallel points. The Areco River is surrounded by a beautiful park where you will find the tourism office and a walking bridge to cross the river.
My personal favorite activity in Areco is visiting the Museo Ricardo Güiraldes. On foot, simply cross over the red walking bridge to the other side of the Areco River (away from the town) and continue on foot about 4 minutes. On your left you will see a big white building with other smaller white buildings scattered around the property. This is the museum and it costs AR$4 to enter. There are always guides there, so make sure to ask for the free tour that they offer so that you can really understand what you’re looking at and why it is so important. From branding irons and weapons used in the Conquest of the Desert, to an antique Lousi Vuitton trunk this collection is a real crowd pleaser.
While you’re on that side of the river, you can take the dirt lane that runs along the riverbank and choose from one of the many stables and hop on a horse. There are guides that will lead you through the campo for AR$40 per hour.
Crossing river again back into town, stop and have a meal at Mis Nietos, Boulevard Zerboni 278. This is a great spot for lunch, as it will allow you to save room for that parrilla dinner you’ll be gorging yourself on later.
To explore the town, simply stroll up and down the main parallel roads Arellano and Alsina. These streets are filled with original dwellings and great shops to buy gaucho-wear and silver jewelry. The silversmiths are experts in their craft and the silver comes from Potosi, Bolivia.
Along these roads you will also find cute cafés and an incredible chocolate factory called La Olla de Cobre Chocolateria, on Matteau between Arellano and Zapiola. There you can by 100 grams of delicious chocolate for just AR$14.
Getting hungry for dinner?
Get ready for the best asado feast in Argentina! Puesto La Lechuza is the best restaurant in San Antonio de Areco. It is located between the tourism office and the Areco River in the park. Every night they serve up picadas, empanadas, all cuts of meat, salads and desserts to locals and tourists alike at great prices. The ambiance is traditional and welcoming, as is the band that plays folk music by a bonfire each night. While the bands change nightly, the locals always party down by dancing the traditional folk dances. This is a great opportunity to learn the local dances without having to pay for an expensive show. These are locals just living it up. If you just want to pay for entrance to the show the cost is AR$12. Make sure to make a reservation as the place fills up by 10pm.
A little literary history of San Antonio de Areco
This sweet country town was made famous by the novel Don Segunda Sombra, by Ricardo Güiraldes (1926). Güiraldes lived in Buenos Aires at the turn of the twentieth century, the Belle Epoque in Buenos Aires, a time when the city was embellished to resemble Paris and artists, writers and playwrites flourished. Güiraldes was a member of an elite writing group known as Florida. The writers in this group, including Jorge Luis Borges, were wealthy, had visited Europe and returned with inspiration, and thus had appropriated a certain sense of superiority. These writers tended to be heavy on the metaphors and fantasy, and wrote texts that were nearly impossible for the general population to understand. Interestingly, Güiraldes was also known to take part in the meetings of the other writers group, Boedo. Opposite from its Florida counterpart, Boedo was comprised of writers of middle-class background, who were more concerned with recording the truths of daily life in Buenos Aires.
Güiraldes made a splash with his novel Don Segunda Sombra, as he was the first important writer to highlight the positive characteristics of the gaucho (the Argentine cowboy), in opposition to their reputation as vagabonds famous for theivery and dishonesty. The protagonist, Don Segunda Ramirez was a real gaucho in the province of Buenos Aires, hailing specifically in San Antonio de Areco, who was nicknamed Don Segunda Sombra (shadow) for the color of his skin. Güiraldes insisted on the honesty and loyalty of the gaucho, which shocked many of his elite peers. This book was so wildly successful that it was subsequently printed in over 30 languages, and has since altered the popular opinion of the gaucho figure.
This is an important story to know when traveling to San Antonio de Areco. It provides you with the underlying poetry of the campo (country) life, as well as the social norms governed this pastoral lifestyle of the past. The best museum in town is based on the pulpería, or local store where gauchos often hung out, including our beloved Don Segunda Sombra.
San Antonio de Areco is an ideal 1- or 2-night weekend getaway that won’t put you in debt. It’s a self-explanatory town where you can’t get lost or go hungry. Stop by the tourism office upon arrival to see what festivals and shows are going on during your stay. November 10th is the best day of the year to visit during their Fiesta de la Tradicion. The weather is ideal and you can catch locals competing in gaucho games, dancing, singing, eating the very best asado and recounting stories from their past.
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