Expérience Gaucho : Excursion d'une journée au ranch Don Silvano

The cold and the rain made the outdoor activities unpleasant. Indoors people holding up their cell phones to record made it difficult for those behind them to see the show.

I had such a fun day out! It was thrilling! There was horseback riding, horse carriage ride, a huge asado lunch and lots of snacks throughout the day! The traditional Argentinan song and dance performances were captivating! The gaucho skill demonstrations were breathtaking! All the staff and gauchos executed perfect hospitality! Completely 100% highly recommended!

We arrived about 11:00 AM from the city, and after leaving the bus, we began our visit by lining up for a small cup of wine and empanadas which we ate inside a large open pavilion of sorts. Pretty quickly, we lined up for a horseback ride. They were pretty docile horses for the most part, I guess for our own protection as the ones we saw later in the show had lots of spunk. Essentially, we mounted from a raised wooden walkway, then we all followed a young fellow on his horse, and trotted in a larger circular route that brought us back to the building. We crossed two old bridges and followed a path through fields. After the horses, we strolled around, looked at the other horses, the pigs, a peacock, and chickens. Old relics of cars too. Time for lunch, in a large hall, salads, fries, sausage and blood sausage, chicken, beef. The salad was carrots and lettuce, a blood sausage and another sausage. The beef, though ample, was on the tough side. The dancing and music show were very good. After lunch, we all sat on bleachers for a gaucho show. It was very good, but heavy rain hit and shortened it little. There was a partial roof over one bleacher Next came a coffee break in the hall; we were supposed to have been given maté, but we never saw any. A good day all in all, and nice to see some of the land outside the city.

We were lucky to have a day to spare in Buenos Aires. This was a perfect excursion for us. We were picked up from near our hotel and taken by minibus to the Don Silvano ranch. We were greeted and given a hot empanada which was delicious. The hours passed very quickly with a chance to ride a horse or else a carriage ride. There was a demonstration from gauchos on horseback.Also entertainment in the main barn with dancers and singers whilst we were given plenty of freshly cooked meat from the barbecue. This was finished off nicely with plentiful beer and wine all included. A very good experience.

A small establishment with its own visual , with young staff has a half-hearted Welcoming without smiling. Offering fast food that leaves puzzled. A preparation without food gloves. A meat without flavors, avoided!!

I paid more than $300 for this excursion. Unfortunately, I had to travel to an alternate location to be picked up (they wouldn't pick me up where I was staying, unlike other more quality excursions). I also had no idea traffic would be as bad as it was at that hour. Obviously we were running late. Even though we had them on the phone, telling them we were 5 minutes away, they wouldn't wait. We missed the shuttle, and missed the excursion. Not only that, but it was clear that there wouldn't even be a partial refund. Lost my $300, even though we arrived within the 9:30 to 10:00 window that they had stipulated. While obviously we should have arrived at 9:30, they could've told us traffic was as bad as it was at that hour. How was I to know? I would also think that, having paid more than $300, they could have waited another 5 min. Clearly out to make money and not to serve the needs of their client.

It was a great day! Quick welcome reception with drinks and empanadas, then straight to the horseback riding/carriage ride which are optional. I did both; the horse ride was very leisurely and an adequate length of time (gauchos lead and end the pack), the carriage ride was faster and quite bumpy. Then we got a lesson on making mate, and got to try some (again, optional). Then came the barbecue lunch with fantastic entertainment. The gauchos’ riding games were fun to watch and learn the origins of, and then we had an optional merienda before leaving (I recommend getting the sweet pastry with quince filling; I was told the savoury one didn’t have much flavour). All in all it was an awesome experience. Only small complaint: when the guide on the bus spoke into the microphone, the acoustics were not good and it was extremely loud, making it really difficult to understand what she was saying, even when she spoke English. She was very nice though, and a photographer took pictures of everyone throughout the day that we could choose to purchase at the end.

We visited in late January and were collected from our hotel by Diego our tour guide with Guadeloupe who was training and our driver Cesar. The drive out to the ranch was easy and Diego gave us a running commentary of areas of interest. At the ranch we were met by our host and offered refreshments and an empanada which was delicious. We had a choice of a gentle horse ride or carriage ride, we chose the horse ride and had a lovely ride. After a wander around the ranch we had lunch and were treated to a dance and cabaret who were brilliant, the tango was fast and expertly carried out. The food was good and after lunch we had a display of horsemanship before it was time to head back to our hotel. We can thoroughly recommend this trip if you are visiting Buenos Aires.

Excellent program, guide and very friendly ranch staff. Meals, dances and top music. Do not miss!

We were picked up at a hotel which was convenient. The food was very good. The singing entertainment was excellent as was the dancing. They have a great place to take a horseback ride. This includes their setup for getting on & off a horse and the trail ride - not going around a corral. It is a picturesque place with lots of animals & birds. We felt it was good "bang for the buck".