We very much enjoyed our stay at El Ombu. The estancia, the assado, the walks and the rides were so nice. We lodged in the town of San Antonio de Areco (don't miss a visit and lunch there, if you possibly can spare the time)but we did look at the rooms at El Ombu and they seemed quite nice.

Our only reluctance to totally recommend El Ombu is that they would not cancel the reservation for friends of ours for a day of unexpected heavy rains - so they spent a very rainy day sitting in a not very interesting room. Not good PR - and left a less than good impression for us, as we had recommended this estancia. You could check the weather report carefully - or talk with the owner about such an occurrence.

Hi Marine!
Thank you for your input. So just to confirm you've stayed at El Ombu before? Or just gone for the day taking part in the gaucho show & bbq etc..?

We would consider staying in the town instead and just driving to an Estancia (we're renting a car to drive from BA to San Antonio) for the gaucho show & bbq. Not sure where we might be able to arrange that separately? But where did you stay in town? and did you enjoy that?

We don't want to get "stuck" that's for sure...
Thanks!

I think if you are driving to SA de Areco, you could very easily drive to a nearby estancia for the day. You are correct, we only visited El Ombu for the day...we stayed in town. The details of our trip (maybe more than you wanted to know are in this Trip Report.

Side Trip to SAN ANTONIO de ARECO & Estancia EL Ombu

http://www.fodors.com/community/south-america/marniewdc-bsas-trip-report-4th-week.cfm

That's great!
Thank you for the information.. I will read up and do some more research before deciding.

We also had a very nice day at Estancia El Ombú, but regretted not spending the night there. I especially remember the wonderful empanadas (and malbec) shortly after we arrived.

_____________________________________________
Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie

Thanks Orlando_Vic!
We're getting so excited now!
Did the "Day" experience include a gaucho show? The horse tricks/taming and such?
That's what we really want to see and of course enjoy the amazing food & wine!

The day trip did include a gaucho show, but it was not elaborate or long.

There are other Estancias that specialize in that - closer to BsAs if memory serves. I think other posters can be more specific about that ?