"The Argentine Estancias"are a wonderful way to see and enjoy the country away from tourist crowds and immersed in an ambience of nature, history, and tradition. Staying at a beautiful private ranch, you share the lifestyle of the Argentine countryside, hosted by the ranch-owners, who immediately make you feel at home.

In Argentina the extensive rural estates devoted largely to cattle ranching and to growing grain, are called estancias. They have helped to define the country's spiritual, economic and social heritage. The architectural development of the Argentine estancia evolved into the construction of grand European-style mansions, true rural palaces of European inspiration that even today preserve the beauty of their lines without altering the old creole traditions. Styles range from spartan adobe Colonial to baroque, from Moorish to French and Italian Renaissance. Some have ballrooms, Old Master paintings, twenty-foot dining tables, two dozen bedrooms, European formal gardens, parks full of red stag for hunting, rivers full of trout for fishing, and polo fields. Some overlook their own glacier or twenty-mile-long lake on land that comprised entire mountain ranges and river valleys.

Other estancias are less impressive in their lodging but unique in there setting and warm hospitality. Each estancia has its own soul and is the ideal way to acquire in-depth knowledge of the roots of the country, by sharing their lives and customs, where peace and hospitality are as natural as the landscape itself.

Maita Barrenechea and her company, Mai-10, has been organizing tailor-designed trips to estancias and special destinations in Argentina since 1982. We offer a selection of fully-first cabin estancias, scattered around the country, in its diverse regions.

Argentina is a country of contrasts with the most varied natural sceneries: the vast fabled plains of Patagonia, crystal lakes and rivers, the majestic Andes, the captivating wine country, the picturesque northern region with Indian and colonial villages, the fertile Pampa plains, the land of the colorful gaucho. Sighting natural wonders as the amazing Iguazú Falls and its lush rain-forests with fascinating wildlife, endless iridescent glaciers and sculpted icebergs, or the striking beaches and cliffs of the South Atlantic with the wonderful sight of the southern-right whale, penguins, elephant-seals.Accommodations at the estancias vary in scope and style from working ranches to castles, simple to palatial, most feel like an exhilarating cross between a European country-manor hotel and one of the best American dude ranches, providing travelers with a taste of some of the finest country living.

Estancias are the land of the gaucho, loyal ranch-hand, servant and friend of the landowner, who worked tirelessly to build and develop the estates, some nomadic, who loved their freedom and wandered the pampas, always working on specialized tasks and scouting for travelers who ventured to cross the grasslands. This gaucho would come, dressed in his best clothes and mounted on his best horse, to the large countryside gatherings - the domas, roundups, and brandings - to demonstrate his skills with the lasso and boleadoras.
We invite you to visit Argentina, to enjoy apart from the beautiful and cosmopolitan city of Buenos Aires with its wonderful parks and gardens, great museums and cultural life, excellent restaurants and active night-life, the tango and the people; the different unspoiled regions of this vast and wonderful country, staying at a private ranch or special destination, where you can practice your favorite sport, learn about the local culture, enjoy the outdoors, as you delight savoring the great Argentine wines and famed beef, immersed in a natural setting and hosted by the warm and hospitable Argentine spirit.