3 Best Sights in San Antonio de Areco, Side Trips from Buenos Aires

San Antonio is famed for its silversmiths, and the late Juan José Draghi was the best in town. This small museum adjoining his workshop showcases the evolution of the Argentine silver-work style known as platería criolla. Pieces are ornate takes on gaucho-related items: spurs, belt buckles, knives, stirrups, and the ubiquitous mate gourds, some dating from the 18th century. Also on display is the incredibly ornate work of Juan José Draghi himself; you can buy original pieces in the shop. His son keeps the family business alive—he's often at work shaping new pieces at the back of the museum.

Gaucho life of the past is celebrated—and idealized—at this quiet museum just outside town. Start at the 150-year-old pulpería (the gaucho version of the saloon), complete with dressed-up wax figures ready for a drink. Then head for the museum, an early-20th-century replica of a stately 18th-century casco de estancia (estancia house). Polished wooden cases contain a collection of traditional gaucho gear: decorated knives, colorful ponchos, and elaborate saddlery and bridlery. The museum is named for local writer Ricardo Güiraldes (1886–1927), whose romantic gaucho novels captured the imagination of Argentinean readers. Several rooms document his life in San Antonio de Areco and the real-life gauchos who inspired his work.

Although iconic Argentinean painter Florencio Molina Campos was not from San Antonio de Areco, his humorous paintings depict traditional pampas life. The works usually show red-nosed, pigeon-toed gauchos astride comical steeds, staggering drunkenly outside taverns, engaged in cockfighting or folk dancing, and taming bucking broncos. The collection is fun and beautifully arranged, and your ticket includes coffee and croissants in the jarringly modern café, which also does great empanadas and sandwiches. Behind its curtained walls lie huge theme park–style re-creations of three paintings. The lively and insightful voice-over explaining them is in Spanish only.