Estancia Nibepo Aike

The location is remote (very) and stunning. The milky way at night is breathtaking and the only sounds are of cows calling for their calves. The friendly gauchos provided great horseback experiences and the hiking was rewarding and beautiful. The only drawback was the attitude of the hostess who seemed indifferent to me and non-communicative about activities upon checkin. I tried to engage the owner who also was uninterested in any dialogue. Finally, the rooms are classic country simplicity. The meals are simple, disappointing and not very filling. Would I recommend? Yes. Would I return? Probably not.

The estancia is in a very isolated area with stunning views of the Cervantes Glacier and Lago Argentino and Roca. The building is simple, with older furniture but nice character. Our room was fairly large, with nice views, the bathroom was simple but fully functioning. The personnel is very attentive to your needs and always ready to help. In particular, Juan, Agustina, Luisina and Agustín were great. Agustín took as on a trekking route to the bosque de lengas which was really, really nice! There are other trekking routes you can do on your own. They have a field day where you can learn a bit about life in a Patagonian Estancia, ride a horse and partake a delicious lunch (Cordero Patagónica). The only reason I give them 4 stars instead of 5 is that the food (with the exception of the field day) is extremely bland and lacks some initiative to show some cheap but very tasty dishes that are part of the Argentinian gastronomy (during our stay, meat dishes were lacking, for breakfast there is no toaster for the bread, pasta and polenta two days in a row is a bit too much carbs) . Truly a pity; improving the kitchen offerings is the missing piece to provide a five star experience.

We loved our 3 night stay at Nibepo Aike. The staff, especially Gus and Juan as our Caballeros, were very attentive as they guided us on our various trail rides, long and short! They provided a lot of great information about the area, flora and fauna, and educated us on the ranch lifestyle -warm, kind and funny -we felt like family right away! The only shortcoming was the food. While lunches and dinner included 3 courses, they were rather bland and disappointing. Continental breakfast could include a toaster for the (not so great) bread; the addition of eggs would be nice. The Asado lunch in the barn was good, but should be offered to ranch hotel guests on all days, without the required tour of the ranch, which is repetitive for hotel guests who get all the same info while doing the trail rides. A beautiful area and well worth the drive out for a few days! If self driving, the road is gravel and potholey-take your time and enjoy the vista! The ranch also offers shuttle service if you don’t have a car