The word Pampa is practically synonymous with Argentina itself and with the gaucho culture. Pampa is Quechua for flatlands and the Pampa is made up of nothing more than flat grasslands. The province of La Pampa to the west of Buenos Aires province is the heart of the Pampas, while they also cover parts of Santa Fe province and the province of Cordoba. These rich fertile plains, for which the 19th-century Campaign of the Desert was raged against the indigenous people, later became the “breadbasket of the world” until Argentina faced economic crises in the 1930s.

Dotted around La Pampa are small gaucho towns and large elegant estancias, many of which now offer luxurious accommodation and the opportunity to help round up cattle on horseback as well as various other activities. San Antonio de Areco, northwest of Buenos Aires, is a wonderful gaucho town surrounded by some of the finest estancias in Argentina. It also hosts the Fiesta de la Tradicion, a celebration of Pampas culture, staged every November. Traditional gaucho towns south of Buenos Aires include Chascomus and Tandil. The western Pampa is less-explored but equally flat except for the Sierra de la Ventana mountain range.