It's City Slickers South American style! Buenos Aires' most legendary steakhouse, La Cabaña, is offering more adventurous diners the chance to saddle up with real Argentine cowboys with its new 'Gaucho for a Day' program. La Cabaña has teamed up with two working cattle estancias (ranches) – one ultra rustic, one more luxe – to offer full day excursions to the Argentinean pampas to let visitors experience life as a real gaucho*. Rates are US $500 per person** and include all gaucho attire, transfers, meals and activities as detailed below. Reservations can be made by calling (+54) 11-4814-0001.

The night before, guests will enjoy a sumptuous dinner at La Cabaňa, where they are given traditional gaucho attire of a beret, typical trousers called bombachas, a shirt, canvas and rope sole, alpargatas shoes and a scarf. The following morning, they will be collected from their hotels at 8 a.m. and driven to their estancia of choice.

After a 45-minute drive, guests receive a warm Argentine welcome with a typical breakfast of pastelitos and coffee and mate tea before saddling up their own horses and taking to the range with the local gauchos (previous riding experience is not required) to drive cattle across the fields of the estancia. Their destination is what the gaucho's call El Puesto, a rustic construction where the gaucho rests and keeps his work tools when distances to the main house are wide. Guests will enjoy a typical asado snack of Choripan pork sausage, thin strip ribs and inner flank. Following another brief afternoon ride, trainee gauchos will return to the estancia for mate and tortas fritas around an open fire.

For the rest of the afternoon, there will be a variety of activities to choose from including a Sortija race, a horseback competition in which riders gallop whilst standing rigid in their stirrups attempting to spear a small ring strung on a ribbon, a Sulki horse drawn carriage ride or an Argentine cooking lesson to work up an appetite for an especially decadent dinner in the main house prepared by a grill chef from La Cabaña. Guests will be returned to their hotels in time for tango or a night out on the town (estimated 10PM); overnight stays at El Rocio (www.estanciaelrocio.com) can also be arranged at in advance, pending availability.

Estancia La Palmas ~ the 'real deal' (more rustic) experience. . . This estancia is one of the oldest in Argentina, 50 minutes from downtown Buenos Aires. Guests booking this gaucho experience should enjoy breakfast and coffee at their hotels prior to departure and will take to the range as above. Following a full day of driving cattle with five or six local gauchos, guests will help prepare a traditional barbecue dinner, including grilled meats and Malbec around an open fire. This is the quintessential 'day in the life' experience and a window into Argentine culture and tradition like none other.

La Cabaña is located in the fashionable Recoleta district and is the recreation of one of Buenos Aires' most famous steakhouses which first opened in 1935. It is the only restaurant in Buenos Aires to serve individually certified traceable meat from British herds to ensure the steak they offer is 100% natural and the best quality available. The original La Cabaña closed its doors in June 1996, at which time Orient-Express Hotels (www.orient-express.com) decided to buy both the name and contents of the restaurant, including its treasured file of historic photos and artefacts including heavy iron ornaments, leather and burnished copper utensils.

Following the style of the original restaurant, the entrance is flanked by two stuffed calves. The décor of each of La Cabaña's dining areas is inspired by different regions and provinces of Argentina such as Patagonia, Salta and Pampa . La Cabaña is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. www.lacabanabuenosaires.com.ar .

* A gaucho is a South American cattle herder and, like the cowboys of North America, these great horsemen have a reputation for being the strong, silent type, out on the estancia for weeks at a time. The gaucho diet whilst working on the pampas is typically composed almost entirely of beef and yerba mate, an herbal tea drink rich in nutrients.

** English-speaking gauchos can not be guaranteed in advance. Translators can be arranged for an additional fee.