Uruguay

Uruguay, in a few days

From colonial Colonia to the dunes of Cabo Polonio, where the grid never arrived, by way of the Montevideo rambla: the map, what is worth booking, everything that costs nothing, and where to sleep at three budgets.

Day by day

1

Colonia del Sacramento

Days 1-2

Founded by the Portuguese in 1680 and fought over with Spain for a century. Its old quarter of cobbled lanes has been UNESCO-listed since 1995.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Guided walk through the old quarter2h · from €20
  Two hours through the Barrio Histórico, where Portuguese and Spanish houses stand side by side and tell the story of a town that changed hands again and again.

✦ Free to visit

• Calle de los Suspiros, the Street of Sighs
• The climb up the lighthouse
• The ramparts and the Portón de Campo gate
• Sunset over the Río de la Plata

📲 Book things to do in Colonia del Sacramento on GetYourGuide

2

Montevideo

Days 3-5 · 🚌 Bus 2h30

The southernmost capital in the Americas, home to about 1.3 million people, well over a third of the country. A seafront promenade, the rambla, runs along the water for more than twenty kilometres.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Lunch at a parrilla in the Mercado del PuertoLunch · from €25
  An iron market hall from 1868 filled with wood-fired grills, where beef, chorizo and sweetbreads come off the embers at the counter.
• A tannat winery on the edge of townHalf day · from €35
  A half-day among the vineyards just outside Montevideo, tasting tannat, the dark red grape that Uruguay has made its own.

✦ Free to visit

• The rambla at sunset
• The Ciudad Vieja and the Palacio Salvo
• Tristán Narvaja street market (Sundays)
• Pocitos beach

📲 Book things to do in Montevideo on GetYourGuide

3

Punta del Este and Casapueblo

Days 6-7 · 🚌 Bus 2h

A fishing village that became the most fashionable beach resort in South America. The giant fingers of La Mano have risen out of the sand of Playa Brava since 1982.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Casapueblo, studio and museum2h · from €12
  The white, organic-shaped house that the artist Carlos Páez Vilaró built by hand on the cliff at Punta Ballena, now his museum.
• Boat trip to Isla de LobosHalf day · from €55
  A half-day out to the island off Punta del Este, home to a large colony of sea lions and fur seals.

✦ Free to visit

• La Mano on Playa Brava
• Sunset from Casapueblo
• The harbour and its sea lions
• Playa Mansa

📲 Book things to do in Punta del Este and Casapueblo on GetYourGuide

4

Cabo Polonio

Days 8-10 · 🚌 Bus + 🛻 4x4 2h30

No road and no mains electricity: the hamlet lives around its lighthouse, lit in 1881, and one of the largest sea lion colonies on the continent. The last stretch is crossed in open-top trucks over the dunes.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Return 4x4 truck from Route 1030 min · from €9
  The only way in: open-top trucks leave from the car park on Route 10 and cross the dunes to the village in about half an hour.

✦ Free to visit

• The sea lion colony below the lighthouse
• Dunes and empty beaches
• A night of stars with no electric light
• The climb up the lighthouse (small entry fee)

📲 Book things to do in Cabo Polonio on GetYourGuide

Worth sorting before you go

Bus and ferry · Buses from the Tres Cruces terminal in Montevideo cover the whole coast, cheaply and on time. From Buenos Aires, the fast ferry reaches Colonia in just over an hour.

📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly

🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta

🚗 Car hire
Compare the agencies before you land.
Compare · Booking

💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut

🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer

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Flavours & local habits

🍽️ Worth tasting

• Asado: beef and offal cooked slowly over wood embers, the centre of every Sunday.
• Chivito: a steak sandwich stacked with ham, cheese, egg and salad, the national fast food.
• Tannat: the dark, tannic red wine that Uruguay grows better than anyone.
• Dulce de leche: slow-cooked sweetened milk, spread on everything from toast to pancakes.
• Mate: bitter herbal tea sipped through a metal straw, carried everywhere with a flask of hot water under the arm.

⚠️ Best avoided

• Book well ahead for Punta del Este in January, when prices and crowds peak.
• Bring cash to Cabo Polonio: there is no cash machine in the village.
• Easter week, known here as Semana de Turismo, fills every bus and hotel: plan around it.
• When someone offers you mate, saying thank you means you have had enough, so only say it when you are done.

Words that help

English ↔ Spanish

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The practical page

Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/uruguay

Packing checklist

Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.