Montevideo in 3 days

Around twenty kilometres of seafront promenade from the old town to Carrasco, the city's living room, with anglers, runners and families sharing mate.

A crescent of sand in a residential district lined with mid-century apartment blocks, where the city gathers for volleyball and beach football on hot days.

A Sunday morning street market since 1909, spread over a dozen streets of Cordón, selling everything from vegetables to vinyl, tools, old books and coins.

Built in nine months for the first World Cup, won by Uruguay 4 to 2 against Argentina in the final on 30 July 1930.

A 100-metre tower by Mario Palanti, finished in 1928, South America's tallest building until 1935, whose part-Gothic, part-Art Deco silhouette overlooks Plaza Independencia.

An iron and glass hall prefabricated in England and erected in 1868 by the port, now full of parrillas grilling beef, sausages and provoleta.

Opened in 1856 and one of South America's oldest working theatres, with a neoclassical front and a horseshoe auditorium restored between 1998 and 2004.

The original fortified peninsula, founded by the Spanish in the 1720s, centred on Plaza Matriz with its 1871 fountain, the cathedral and the old Cabildo.