Uruguay travel guide

Long beaches, sand dunes, sea lions and a lighthouse, that's what Cabo Polonio is all about! There are only a few hostels, all small wooden houses on or close to the beach with very basic electricity. Thanks to the fact that Cabo Polonio is a protected area, it can maintain its small size and basic lifestyle. There isn’t much to do except relaxing and going for (beach) walks, but that is exactly the reason for coming to this chilled place. To get there you have to take the park’s 4x4 truck on a sandy road, which already makes for half the fun. It builds up the excitement of getting there and you can do some bird watching in the meantime.

Colonia del Sacramento is a bustling and popular weekend getaway for Porteñas (people from Buenos Aires) but quiet and relaxed during the week. From Buenos Aires, it takes just a one hour boat ride across the Rio de la Plata to get there. The old centre of Colonia del Sacramento is small and filled with colonial buildings, from both the Spanish and Portuguese reign. In the first centuries of its existence, it regularly changed ownership between Spain and Portugal until finally becoming a part of Brazil and ultimately Uruguay.
You can stroll the cobblestone streets, go up the lighthouse and dine well at one of the riverside restaurants.

Modern Montevideo is a pleasant place with leafy boulevards and plazas. The old town has pretty colonial buildings, but the end part of town, at the peninsula, is unfortunately a bit decayed and is home to drug addicts and street bums, making it a less appealing place to stroll. The Mercado del Puerto is a haven in this part of town. This market building has been transformed into a collection of restaurants that are a very popular lunch place, especially on the weekends. Also on weekends, there are several markets to explore and you can head to one of the river beaches or go people watching at one of the Ramblas, the (river) beach side promenades. As far as tourist attractions go, the Teatro Solis stands out being one of the oldest theatre buildings in South America and is definitely worth a visit.

Punta Del Diablo is the largest of a number of small beachside towns located on the east coast of Uruguay. Still largely fishing villages, these rural, sand-street communities of laidback locals live a life of seafood, Uruguayan meat and warm weather. Considered the Miami of the area, Punta del Diablo during the summer months of December and January is very popular with Argentines, Chileans and Montevideons. The beach is deserted before 3 pm but, in typical South American fashion, it is jam-packed by 5 pm with scantly clad, bronzed bodies taking in the warm Uruguayan sun. Small, wooden bungalows and beach shacks are scattered throughout the sand dunes home to a mix of fishermen and hippies. Further south in Valizas, there is a more relaxed vibe where reggae music and meat platters are in abundance. A 4-hour walk further south along the beach, secluded by the sand dunes, is Cabo Polonio. With only one road in, it has not been overrun by summer-sun searchers and still has that beach hide-away charm.

If you are from Brazil or Argentina, wealthy or famous, Punta del Este will surely be on your itinerary. Many celebrities have an apartment here or like to spend their holidays at this glitzy beach resort. It isn’t that pretty though. High rises dominate the skies and casinos and big hotels are all over the place. If you like to tan on the beach during the day and party in the clubs at night, it might be your kind of place and many people go there just for this. Tourists pass by to watch the Monument to the Drowned, better known as La Mano and head out to watch the sunset at Casapueblo, the beautiful house of the artist Carlos Páez Vilaró at Punta Ballena.

A large part of the population of Uruguay seems to have full control over only one arm and hand. You see people of all ages and backgrounds walking around with a thermos squeezed between arm and body and a yerba mate cup in the hand. It is not made from the tea plant, as some people think, but is an entirely different plant that grows in the area, which is then dried, cut fine and shredded. The taste is very strong and bitter and definitely takes some getting used to. It is custom to share with friends, and you are supposed to drink the full cup before refilling it and passing it on. The yerba mate is drunk out of a cup made out of a calabas called mate and with a bombilla, a metal straw, which filters the drink so that the pulp stays in the cup. It is drunk very hot, so if you burn yourself at the first try, you certainly won't be the only one!