Uruguay - A quick detour. By travellers for travellers.
Ever thought of travelling to Uruguay? Neither did we! But, we are incredibly glad that we did! If you like chill vibes, sun and beaches, then Uruguay is the place to be. We stayed in Uruguay for a little over a week and visited 3 places and our top recommendation for you is Cabo Polonio. One thing that does need to be mentioned before you organise a trip here, is that marijuana is legal and it is not uncommon to see people smoking publicly in hostels and bars around the country. Or walking around selling brownies in Cabo. It is definitely part of the relaxed, chill, Uruguayan lifestyle. But before we can get into the tasty details, let’s run through with our trip in order, starting with how we arrived.
To get to Montevideo, we caught a ferry from Buenos Aires, over to Colonia, and then caught a bus to the capital, Montevideo. In total cost us less than 2000 Argentinian pesos each, and was far quicker and more comfortable than getting a bus the entire way around! Not only that, we can now say that we have officially crossed borders by air, land and sea!
Montevideo! First tip, when coming to Montevideo, plan to arrive on a Thursday and recommended to only stay 2-3 days max. The reason is because throughout most of the week, it is a rather quiet place to be. Nothing really happens until Thursday to Sunday, then the city becomes a beacon of colours, lights and parties. We recommend that you stay in Compay hostel only walking distance to the centre of town. Find and book it here.
As soon as you arrive at the hostel you will feel the Uruguayan chill, rustic vibe. With the price roughly $420 URG pesos/night (no pun intended) has good showers, comfortable beds, free breakfast, and great wifi, you can see why we liked our stay here! Montevideo a lot of museums and theatres so you will always have something to do in any weather. For lunch, head down to the The old city “Ciudad Vieja” area where you will have no short of cafes and restaurants for everyone, for an authentic experience, pop in to the markets and see the restaurants inside! You can not miss it. Another great way to feel vibes here is to simply just get lost and walk along the seafront looking at the monuments and taking in the scenery.
Punta del Este. We used Punta del Este as a stop over town. We spent only a single night here. But, we definitely recommend to spend 2-3 nights. With 2 beautiful beaches on either side of the main part of the city, there is plenty of places to kick back and enjoy Uruguay's chilled out lifestyle! We stayed in XXXX HOSTEL, and it was absolutely lovely. With a large outdoor area to chill and have a beer in, and only a 5 minute walk to the beach. What more do you want for $300 URG pesos/night? One thing to mention, is to jump on the bus in the afternoon and head 20 minutes away to a part of the city called Carlos Páez Vilaró, and head to “Mirador Punta Ballena”. Once you arrive you will be treated to a 360 view of the area. Stick around a little longer, and you will experience one of South America’s most beautiful sunsets.
Cabo Polonio - A place the world seems to have forgot. We are going to have to be honest with you here, there is not a lot to do in Cabo, except kick back, relax, enjoy the Uruguayan sunshine and just disconnect from the rest of the world until your heart’s content. Forget alarm clocks, bed times - or time in general for that matter. Cabo is a place where you just let whatever happens, happen. In the off season, Cabo is home to 60 or so people and in the summer it jumps up to around 250. So even in high season it’s still a hideaway most people will miss! We stayed in a brilliant hostel called Viejolobo. Find it here. A vegetarian hostel with a real kick back, relax and enjoy vibe! They have their own chef, and for $100 URG pesos he will cook you breakfast in the morning and lunch and dinner is $150 URG pesos. The food is absolutely delicious so we could not advise strongly enough to not only stay here, but most certainly eat here. Around mid afternoon the guitar comes out and some local ballads are played, some of which written by the staff (talk about an authentic experience, quite often with other staff members jumping in with a little freestyle rap) which again gives Cabo a vibe that we can not describe. For sunset, take the massive 3 minute walk to south beach, pick a spot on the beach, kick back and watch another glorious Uruguayan sunset. You will actually see the entire town gather every day to watch it. If your feeling like a nice easy walk, once your on the beach you can see a small mountain at the other end, it takes roughly 2 hours to get there and has a beautiful view over the ocean and Cabo on the peninsular! Right on the end of the peninsular, you will see a lighthouse and you can head rift to the top for only 25 pesos. Below the lighthouse is a protected area where you can see a whole colony of sea lions and sea wolves! Other than this, Cabo is literally about kicking it back in a hammock, on the beach or by the fire, letting the world pass by. Even the local convenience store has an old feel to it, weighing the fresh produce with old balance scales and weights rather than electronic scales, a trip back in time.
Special mention - Getting to and from Cabo.
Cabo is a very rural town, in the off season, around 60 people. So it can be a bit confusing to get here. Firstly you will need to get a bus from where you are, in our case, Punta del Este, to Puerto del Polonio. From here you are still about 20 minutes away from town so you will need to purchase a return ticket, roughly $10AUD, on the Rocha An small, old semi-truck fitted with seats in the cargo bed, and for a great view, the first 8-10 people get a seat on the roof! As Cabo is quite rural and wifi is next to non existent, make sure you know what time the Rocha departs on your departure day so you can get back to the terminal in time for your bus. You should also have your bus tickets purchased and printed so you can arrive without stress and be sure to get a seat. Finally, bring cash as there is no ATM here. You can budget around $400-550 URG pesos a day ($20 AUD) and pay your accommodation by card at the end of your stay
It’s a Cabo thing.
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