How to Spend 10 Days in Uruguay

This ten-day route through Uruguay is for travelers who want the Atlantic coast in all its moods: the capital’s grid, a faded early-1900s resort, the polished beach towns around Punta del Este, then the dune villages of Rocha where the roads give out. The pace is steady, with two nights in most places and only one bus leg longer than three hours. Intercity buses along the coast road handle almost everything, plus the 4x4 trucks that cross the dunes into Cabo Polonio and a day tour or taxi for the winery.

Days 1-2: Montevideo

Use Montevideo to tune into the country’s rhythm. Walk from Plaza Independencia and the Palacio Salvo down Sarandí into the Ciudad Vieja, then try for an evening show at Teatro Solís, where tickets for concerts and ballet often cost less than a dinner out. If you are in town on a Sunday, follow the drums: candombe groups practice in the streets of Barrio Sur and Palermo. On day two, go to Pocitos for a swim and an evening walk along the Rambla.

Day 3: Piriápolis and Cerro

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This ten-day route through Uruguay is for travelers who want the Atlantic coast in all its moods: the capital’s grid, a faded early-1900s resort, the polished beach towns around Punta del Este, then the dune villages of Rocha where the roads give out. The pace is steady, with two nights in most places and only one bus leg longer than three hours. Intercity buses along the coast road handle almost everything, plus the 4x4 trucks that cross the dunes into Cabo Polonio and a day tour or taxi for the winery.

Days 1-2: Montevideo

Use Montevideo to tune into the country’s rhythm. Walk from Plaza Independencia and the Palacio Salvo down Sarandí into the Ciudad Vieja, then try for an evening show at Teatro Solís, where tickets for concerts and ballet often cost less than a dinner out. If you are in town on a Sunday, follow the drums: candombe groups practice in the streets of Barrio Sur and Palermo. On day two, go to Pocitos for a swim and an evening walk along the Rambla.

Day 3: Piriápolis and Cerro Pan de Azúcar

A 1.5-hour bus brings you to Piriápolis, the resort Francisco Piria built in the early 20th century, with the grand Argentino Hotel still facing the bay. In the afternoon, take a short ride out to Cerro Pan de Azúcar. The climb takes about an hour, finishing with a scramble over boulders to a giant concrete cross and a view over the coast and hills. One night is enough here.

Days 4-5: Punta del Este

Next morning, continue to Punta del Este. Swim on Playa Mansa, the calm bay-side beach west of the peninsula, and save the sunset for Casapueblo at Punta Ballena. On day five, cross the wavy bridge to La Barra for surf shops and beach bars, then continue to José Ignacio, a whitewashed fishing village around a lighthouse, about 40 km east. Book a tour or shared taxi to Bodega Garzón, a large hillside winery inland from José Ignacio, for a tannat tasting among vines and granite boulders.

Days 6-7: Cabo Polonio and Valizas

Head east by bus to the Cabo Polonio gate, roughly 3 hours, and climb aboard a truck for the dune crossing into Cabo Polonio. There is little electricity and no road, only sand, a lighthouse and sea lions on the rocks. On your full day, walk the beach north to Valizas, about 2 hours, where a boatman takes you across the stream into a scruffy village of hippie cafés and fishermen’s huts.

Days 8-10: Santa Teresa

Ride about an hour north to Santa Teresa, a national park with pine and eucalyptus forest, wild beaches and an 18th-century stone fortress. Camping here costs very little, and the fishing village of Punta del Diablo is next door for surf and cheap seafood. On day ten, take the bus back to Montevideo, about 4.5 to 5 hours.

For a quiet detour from Valizas, take a boat across Laguna de Castillos to the Monte de Ombúes, a forest of ancient ombú trees with twisted trunks that grows almost nowhere else in Uruguay.