Uruguay
When
Dec to March
Price
From 2 700€ excl. flights
(based on 2 people sharing)
How long
5 nights
Ideal length
A journey between Colonia del Sacramento, a UNESCO-listed Portuguese colonial town, the vineyards of Carmelo on the estuary's edge, and Punta del Este, South America's most elegant beach peninsula.
Founded by the Portuguese in 1680 and then disputed with the Spanish crown for over a century, Colonia del Sacramento retains a historic centre where two distinct urban traditions overlap — Portuguese streets laid out diagonally to cut the wind, Spanish streets rigorously perpendicular. This hybrid checkerboard, UNESCO-listed in 1995, remains one of the best preserved in South America, with its pastel facades and irregular cobblestones polished by centuries of foot traffic.
Unlike the flashier beach resorts elsewhere on the continent, Punta del Este cultivates a measured elegance, carried by preserved modernist architecture and a South American clientele loyal for generations. The peninsula offers the rare advantage of two distinct seafronts — Playa Brava, facing the Atlantic and its waves, and Playa Mansa, sheltered in the Río de la Plata bay with calmer waters.
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Colonia del Sacramento Colonial Hotel
A hotel in a 17th-century mansion at the heart of the historic quarter, a shaded inner patio and an Uruguayan breakfast.
Punta del Este Beachfront Villa
A modernist beachfront villa in Punta del Este, a terrace oriented for sunset over the Río de la Plata.
