Montevideo is just a 3-hour ferry ride away from Buenos Aires. Since I’ve been in Argentina for a month, why not hop over and discover a new country and city? That’s exactly what I did on a weekend trip (Friday to Sunday).
Early in the morning, I arrived at the ferry terminal, went through immigration, and then boarded the ferry. There are two companies connecting the two cities. One is a direct ferry, the other is a combination of ferry and bus. The duration and therefore the pricing differ a lot – keep that in mind.
Arriving at around 11 am, I could stroll through the Port Market into the centre of the old town on foot. For a weekend trip, I didn’t bring much stuff, so it was easy to walk around. In the centre of the old town, there’s the Independence Square, which is surrounded by one of the highest buildings of the country (Salvo Palace). Also the presidents residence is located there and inside the park there are statues (Artigas Mausoleum).
After reaching, it was time for a lunch break. I found a local restaurant on the street and grabbed some food. When the bill arrived, I was positively surprised. The government deducts the country’s Value-Added Tax (VAT) when paying with an international credit card at restaurants, as an incentive for foreigners to spend. This means a 22% discount which is pretty sick. Never heard of something like this. The good part is that the restaurants do that directly without any paperwork from the customers side (just sometimes telling them it’s an international card).
A great way to explore a city in a short time is to take a Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour. They have an audioguide with historical and other interesting topics. This is interesting to listen to while driving through the streets. I did exactly that one day.
I booked a hotel for 2 nights in a more modern area of Montevideo by the beach (De los Pocitos Beach). This is a good location to explore, with a couple of nice restaurants nearby. A funny thing I noticed while in Uruguay is the Mate they have. It’s more of a religion than a drink. Without their mate bottle, nothing is happening. So while walking along the seaside, I spotted hundreds of people sitting and sipping their herbal drink from the thermos bottle. Even when entering the supermarket, people continued to sip it. I’ve seen people doing that at the co-working in Buenos Aires, but not to that extent as here in Uruguay. Always funny to see different habits in different countries.
Another day, I hopped on a bus and drove to the nearby seaside resort city of Punta del Este. Most of the city isn’t particularly beautiful; it reminds me a bit of Pattaya in Thailand. Ugly concrete buildings. But there are some areas with a nice beach vibe. Famous actors and musicians have nice estate buildings in that area, and I absolutely get why. The area I’m talking about is, for example, the area near the lighthouse (El Faro) at the southernmost point of a peninsula. It’s not very busy there, nice to walk around and a couple of nice coffee shops or restaurants. Another photo spot is “The Fingers of Punta del Este”. It’s a sand sculpture next to one of the city’s big beaches. Fingers tipping out of the ground.
Before the sun set, I went to a beachside restaurant to enjoy the sunset by the ocean, with Nikkei cuisine and a cocktail. The sunset was full of colours and beautiful. Nice music played by a live DJ. Good vibes and a good ending of the day in the East of Montevideo. After it got dark, I headed back to the bus station to grab a bus back into the capital.
After the last day of random exploring around Montevideo, it was also time to head back to the port and return to another country’s capital, Buenos Aires, where work awaited. A successful weekend trip to a country I haven’t known much about and didn’t have on my radar to visit anytime soon. Glad I did it. The country is called the “Switzerland of South America” due to its exceptional political stability, strong banking sector, and progressive social reforms. People are friendly, it feels safe, and compared to Argentina, it’s a lot cheaper and therefore more stable.