Uruguay

Currency Travel Time Guide book Places we went to Transportation Accomodation

top	Currency | Peso Uruguayo (U$)	top
1 € = U$ 31   ||   US$ 1 = U$ 25 In most of the shopping centres US Dollar are accpeted, too.

top	Reisezeit	top
04.february 2005 until 18.may 2005

top	Guide book	top
Actually we do not have a guide book for Uruguay. That is only because Suses sister lives here and we totally trust her information. But we can not really recommend a book either. The Lonely Planet is not the right choice for this country since it has been written by someone from Buenos Aires - so it is only half true.

top	Places we went to		top

La Paloma / La Pedrera	Two little places at the coast with lots of nice beaches and not quite as much service - lets say there is a lack of GOOD supermarkets and stuff. Some of the beaches are great for surfing, others are good to go swimming with kids. So there is something for everyone!. From here we went on a few daytrips: to an Estancia, to the Ombu forest, to the Fortaleza Santa Teresa and to Cabo Polonio - all of which are situated a bit to the north of La Paloma along the coast. The only trouble is that you will need a car to do this.
Punta del Este	This is quite a bustling place in summer when it is crowded with people on vacation. At night there are supposed to be many parties that do not start before midnight. For that reason the beaches only start filling up in the afternoon when everybody wakes up again... There are a lot of nice beaches, wild ones and calm ones, too. In winter the town is rather deserted. La Casa del Pueblo is just around the corner from Punta del Este. That is a hotel built in the rocks of the coast. It reminds a little on houses of the Austrian artist Hundertwasser - in the end it has been drafted by an artist, too. The cafe in the Casa del Pueblo is a nice place to watch the sun set.
Montevideo	This is the capital and the biggest city in Uruguay. There is a great park called Prado, where it is tradition that the Gauchos from the country's interior are breaking in the horses in the Easterweek. Also in the Prado is a statue to remind of the last Indios of the area. The Mercado del Puerto is a very atmospheric place near the harbour where you can try some Uruguayan Parilla. It is also nice to walk around the old part of the city and across the Plaza Independencia. Tango is played, sung, and danced on weekends in some restaurants and bars - just not in summer when the city is very empty, for everyone is on vacation. An interesting, very colourful street is Calle Emilio Reus, a small street north of the Palacio Legislativo (which is an impressive building, too).
Colonia	This is the oldest town in Uruguay. It can be reached via ferry from Buenos Aires and so Colonia gets many people for just a day. There is a lighthouse surrounded by the old part of town with some nice houses. And a little out of town there are the ruins of what used to be a bullfighting arena for just a few years. Altogether Colonia makes a nice place for a daytrip.
Estancias in general	Estancias turisticas are Estancias hosting tourists so they can get to know the country life of Uruguay a little. They can vary quite a bit in facilities and service. So make sure you ask before you go what you need to take and what you should expect! (Some even have a pool, others don't even have running water!) Unfortunately many times you need to have your own transport to get there.

top	Transportation	top
Since most of the time we were doing things together with Suses sister we always had a car. So we can not really say much about the transport. There are buses cruizing around the country. Though how bad or good the connections are we can not say. Most international connections are via Buenos Aires. But there also is EGA (a bus company) which goes direct from Montevideo to Santigao de Chile, Mendoza and Cordoba in Argentina, Asuncion in Paraguay and several places in Brazil. Ferries connect Montevideo as well as Punta del Este and Colonia with Buenos Aires. There are two international airports in Uruguay. One in Montevideo and the other one in Punta del Este.

top	Accomodation		top
OK, again we can not help you much with this... We have heard that accomodation in Uruguay is more expensive than it is in Argentina. One night in the Red Hostel in Montevideo for example costs US$14 per person. If you are travelling in a group it might be worth it to rent a little house on the coast. In summer you might have to book them in advance, since this is the most favourite way to have vacation here.

All prices for acomodation are according to our time of travel and are listed for two persons.

Uruguay

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