The shady, cobblestoned streets of Mercedes are enchanting (unless your taxi has no suspension, in which case they’re total kidney-crunchers). The riverfront is largely undeveloped, but there are plenty of grassy spots to laze around on between dips.
Uruguay’s capital and by far its largest city, Montevideo is a vibrant, eclectic place with a rich cultural life. Stretching nearly 20km from east to west, the city wears many faces, from its industrial port to the exclusive residential suburb of Carrasco near the airport. In the historic downtown business district, art deco and neoclassical buildings jostle for space alongside grimy, worn-out skyscrapersthat appear airlifted from Havana or Ceausescu’s Romania, while across town the shopping malls and modern high-rises of beach communities like Punta Carretas and Pocitos bear more resemblance to Miami or Copacabana.
A big (in Uruguayan terms), serious city, Paysandú wakes up every Easter for its annual beer festival, with plenty of live music, open-air cinema and a ready supply of a certain carbonated alcoholic beverage. The rest of the year it’s kinda sleepy, but spasms into life on weekends when everybody’s out and about in the restaurants, bars and discos.
In the 1930s entrepreneur Francisco Piria built the landmark Hotel Argentino and an eccentric residence known as ‘Piria’s castle, ’ and ferried tourists directly from Argentina. Nowadays it’s a budget alternative to beach resorts further west, mostly attracting families from Montevideo on short breaks.
In recent years, Punta del Diablo has morphed from a sleepy fishing village into one of Uruguay’s prime coastal getaways. The beautiful shoreline remains intact, and the influx of outsiders has added an infectious dose of youthful energy, but inland the place is beginning to feel choked by endless waves of seemingly uncontrolled development. It’s still a very pleasant spot to spend a few days; just don’t come expecting to escape the crowds.
OK, here’s the plan: tan it, wax it, buff it at the gym, then plonk it on the beach at ‘Punta.’ Once you’re done there, go out and shake it at one of the town’s famous clubs.
People come to Salto for two reasons – to cross the border to Concordia, Argentina, and to visit the nearby hot springs at Daymán. Otherwise, the town’s pretty enough, but unlikely to grab your attention for more than a couple of days.
This is gaucho country. Not your ‘we pose for pesos’ types, but your real-deal ‘we tuck our baggy pants into our boots and slap on a beret just to go to the local store’ crew. It’s also the alleged birthplace of tango legend Carlos Gardel.
The land west of Montevideo is in many ways the ‘real’ Uruguay – little river towns separated by large expanses of pampas and wheat fields. It’s far off the tourist trail, mostly, except for the region’s superstar, Colonia del Sacramento, whose charms attract visitors from all over the world.
A super-mellow little town with a lush central square, Carmelo’s streets slope down to its carefully restored waterfront. From here, boats leave for the most interesting (and cheapest) of the Argentine border crossings – a two-hour ride through the delta to the Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre.