Punta del Este City Tour

Punta del Este City Tour: Visiting the City in Winter

If you are just passing through Uruguay and want to see several tourist attractions in Punta del Este in a short time, a good option is to take a City Tour through the city that leaves the capital Montevideo. We have already had this experience in some cities like Cusco, Foz do Iguaçu, and  Montevideo, and, as in other places, we do not regret taking the City Tour in Punta del Este, mainly because we visit the place during the winter.

How to do a City Tour in Punta del Este?

The City Tour in Punta del Este can be done with any tourism agency in the city and ours was done through the Brasileiros agency in Uruguay. The tour starts at 8 am with a bus picking up people at each of the hotels in Montevideo and takes the road to Punta del Este, stopping at some interesting places along the way.

We did the City Tour in Punta del Este to get an overview of the region and then we went back to some points to be able to photograph and see more calmly each of the attractions.

Piriápolis

The first stop on the City Tour in Punta del Este was in the city of Piriápolis, which is an hour’s drive from Montevideo. During this time, the guide told us a little more about the history of the place and, when we arrived in the city, we went to Cerro San Antonio, which is its main tourist spot. You can read in this link all our experience of visiting Piriápolis and Cerro San Antonio.

Punta Ballena

After visiting Piriápolis and Cerro San Antonio, we headed back to the bus and headed towards the next city, Punta Ballena, where we visited Casapueblo, which was designed by artist Carlos Paez Vilaró. You can read in this link our whole experience of visiting Punta Ballena and Casapueblo.

Punta del Este

We arrived in the city of Punta del Este around 12:00 and went directly to the city center. The guide gave us some options of places to have lunch and left us free for almost 3 hours to get to know the city, each in its own way. The city center is small and you can see it on foot. The great attraction of Punta del Este is in its beaches, but as we visited the city during the winter, it was more empty and several shops were closed.

We had lunch at the El Tonel restaurant where we ate gnocchi with shrimp sauce and drank a 1 liter Patricia beer to accompany it. The price was UR $ 880 for two people (approximately R $ 88) and we went for a walk on Playa Brava. Unlike the other beaches we had known in Uruguay, this beach is located in the ocean. It is famous for the work Los Dedos (also known as Monumento ao Afogado) and was built by Mario Irarrázabal during a sculpture meeting that took place there. A pity that the work has already suffered acts of vandalism (graffiti).

Before returning to the bus, we went to Playa Mansa. It is very close to Playa Brava but is located on the Rio de la Plata. We went back to the meeting point and went to the bus where we went to see some other places before returning: Ponte da Barra, the city of Barra, and the famous Beverly Hills neighborhood, where several famous people have mansions.

Taking the City Tour in Punta is a very interesting program to get to know the city in a short time. As we visited Uruguay in the winter, it was not worth it to stay in Punta del which is known for its beaches and the city tour was a great way to get to know the place more.