A Weekend in Uruguay, Off the Beaten Path

Two days in Uruguay is not enough for the whole coast, and pretending otherwise is how people burn half a vacation on a bus. Uruguay is its own country, wedged between Argentina and Brazil but answering to neither, and Montevideo, not the resort town of Punta del Este, is the capital. The currency is the Uruguayan peso, written with the same dollar sign as US currency, a real trap when you are converting prices on the fly (actual US dollars get marked U$S locally). This plan keeps things honest: Montevideo’s old port, then one Colonia del Sacramento day trip, nothing more ambitious.

Uruguay 2 day itinerary: the honest version

The route: fly into Montevideo, spend day one in the old city and the port market, then bus out to Colonia del Sacramento for its cobbled smuggler history on day two, returning to Montevideo (or flying onward from nearby Buenos Aires) that evening. No coast, no rental car, just two grounded days near the capital.

Book these before you go

Day 1: Montevideo, the mate ritual and the market

Land at Carrasco International and get into the center by taxi (roughly 30 to 45 dollars, 20 to 25 minutes) or the far cheaper COT city bus (well under 2 dollars, closer to half an hour with traffic). Spend the morning in Ciudad Vieja, Montevideo’s colonial-era peninsula, where Plaza Independencia holds the odd 1928 skyscraper Palacio Salvo and an underground mausoleum guarding independence hero Jose Artigas. Current opening hours for the plaza and nearby civic buildings are posted on montevideo.gub.uy , worth a check before you plan the morning too tightly. Time lunch for Mercado del Puerto, the 1868 ironwork market where a dozen parrilla stalls grill asado over open coals. Order the full parrillada and morcilla dulce turns up next to the savory sausage, a sweet blood sausage made with orange peel and walnuts that catches first-timers off guard. In the evening, join locals on the Rambla, the 22 kilometer waterfront walk, and if a stranger offers you a shared mate, say gracias only when you are finished and do not want more, saying it too early signals you are done drinking.

Day 2: Colonia del Sacramento, a smugglers cobblestones

Buses leave Tres Cruces terminal for Colonia del Sacramento roughly every hour, a comfortable 2h45 to 2h50 ride for about 14 to 20 dollars. The UNESCO-listed Barrio Historico earned its cobblestones the hard way: Portugal and Spain fought over this smuggling outpost for more than a century, and the mixed colonial styles along Calle de los Suspiros, the Street of Sighs, are the physical record of who held it when. Climb the 1857 lighthouse, built on the ruins of an old convent, for about 100 pesos (call it 2.50 dollars) and carry small pesos since the ticket window does not reliably take cards. Current hours and events are listed on coloniauy.com . If your flight allows it, stay the night instead of racing back. The day-tripper ferry crowd clears out by late afternoon, and Colonia after dark, half-lit and half-empty, is a genuinely different place than the one on the postcards. Ready for a longer trip next time? The 4 day version adds Punta del Este and Casapueblo to this same start.

Is Uruguay part of Argentina or Brazil?

No. Uruguay is its own sovereign country, South America’s second smallest after Suriname, sitting between Argentina and Brazil but governed by neither. The capital is Montevideo, not the beach resort of Punta del Este, which is a seasonal town in its own department with its own mayor, not a seat of government. Full entry rules are on gub.uy/ministerio-turismo .

Is the dollar sign in Uruguay actually US dollars?

Almost never. Uruguay’s own peso uses the same dollar sign as the US dollar, and locals write actual US dollars as U$S to tell the two apart. A 500 peso price tag on a menu is roughly 12 US dollars, not 500, at a rate hovering around 40 pesos per dollar in 2026. Always ask which currency a quoted price means before you flinch at it.

Uruguay 2 day itinerary at a glance

Day Focus Travel time Cost (USD, approx)
1 Montevideo, Ciudad Vieja and Mercado del Puerto 20 to 40 min from Carrasco airport 90 to 120
2 Colonia del Sacramento, old town and lighthouse Bus about 2h45 to 2h50 from Tres Cruces 100 to 130

Costs assume one mid-range hotel night, meals and the day’s paid sights; flights and any rental car are extra.

Bring pesos in small bills for the Colonia lighthouse gate. The ticket window does not reliably take cards, and change comes back in pesos no matter what you paid with.