Colonia del Sacramento and Punta del Este Day Trips from Montevideo

Smooth coastal highways radiating west and east from Terminal Tres Cruces put Uruguay's two most celebrated coastal destinations within two to two and a half hours of Montevideo. Heading 177 kilometres west along Route 1 brings you to the 1680 Portuguese fortress town of Colonia del Sacramento, whereas travelling 130 kilometres east along the Route Interbalnearia reaches the whitewashed cliffside atelier of Casapueblo and the Atlantic peninsula of Punta del Este. Both fit seamlessly into Day 3 of our 3-day Montevideo itinerary.

West to UNESCO-Listed Colonia del Sacramento (177 Kilometres)

Founded in January 1680 by Portuguese governor Manuel Lobo as Colonia do Santissimo Sacramento directly across the Rio de la Plata from Spanish Buenos Aires, this riverside citadel changed hands between Portugal and Spain seven times over the next century before the 1777 Treaty of San Ildefonso. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, its 16-hectare Barrio Historico uniquely fuses low-slung Portuguese stone cottages (with four-sided clay roofs and central stone drainage gutters) and Spanish brick courtyard mansions with wrought-iron window grilles.

• Porton de Campo and Calle de los Suspiros: Cross the wooden drawbridge of the Porton de Campo (the reconstructed 1745 stone city gate and bastion overlooking the bay) and turn down the uneven wedge-stone cobbles of Calle de los Suspiros ("Street of Sighs"), flanked by ochre and terracotta eighteenth-century houses draped in pink bougainvillea.
• Faro de Colonia and Basilica del Santisimo Sacramento: Climb the spiral stairs of the whitewashed 1857 Colonia del Sacramento Lighthouse, built directly inside the ivy-clad stone ruins of the 1683 Convent of San Francisco Xavier, then visit the twin-towered Basilica del Santisimo Sacramento (founded 1680, the oldest church in Uruguay) and the Portuguese and Spanish tile museums on Plaza Mayor 25 de Mayo.

East to Casapueblo at Punta Ballena and Punta del Este (130 Kilometres)

Driving east along the Atlantic coast, stop first on the rocky promontory of Punta Ballena (15 kilometres west of Punta del Este) to visit Casapueblo, the undulating whitewashed cliffside home, studio, and museum hand-sculpted over 36 years starting in 1958 by Uruguayan artist and candombe muralist Carlos Paez Vilaro (1923 to 2014). Continuing onto the narrow peninsula of Punta del Este, where the tranquil waters of Playa Mansa on the Rio de la Plata side meet the Atlantic surf of Playa Brava, photograph La Mano (Los Dedos, the five giant concrete fingers emerging from the sand of Parada 1 on Playa Brava, sculpted in six days in February 1982 by Chilean artist Mario Irarrazabal), stroll the yacht marina of the Puerto, and walk up to the blue-and-white 1860 Punta del Este Lighthouse.