La Barra Undulating Bridge, Manantiales & MACA (Atchugarry Museum) Guide

Ten kilometres north-east of La Mano along the Atlantic shoreline, the high-rise skyline of the Peninsula disappears behind coastal dunes as Route 10 reaches the mouth of the Arroyo Maldonado. Crossing the creek's famous double roller-coaster bridge brings you into La Barra, El Tesoro, and Manantiales, a lively corridor of surf breaks, design shops, and Uruguay's most ambitious contemporary art museum.

1. Crossing the Puente Leonel Viera (1965) into La Barra & Manantiales

• An Engineering Landmark with a "Butterflies in the Stomach" Ride: Built in 1965 by pioneering Uruguayan self-taught civil engineer Leonel Viera (1913 to 1975) and paired with an identical twin span in 1999 to handle two-way traffic, the Puente de La Barra is a 150-metre stressed-ribbon concrete bridge that rises and dips in three sweeping sinusoidal waves over the estuary of the Arroyo Maldonado. Before crossing, pause at the birdwatching wetlands on the western bank where black-necked swans, roseate spoonbills, and Chilean flamingos feed in the brackish shallows.
• La Barra, Montoya Beach & Bikini Beach (Manantiales): Once a quiet nineteenth-century retreat for Maldonado fishermen, La Barra lines Route 10 with colourful wooden galleries, antique shops, and specialty cafés above the rocky point break of La Posta del Cangrejo. Immediately east stretch the wide surf beaches of Playa Montoya (stage for international surfing championships) and Playa Bikini in Manantiales.

2. MACA, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Atchugarry (Route 104, km 4.5)

Turning five kilometres inland from Manantiales along Route 104 brings you to the rolling hills and lagoon of the Fundación Pablo Atchugarry, established in 2007 by Uruguay's internationally celebrated marble sculptor Pablo Atchugarry and expanded in January 2022 with the inauguration of MACA (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Atchugarry).

3. Carlos Ott's Timber Ark & the 45-Hectare Sculpture Park

Designed by world-renowned Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott, the main museum building is a soaring, wave-shaped vessel crafted from curved beams of Uruguayan Eucalyptus grandis timber fabricated in France. Inside, four light-filled galleries display permanent works by Julio Le Parc, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Joaquín Torres-García, Carmelo Arden Quin, Wifredo Lam, Frank Stella, and Louise Nevelson alongside Atchugarry's own pleated Carrara marble sculptures; outside, more than seventy monumental sculptures by international artists stand across 45 hectares of manicured lawns, an outdoor amphitheatre, and a lakeside café (admission is free; check the official MACA website for current seasonal opening days).