Day Trips From Montevideo: East Coast, Colonia and the Wineries

Punta del Este

Punta del Este sits on a peninsula about 140 km east of Montevideo,, on the Atlantic coast of Maldonado. In summer, December to February, it is Uruguay's busiest resort. In winter the permanent population drops to about 18,200, far fewer than the summer crowd.

The sights cluster close together: La Mano, the giant hand sculpture on the beach, the Rafael Viñoly bridge at Garzón, and the protected islands of Lobos and Gorriti offshore. Two tours cover the route. The Punta del Este full-day tour costs $41 for 9 hours and bundles in Piriápolis, Punta Ballena and a paid Casapueblo museum ticket, with 2.75 hours of free time in town. The small-group Punta del Este tour costs $45 for 10 hours with a maximum of 15 travellers, adds an hour, but leaves the Casapueblo ticket optional and unpaid. Full detail on the resort is on our Punta del Este page.

Casapueblo

Casapueblo is the sculptural white building on the cliffs of Punta Ballena, 13 km from Punta del Este. The artist Carlos Páez Vilaró began building it in 1958 and kept adding for 36 years until it reached 13 floors. It now holds a museum, a gallery, a cafeteria and a hotel, and it is also a memorial: Páez Vilaró dedicated it to his son Carlos Miguel, who survived 72 days in the Andes after the 1972 plane crash.Its thirteen floors of terraces face the Atlantic sunset.

The practical choice matters. The $41 full-day tour includes the museum admission in its price, while the $45 small-group trip treats Casapueblo as an optional stop and you buy the ticket there if you want it. If the crash story interests you, the Museo Andes 1972 in the Old Town tells it before you go.

Piriápolis and Atlántida on the Way

Piriápolis, about 100 km east of Montevideo, was founded in 1890 by Francisco Piria, an entrepreneur who also built the grand Hotel Argentino on its rambla. Its trademark experience is the chairlift up Cerro San Antonio to the small white Templo de San Antonio, with the coast laid out below. The $41 Punta del Este full-day tour stops here, walking the Rambla de los Argentinos and seeing the hotel before continuing to Punta Ballena.

Closer to the capital, Atlántida is a Costa de Oro resort 45 km east of the capital, laid out from 1911-13, and its landmark is Eladio Dieste's Church of Christ the Worker, built 1958-60 with side walls that rise in undulating curves. No tour card on this page stops at Atlántida. To see the church, catch a coast bus from the Tres Cruces terminal, where COT and COPSA run the Ruta Interbalnearia, and check fares and times at the terminal on the day.

Why Colonia Is Different

Portuguese forces under Manuel Lobo founded Colonia del Sacramento in January 1680, right across the water from Buenos Aires, and the town changed hands repeatedly during the century of Spanish-Portuguese rivalry that followed. That layered past is why its historic quarter is a UNESCO World Heritage Site: cobbled lanes such as Calle de los Suspiros, the old city gate and walls, a lighthouse, a bullring. Two tours take you there, both $60. The Colonia full-day tour runs 9 hours with a guide, a walking tour of the Historic Quarter and a museum admission ticket included, plus free time after the walk for lunch. The Colonia small-group day trip runs 10 hours in a group capped at 15, skips the guided walk, and gives you the day to wander the quarter on your own.

If you like a narrator, take the guided version. If you would rather get lost on your own, take the small group. Our Colonia del Sacramento page has the full picture.

Colonia as a One-Way Exit

Colonia faces Buenos Aires across the Río de la Plata, and ferries cross from its port. That geography turns the day trip into a travel day. The Colonia small-group day trip can finish at the Colonia ferry port instead of returning to Montevideo, so you can sightsee all day and sail on to Argentina without backtracking to the capital. Tell the operator at booking that you want the port finish, and carry your bag with you all day, since there is no return to a hotel.

If you are planning the crossing in either direction, our Buenos Aires to Montevideo page covers the routes, and the Colonia port is one of the exits where you can claim Tax Free refunds on purchases made in Uruguay.

Uruguay's signature grape is Tannat, introduced in 1870 by Pascual Harriague, a Basque immigrant. It now covers 36% of the country's vines, and most of the vineyards sit in the hills of Canelones and Montevideo, north of the city, which makes wine the only true half-day trip on this page. Five cards cover the range.

The cheapest is the Bodega Santa Rosa tour at $25.70 for 2-3 hours, a winery walk with a four-wine tasting and a table of homemade breads, cold cuts and cheeses, wheelchair accessible, meeting at the winery gate. The Castillo Viejo winemaker-led tour costs $50 for 2 hours, with hotel pickup included, a cellar walk led by the winemaker and the small ceremony of labelling your own Gran Reserva bottle. The Bouza tasting and tapas trip costs $95 for 3-4 hours with hotel pickup, a guided visit to Bodega Bouza, and a tasting of four wines with snacks, but no lunch. If you want a full meal at the winery, the Pizzorno lunch and tasting costs $115 for 4-5 hours, capped at 14 travellers, and the private winery visit with paired lunch costs $195 for 5 hours with a gourmet lunch paired to Tannat-led tastings. Book it carefully, because it is the one non-refundable card on this page.

Money note: the VAT reduction for foreign cards under Decreto 537/005 covers guided visits and wine and local product tastings at wine-tourism establishments registered with the Ministry of Tourism, so pay by card and the discount comes off the bill, valid until 30 April 2027. Start with our Uruguayan wine page if you want to know what you are drinking.

Expect 9 to 10 hours door to door for both Punta del Este and Colonia, which is a normal sightseeing day, not a rest day. Pickup starts early: on the small-group Punta del Este tour the window runs from 8:00 in Ciudad Vieja through 8:50 in Pocitos to 9:20 in Carrasco, and the Colonia small-group trip picks up from 8:00 in Pocitos to 9:00 in Ciudad Vieja, both from your hotel lobby. The winery visits run 2 to 5 hours, so you can keep the rest of the day.

Timing also depends on which day of your trip you give up. Sunday morning belongs to the Tristán Narvaja street fair in the city, and Monday is the day many museums close, so a Colonia or Punta day fits those gaps well. If you are still choosing where to sleep, compare Montevideo hotels by barrio, since every pickup window runs barrio by barrio, and browse more things to do in Montevideo for the days you stay in town.

The cards at a glance, from the coast to the wineries, with prices and durations as the platforms list them. The private lunch card is the only non-refundable booking here.