Punta del Este

Introduction

Uruguay - Punta del Este - 10

© AC Frieden

What the Copacobana is for many Brazilians, Punta del Este is for the people of Uruguay: a popular beach resort. Nothing more, nothing less. Unlike Copacobana though, the weather here is not always that good. Summers are the best season, with high temperatures from November to March. Spring and autumn are a good time for a visit as well, though winters are best avoided if beaches are your thing.

Sights and Activities

• Beaches!
• Casapueblo
• Punta del Este lighthouse
• Gorriti Island with Garden Port and Honda beach

Weather

Punta del Este has a mild oceanic climate, with pleasant summers and cool winters. The precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year, with an average of 1,010 mm. The hottest month, January, has an average temperature of 21.7 °C and the coldest month, July, has an average of 11.5 °C. The average yearly temperature is 16.6 °C.

Getting There

By Plane

Capitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP) is Uruguay's second most important airport, after the one in Montevideo. PLUNA flies to/from Buenos Aires, Montevideo]], Rio de Janeiro, Santiago de Chile and Sao Paulo. Several other airlines have the same destinations, but others include Asuncion, Curitiba, Pelotas, Córdoba, Rosario and Porto Alegre.

The airport near Montevideo is just over an hour away, with some more connections further away, including Panama City, Lima, Miami and Madrid.

By Bus

There are frequent connections to most neighbouring towns and on to Montevideo.

Getting Around

By Public Transport

Regular buses come back and forth from Montevideo, making Punta del Este a convenient day trip (two hours by bus, see the timetable. If you accidentally get off the bus at Maldonado Terminal which is a few kilometers north of Punta del Este you can easily catch a local bus(marked "Punta del Este" in top front) at the stop just behind the bus terminal for 14 Uruguayan Pesos(US$.60) which you pay to the driver.

Eat

Seafood in Punta del Este is delicious. Chivitos (steak sandwiches) and asado (steak) are the locals' favourite dishes. Aside from that, pretty much any type of food can be found: sushi, Indian, Italian, French cuisine, etc.

Drink

Local and imported wines (especially Argentinian and European vineyards). There's a famous drink in all Uruguay called "medio y medio" (half and half) which is a mix of sweet sparkling wine, and dry white wine.

Punta del Este is famous for its clubbing scene. Most parties start very late, between midnight and 3:00am and end around dawn. You cannot name a specific club because it's probably going to change its name or its location the next year. Don't worry, they do good marketing, so you will find out very easily.

Every year the night life changes, so you never know which is going to be place that will hit the summer in Punta del Este. Most of the clubs are away from the peninsula of Punta del Este, mainly in La Barra. But the fashion places changes, it depends on the year.

You can expect high prices for club entries in late December and early January, and specially in the weekends. After the 15 of January the prices go down (this includes most of the things), and altought there may be still a lot of people in Punta del Este, it is not going to be as crowded. Anyway, expect a lot of movement in the clubs at weekends.

Sleep

Keep Connected

Internet

Antel is the only provider of landline Internet service, while Dedicado is the main provider of fixed wireless Internet service. WiFi is ubiquitous and can be found in virtually all decent hotels as well as many restaurants, cybercafes, and shopping malls.

Antel WiFi hotspots are normally available only to Antel landline Internet subscribers, unless you are in a place with free service like Carrasco International Airport, in which case a public username and password for free access are prominently posted and always username: antel password:wifi. Dedicado WiFi hotspots are free for everyone.

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Uruguay's country code is +598. Montevideo and suburbs have phone numbers beginning in two, while the rest of the country has phone numbers beginning with 4.

The national landline telephone monopoly is Antel, which provides all public pay phones and is also the sole provider of landline Internet service. Although Antel pay phones only take Antel's proprietary magnetic cards, it is possible to use international calling cards to call home by taking the phone off the hook, waiting for a dial tone, and dialing the correct access code. However, note that many public pay phones are not properly maintained. If you do not hear a touch tone emitted for each key, that means the phone is defective and you must try another one. Antel also operates a cell phone network, and in this field competes with two private companies, Movistar and Claro. All three have numerous kiosks and stores throughout the country. The standard is GSM and both the European (1800 MHz) and North American (1900 MHz) frequencies are used.

Post

The national postal service is Correo Uruguay. Most of their post offices are very hard to find and are open from 9:00 am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday; some are open from 9 am to 12 pm on Saturdays. Letterboxes for depositing outbound mail are made out of cheap blue translucent plastic and are extremely difficult to find outside of post offices. Some post offices have three boxes: one for the local city, one for domestic mail ("interior") and one for international ("exterior"). Uruguayan letterboxes are designed only for indoor use. Keep in mind that Correos licenses many retailers, such as pharmacies, as postal agents, and letterboxes can sometimes be found around those agents' premises as well. If you want to send packages overseas, check international companies like FedEx, DHL or UPS, as they have competitive rates and are fast.

External Links

• Official Governmental Website
• Punta del Este Tourism Website