South America : Uruguay : Montevideo

Montevideo

Table of Contents:
Travel to Montevideo, visa requirements / Get around / Montevideo attractions and sightseeing / City tours / Shopping, Montevideo souvenirs / Good restaurants and cheap meals / What / Where / Montevideo nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs. / Hotels, youth hostels, lodging / Get out

More from Uruguay:
Colonia, Montevideo, Piriapolis, Punta del Este, Salto

More from South America:
Amazonia, Andes, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Falkland Islands, Guyana, Los Roques, Pantanal, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Tierra del Fuego, Uruguay, Venezuela

Montevideo is the pleasant capital city of Uruguay, a country in South America.

Travel to Montevideo, visa requirements

The Montevideo Carrasco International Airport (IATA: MVD) airport is about 15km east of the city center. Buses depart right outside the airport to Terminal Rio Branco, just north of many major sites downtown (easily walkable to hotels). The cost is 21 pesos (March 2005). There are also rides to the city with hyperinflated prices - 500 pesos and more. Normal metered cabs to the center should cost little more than 200 pesos.

Get around

If you are not bashful about your Spanish, feel free to ask people which bus route you need to take to get to your destination. It can be effective and cheap!

Taxis are cheap and plentiful, if tiny. It helps to know a little Spanish and be sure to have enough money. A ten minute cab ride costs about $4 USD.

Montevideo attractions and sightseeing

Ciudad Vieja - Montevideo's Old Town. Enter through the portal called Puerta de la Ciudadela
Plaza Independecia - the Independence Square at the end of the 18 de Julio ave.
Palacio Salvo next to Plaza Independencia, once South America's highest buildings still dominates Montevideo's skyline.
Underneath the statue on Plaza Indepencia is the Mausoleo de Artigas. Faint red light, a urn, one tourist and two guards. It makes you wonder what the latter are doing when you leave.
National History Museum - spread between five old historic houses, holds important bits of the country's history. Entrance: free.
The sexual diversity monument, erected in 2005, is located on Policia Vieja St., between Plaza de la Constituición and Plaza Independencia. It reads "Honouring diversity is honouring life; Montevideo is for the respect of all identities and sexual orientations". It's South America's first monument dedicated to sexual diversity. Other places of interest to gay people include the Edificio Liberaij, where two gay Argentine bank robbers (featured in the 1998 movie Plata Quemada) died in 1965.

City tours

Any part of the Rambla waterside roadway has people biking, fishing, drinking mate, and enjoying the great views. 22 kilometers-long (13.6 miles), the Rambla goes along Montevideo's waterfront. Try sunset.

Spend part of Sunday morning with the locals at La Feria Tristán Narvaja Flea Market on the Tristán Narvaja Street. Everything from t-shirts, antiques and kitchen supplies. It's right off of 18 de Julio and the entrance is often marked by people selling puppies.

Shopping, Montevideo souvenirs

The Mercado de los Artesanos on the corner of Paraguay and Colonia streets is fantastic! It contains goods from different artists and craftspeople in leather, paper, woodwork, textiles, etc.

The Montevideo Leather Factory at Plaza Independencia 832 has a wide range of leather jackets at reasonable prices, and they offer to custom make a jacket to your measurements in 24 hours. Phone +598 2 901 6226.

Manos del Uruguay has several locations throughout Montevideo and sells beautiful woven goods and other handcrafted items and is a bit more upscale in pricing. There is a location at 668 Sarandi near Plaza Independencia and in the Punta Carretas Shopping Center.

Good restaurants and cheap meals

What

Uruguay has arguably the best meat in the world and Montevideo has many parrillas where it is deliciously grilled.
Chivito is the local sandwich with the best local meat and veggies. It can be served "al plato" (at the dish) what means it is going to take fork and knife to be eaten. It is tastier, cheaper and much bigger than a hamburger.
Great local frankfurters with special mustard can be found at traditional restaurant chain "La Pasiva"
The desserts in Uruguay are huge and plentiful. There is dulce de leche on almost everything and stores selling nothing but caramels. Many places sell nothing but dessert, so pick the one with the best looking pastries and cakes and enjoy!

Where

The touristy Mercado del Puerto houses a dozen or so restaurants. Most offer grilled meat. There you can find good Paellas too.
Another area with a number of recommendable restaurants is "Pocitos". Worth mentioning are "Montechristo" which offers innovative and very tasty dishes and is located in a castle-like building that used to be the house of an alchemist, and "Cru", considered Montevideo's finest restaurant, and a good sample of Uruguayan New Cuisine.
There are many good sidewalk cafés in the city center along the pedestrian streets towards the Old Town.

Montevideo nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs.

El Mate. The most popular traditional drink to be found anywhere and everywhere in the city of Montevideo. Mate is derived from the herb yerba that was originally used by the indigenous Guarani living near the Rio de la Plata. Most of the city-dwellers in Montevideo prefer to drink their Mate without sugar, what they call a 'Mate amargo'. Gourds and horns are constantly being refilled from sun-up to sun-down in this city.
Salus mineral water is delicious and bottled in Uruguay. If you're a little apprehensive about drinking tap water, this is a great way to go!

Hotels, youth hostels, lodging

Albergue Juvenil, Canalones 935, 02-908-1324. Nice HI-Hostel close to the center. With kitchen and internet access.
Ciudad Vieja Hostel[1], in the Core of the Historical Heart of the City and in the Middle of Montevideo’s Nightlife.
Red Hostel[2] is a 2004 renovated old Montevideo classic French home. Typical hostel traffic, but very nice staff who like to hang out with their friends late at night on the hostel roof.
Spléndido Hotel[3], ex Hotel Solis, Bartolomé Mitre 1314, Tels: (0598 2) 916-4900, 915-6171, E-mail: splendidohotel@gmail.com . Rumor has it that the hotel was originally built by a former president at the turn of the 20th century for his mistress. The hotel is located near the Plaza de Independencia and the Teatro Solis. Prices are exceptional (10-26 USD) and the staff is incredibly friendly and helpful. Many of the best restaurants, music, bars, and sightseeing spots are literally within a few steps of the front door.
Ibis Montevideo[4], Calle La Cumparsita, 1473. Tel: 413-7000 (fax : 413-6245, ibismontevideo@accor.com.uy). A 5-minute walk from the old town, this chain hotel has simple but comfortable rooms and is bookable over the internet. Singles/doubles 920 pesos.
The Radisson is on a main square and costs about USD $80-$100 per night. It has a pool. It may have been a former Moonies building. Room 1958 has a horrible problem with windows creaking in the night and morning, probably due to the changing temperature. Breakfast buffet is included in the rate, as well as several pieces of underwear washed for you daily. (March 2005)
Nh Columbia Hotel[5] Rambla Gran Bretana 473 Tel:+59.82.9160001 Email: nhcolumbia@nh-hotels.com This hotel is near the Ciudad Vieja with views of the Rambla. A modern hotel with a huge breakfast and free internet access, it has plenty of parking and a friendly staff.
The area around Plaza Cagancha also has many hostels and hotels.