Many visitors to Uruguay get no further from the capital, Montevideo, than the nearby resorts of Punta del Este and José Ignacio. Yet continue up the Atlantic coast towards the Brazilian border, and you’ll find some of this small South American country’s wilder and more bohemian charms, said Hugh Thomson in the FT.
On the southeast coast lies the “low-key” fishing village of Punta del Diablo, or Devil’s Point, “the sort of place where you can drink a cold beer and eat shrimp empanadas on the quayside after walking along empty beaches”. It also has an “outstandingly good” restaurant, Panes y Peces – “Bread and Fish” – where you can eat for a fraction of the price of equivalent gourmet restaurants in the south of the country. And the dunes next to it are so wild and “spectacular” that you needn’t venture far to feel as if you’re in a desert.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Still more secluded is Cabo Polonio, down the coast, a small community at the tip of a peninsula that’s home to a colony of sea lions. Cars are banned – you have to park and take a shared four-wheel-drive through the dunes to get there (look out for lapwings and nesting owls along the way). The settlement itself is “ramshackle”, with driftwood cabanas and so many “eccentric eco-structures” that it looks in parts “like a rest-home for Mad Max extras”. But it has “tremendous charm”, and an “attractive” hotel, La Perla, with an excellent seafood restaurant and a cellar stocked with good local wines.
Specialist tour operators include Plan South America (plansouthamerica.com) and Journey Latin America (journeylatinamerica.co.uk).
-
How the FCC’s ‘equal time’ rule worksIn the Spotlight The law is at the heart of the Colbert-CBS conflict
-
What is the endgame in the DHS shutdown?Today’s Big Question Democrats want to rein in ICE’s immigration crackdown
-
‘Poor time management isn’t just an inconvenience’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl: A win for unityFeature The global superstar's halftime show was a celebration for everyone to enjoy
-
Book reviews: ‘Bonfire of the Murdochs’ and ‘The Typewriter and the Guillotine’Feature New insights into the Murdoch family’s turmoil and a renowned journalist’s time in pre-World War II Paris
-
6 exquisite homes with vast acreageFeature Featuring an off-the-grid contemporary home in New Mexico and lakefront farmhouse in Massachusetts
-
Film reviews: ‘Wuthering Heights,’ ‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,’ and ‘Sirat’Feature An inconvenient love torments a would-be couple, a gonzo time traveler seeks to save humanity from AI, and a father’s desperate search goes deeply sideways
-
A thrilling foodie city in northern JapanThe Week Recommends The food scene here is ‘unspoilt’ and ‘fun’
-
Tourangelle-style pork with prunes recipeThe Week Recommends This traditional, rustic dish is a French classic
-
Samurai: a ‘blockbuster’ display of Japan’s legendary warriorsThe Week Recommends British Museum show offers a ‘scintillating journey’ through ‘a world of gore, power and artistic beauty’
-
BMW iX3: a ‘revolution’ for the German car brandThe Week Recommends The electric SUV promises a ‘great balance between ride comfort and driving fun’
