Our second stop in Uruguay would also be our last stop in Uruguay, and our second-to-last stop on our whole South American adventure. We’ve been to a lot of amazing places in the continent and enjoyed both roads – the one more traveled and the one less traveled. In Uruguay, we felt like we’d only taken the latter, so to try and discover some of the popular tourist highlights of the country, we decided on a short stay in Colonia del Sacramento, renowned for its UNESCO World Heritage Old Town area.
Located on the east coast of Uruguay, Colonia is a charming small town only a one-hour ferry ride across Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires. Several ferries run between Buenos Aires and Colonia, making it a popular weekend trip for Argentinians alike (hence the road more traveled). We arrived by bus from Montevideo and only needed a short walk to get to our accommodation, which was near…well…everything! The town center, the historic quarter and the ferry port were all only a short walk away.
The historic quarter is really why people make the trip. It’s a walled area of the city complete with cobble stone streets and colorful facades and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
There was a lighthouse to climb for a view of the surroundings, which we of course did (we can easily skip museums in places we are visiting, but find us an old building with a narrow, winding stairway to climb and we are there!) but really the charm comes in the streets themselves.
The point of Colonia is to stroll around without a care in the world. Lose yourself and time in its simple beauty while surrendering yourself completely to its relaxed pace. It is, in our opinion, a perfect day trip for the stressed out office worker from Buenos Aires.
However, we have three boys in tow! Strolling around and relaxing we do not!
Instead, we took them to the local cinema to see the Adams Family in Spanish!
And that, my friends, is the reality of traveling with kids!
This has been a short post about a short stopover on the way from Montevideo to Buenos Aires. Colonia is worth it for a day trip, and that seems to be what most people afford it. Now for our last stop in South America – Buenos Aires here we come!
