Today, we reach Punta del Este and the culmination of our tour of Uruguay that took us from Buenos Aires to Colonia, from Colonia to Montevideo, and from Montevideo to the Punta.
Punta del Este, the South American seaside playground of the rich and famous, takes just over an hour to reach by car or up to two hours by bus from Montevideo.
The rich and famous arrive by yacht, with the port jammed packed with luxury vessels all summertime. December and January are the best months for the beach parties when Porteños arrive in large numbers for their summer vacations.
Very few South American beach resorts rival Punta del Este for its glamor and its glitz. The summertime brings a rush of celebrities hiding beneath their sunglasses and baseball caps or staying in their USD $10,000 a week Casa Quintas just outside the main town of Punta del Este.
The Punta is alive with local TV stars, top models and a few international celebs’ thrown into the throng for good measure. The fashion shows, the photographers and parties follow them to Punta del Este for the summer season.
For many years, we thought that the international glitterati and Buenos Aires’ elite who make Punta del Este their homes for the summer kept this secret to avoid the tourist hoards.
The Punta is several towns (formally fishing villages) on a small peninsula where the Río de la Plata meets the Atlantic Ocean. Punta del Este, the main town and the surrounding villages have over 50km (31 miles) of glorious waterfront, stretching along both coasts of the peninsula.
The fishing villages were replaced by hotels, apartment blocks and grand sprawling vacation homes from the late 1950s and there a very little left that identifies ‘old Punta’. In fact, Punta del Este is all about settling down for a vacation to soak up the beaches and the sunshine.
Argentines often ask you what side you are staying on – all part of the symbolic status of the Punta – on the side that faces the Rio del la Plata, the water is calmer and the beaches silky sand, these beaches are busier during the summer, where people watching is a joy to behold. The other side of the Punta that faces the Atlantic has a rougher sea that forms wonderful sand dunes and unspoilt beaches. These beaches are less crowded and the waves attract the sun-drenched surfers.
The majority of the city’s major hotels are on the calmer riverside of Punta del Este. Just to be clear, you should check out the geography on a map, as we are talking a good distance from the Rio del la Plata, but that is not to say it does not have influence on the local currents and seas.
Since the Argentine middle classes arrived in greater numbers, Punta del Este lost some of its higher-end clients to the smaller towns like La Barra. Farther along is the very exclusive Jose Ignacio, a small quiet community that is even more expensive than La Barra. Many celebrities keep second homes in Jose Ignacio, including international stars such as the supermodel Naomi Campbell. When their mood allows, the stars offer proof of life, tanned and rested, they head to La Barra to party.
If you would like to travel to Punta del Este and stay in one of our Punta del Este apartments please contact us early to avoid disappointment. We have bookings all year around, but from the last two weeks in October to May we get quite booked up.
Read our earlier blogs from our Uruguay tour:
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