Montevideo, Uruguay

Visiting Montevideo was incidental to our trip to the beaches and countryside of Uruguay. The experience of place while traveling is intense, but limited. Although our awareness is heightened by the lack of familiarity, we don't really see that much on a short visit. The desire to interpret what we see is still strong, though, and it's easy to reach conclusions about a city which would prove completely wrong if we were to return for a longer stay.

That said, my impressions of Montevideo are that it is a relaxed city where you can enjoy the interesting parts of urban life without much of the stress and tension that usually goes along with that. You can also go to the beach, and you are two hours from Buenos Aires.

Since it was our first time in the area, I'm glad we didn't make it the focus of our trip, but I liked Montevideo. I would like to go back to experience Carnival there and hear candombe (the music of carnival). If I go back to Uruguay at any other time of year, I would plan 2 or 3 days just to hang out and enjoy the city.

We began and ended our trip with days in Montevideo because our flights were in and out of Carrasco International Airport.

Everything went smoothly upon our arrival; customs and immigration was fast and efficient and our driver was waiting as expected. I had arranged the driver through Booking.com as a US$26 add on to our hotel reservation. You can take a bus for just $1-$2, but after 22 hours of travel I thought we'd be ready for something easy. From what I can gather, taxis are currently (2024) charging about $50 for the ride into town.

Montevideo has an amazing waterfront and most of our drive was alongside the 17-mile long esplanade called La Rambla. We arrived on a beautiful early spring day, and many people were out enjoying the waterfront path and the adjoining beaches. On the drive to our hotel, we got a nice view of the Carrasco neighborhood, the most expensive part of Montevideo. I was surprised to see the pan-European styles of architecture in Carrasco--particularly the clear British influence.

We stayed in Pocitos, another of the waterfront barrios. We passed the iconic "Montevideo" sign near Playa Pocitos, but we didn't stop to take a picture. Instead we went a couple of blocks inland to our hotel. The Hotel Montevideo is a new hotel and part of the Leading Hotels of the World group. The lobby was small but welcoming and relaxing with artworks that captured something of the character of the place. I knew by the time we arrived that "Uruguay" means "River of Painted Birds," so I appreciated the flock of birds flying through the lobby.

Our room was US$170 and had a whimisical old movies theme. We enjoyed sunset drinks at the rooftop bar and an amazing breakfast the next morning in the restaurant. There was even a special table with a variety of gluten free food. (We had no problem finding gluten free food in Uruguay, by the way.) Most of the people we interacted with at this hotel spoke English fluently.

We had dinner reservations for 7:30 that night, so we had time for a short nap and then a delightful walk down to Playa Pocitos.

Our ultimate destination was the Montevideo outpost of the gluten-free bakery, Goût. We did in fact eat dessert first, and it was delicious. (There are several other locations of this bakery in Buenos Aires.) In a nice little travel surprise, one of the other customers in the bakery had just returned from a business trip to Atlanta so we had a nice conversation about home.

After dessert, it was time for dinner. We stopped in at our hotel to freshen up and then walked to the other side of Pocitos to Tandory. The night we were there, the restaurant seemed to be primarily serving Chinese tourists and us. Only one or two tables appeared to be locals. We did enjoy dinner and it was nice to know we had gluten-free and vegetarian options available. On our walk to the restaurant we were noticed the pan-European architecture of the homes we passed. Pocitos reminded us a lot of neighborhoods on the east coast of the United States with houses from the early 20th century. I read later that the neighborhood was in fact developed in the 1920's and 1930's.

Although we felt safe in Pocitos, the restaurant had a bell to ring for admission, and we were the only people out walking after dark. I had read that crime had become a political issue in Uruguay, but I was surprised to see evidence of this level of fear of street crime. The US State Department has Uruguay as a "use increased caution" country--the same as France and Italy. Canada's government singles out Montevideo as the only region of the country where increased caution is necessary. Later in our trip, the rental car agent warned us about leaving valuables in the car "but only in Montevideo." I think people in Uruguay are very aware of the crime in the city and it is still shocking to them because it has only been in the last 20 years that drug related violence has surged in the country. The country has a reputation for peace and prosperity, but the homicide rate is higher than the United States.

The next morning we left for Buenos Aires, but we returned to Montevideo a week later to spend the night before our flight home. This time we stayed in the Cuidad Viejo (the Old City), and to get there we drove through areas of the city that did seem, shall we say "edgier?" Our hotel, FAUNA, was another delight though. Our room in this beautifully restored 1927 building was $115/night. Located on the pedestrian street, Sarandí, we were within easy walking distance of lively restaurants and bars for our Saturday night out. There isn't a 24-hour front desk, but we coordinated our arrival quite easily with the gentleman who was working reception. He spoke English fluently and helped carry our luggage up the stairs which was great since there isn't an elevator.

For dinner we went to a delicious Italian restaurant just around the corner, Escondite and followed that up with a nightcap at the distillery and bar Capicua. We wanted to stay and hear the music, but, alas we are not young anymore, so we gave up around 10 and headed to bed.

The next morning was Sunday and most things were closed. We still enjoyed our walk around to see the sites of the Old City, although there were streets near the port that I definitely would not want to walk down at night. The area closer to the Plaza Independencia was nicer, but everything around there was closed. We found El Mercado del Puerto and its accompanying tourist shops. Nearby we had a great breakfast at Sometimes Sunday. Again the waitress spoke flawless English and we enjoyed chatting with her about what we should do next. She recommended the huge Sunday market Feria de Tristan Narvaja, but after some discussion we decided that with Randy's general dislike of markets and my fear of having our luggage stolen (since we would have had to leave it in the car), we should give it a miss.

For reasons I can no longer recall, I had made lunch reservations for that day before we had to catch our flight home. (Maybe I was worried about getting good gluten-free food on a Sunday.) I had read amazing things about the restaurant I chose. Anyway, we ate lunch at Manzanar in Carrasco, but our attention was not on the food. Just after we ordered, our daughter called from home to tell us our dogs had been bitten by a snake. They are all fine now, but we were thoroughly distracted from our food.

We had arranged to return our rental car in Montevideo even though we had picked it up in Colonia. I was pleasantly surprised that Sixt didn't charge an arm and a leg for the privilege. The rental car return was not at the airport, but in a nearby shopping area. It took an extra twenty minutes or so to complete the return process and get to the airport. Sixt provides a free ride to the airport, and the employee who drove us was fun to talk to in my broken Spanish.

We thought we had plenty of time to get to our gate and the airport seemed fairly quiet, but we just made it in time for boarding. I don't know if the airport is always understaffed on Sunday, but we waited a very, very long time (about an hour) in a very short security line. I don't know if that was typical, but if I fly out of that airport again, I'll allow extra time.

I do hope I see Montevideo again. The city didn't spark strong feelings in me, yet the feelings I do have about it are all pleasant. So, the conclusions I can't help but reach after my introduction to this city are: It's relaxing, welcoming and interesting. It's not flashy, pushy or fascinating. It's lively; not hectic. The food is good. The people are genuine and friendly.