19 Best Sights in Punta del Este, Uruguay

This hamlet with a vibrant art community and some of the most jaw-dropping properties for miles is the choice beach for Punta's most well-heeled and stylish visitors. José Ignacio sits on a miniature peninsula and has beaches with both calm and rough waters. Because it's just enough outside the downtown Punta orbit, visiting is a day trip for most, but if you're an art lover, make time to visit artist James Turrell's new Ta Khut Skyspace (US$40). Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; toilets. Best for: partiers in the know; sunrise; sunset; surfing; swimming; walking; windsurfing.

The La Barra hamlet is both artistic and trendy, with a number of popular boutiques, restaurants, and nightlife spots that spring into life in January. A mostly locally patronized beach sits here, too, where the Río Maldonado spills into the ocean. Keep in mind that swimming is risky. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking; toilets. Best for: partiers; sunrise; sunset; surfing; walking.

Locals have dubbed this trendy stretch of sand Bikini Beach. The swimwear skews a tad more daring here, where people come to see and be seen, as well as swim or play volleyball. During peak season DJs often spin through sunset. If you're looking for a party beach, this is where you want to be. Amenities: food and drinks; lifeguards; parking; showers; toilets. Best for: partiers; sunrise; sunset; surfing; swimming; windsurfing.

The waters are calm at Punta's longest beach and one of its most popular. Good sand, shallow water, many food stands, and proximity to the center of town make it the area's most family-oriented stretch of coast. Catch good sunset views here, and take in one of the late-afternoon beach aerobics classes, too. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking; showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: sunset; swimming; walking.

Naturally perfumed with the scent of eucalyptus, this huge arboretum is one of the most important botanical gardens in the world. Its creation was the labor of love of Croatian-Uruguayan botanist Antonio Lussich (1848–1928). The approximate 474 acres contain more than 350 species of trees from outside Uruguay as well as 70 domestic species. Guided tours are in Spanish only.

Punta del Este is circled by the Rambla Artigas, the main coastal road that leads past residential neighborhoods and pristine stretches of beach. You can find everything on Avenida Gorlero, Punta's main commercial strip. The thoroughfare runs northeast–southwest through the heart of the peninsula and is fronted with cafés, restaurants, boutiques, and casinos.

A hotel and museum at the tip of a rocky point with tremendous views of the Río de la Plata is the main draw in Punta Ballena. Uruguayan abstract artist Carlos Páez Vilaró created his work as a "habitable sculpture" and it defies architectural categorization. With allusions to Arab minarets and domes, cathedral vaulting, Grecian whitewash, and continuous sculptural flourishes that recall the traceries of a Miró canvas, this curvaceous 13-floor surrealist complex climbs a hill and is highly unique.

The spaces include an excellent series of galleries dedicated to the artist's work and peruse copies of his books: one book tells the true story of his son Carlos Miguel, who survived a plane crash in the Andes, which was made into the 1993 film Alive.

This island is a government-protected natural reserve and national park home to one of the world's largest colonies of sea lions. You can view them from tour boats that leave regularly from the marina. Its 1907 lighthouse stands nearly 190 feet tall.

Once the site of a prison, Isla Gorriti now attracts a different type of exclusive crowd. High-end residents with their own boats often set Gorriti as their destination to play and party for the day. You can catch a ferry ride from the marina, though, and make a day trip of it. Note that the island is reachable only by boat. (The parador, or beach club, has a good restaurant.)