The South Coast Travel Guide

A technicality of geography: though Uruguay's entire coast appears to front the ocean, everything west of famed vacation spot Punta del Este—sister resort Piriápolis, lovely pre-independence Colonia del Sacramento, and Montevideo itself—is the Río de la Plata, the world's widest river, which fans out to 219 km (131 mi) at its broadest point. The Plate, to use its name in English, swirls in a mix of fresh- and saltwater with the changing winds and tides. Beyond the punta, the point from which Punta del Este gets its name, looms the Atlantic Ocean, and the coast takes on a more rugged, end-of-the-world look.