Colonia as Day Trip from Buenos Aires?
 

OK it runs about $130 US and it's from 6:30 AM to like 11 at night?

Is there that much to do there? Shouldn't take long for the ferry to cross right?

I've given up on Iguazu because it takes too long. Any other 1 or two-day trips to consider?

I'm in BA now so it's got to be something I can put together on the fly.

I see several ideas on bytargentina.com, the agency which rented me the apartment (BTW, don't be near the 9 Julio -- view is great but noisy at night to sleep).

The tickets in Buquebus to get from Buenos Aires to Colonia and back ( the trip is one hour

Sorry, I shall star all over again,

the round trip ticket Buenos Aires Colonia in the fast boat, (1 hour versus 3 hours in the cheaper slow one)
is aprox 70 usa.

The packege Buquebus offers is in the slower boat and the whole day, including lunch and sightseeing is
$135 pesos, not dollars. Which is only 45 dollars.
I think they also some kind of bike tours that I would say should be fun.

The Buquebus fast ferry leaves BsAs at 11:00 and returns about 18:00; takes just under one hour each way; is $209. pesos round trip pp + $10.peso fee/tax returning.
We were disappointed in Colonia, but lunch at Meson de la Plaza was great.
M

OK, probably better to go direct with buquebus instead of an agency. But I can't even load the buquebus.com site (slow "broadband" here).

Three hours on a boach each way?

That's too much.

Is there visa required to enter Uruguay and return to BA?

Mikemo :

why were you disappointed in Colonia ? What did the day cost you in total per person ? Is Meson de la Plaza easy to find ?

galiano,
Wonderful comida/lunch, including a great bottle of UR '05 Castel Pujol trebbiano, tax and tip was $35 US @ Meson de la Plaza in the center of the small colonial area.
Bought a great UR "baby" jacket/sweater and earmuff hat for "Jorge's" return home from the delivery hospital in NYC for $25. US
We live in colonial Mexico, so the small piece of PT colonial history was underwhelming to say the least.
M (SMdA, Gto. MX)

Mikemo is right in comparison Colonia and the many jewels of Colonial MExico it is a hundred to one.
Mexico was the head of the Virreynato, and Colonia, what was Colonia? A tiny frontier town built by the Portuguese, conquered and lost many times between them and the Spaniards. Having said that it can be a pleasant day out from busy cosmopolitan Buenos Aires.

"Having said that it can be a pleasant day out from busy cosmopolitan Buenos Aires."

Unless the weather turns bad. But the anecdote below sounds like it was in the winter.

http://luciasuerte.mindsay.com/ridin...to_uruguay.mws

for me, Colonia didn't offer too much, i spent one night there, then woke up early and went to Montevideo via Cott ($7.00 e/w) I had a good time in Montevideo & really wish I would have spent more than 3 days there. If you have a couple days free, hop the bus from Colonia to Montevideo. It's about 2 hrs 45 min., but it goes by pretty quick & the bus was comfortable ... Buena Suerte!

I liked Colonia a lot, but there wasn't really enough to do to fill the six hours we were there (we took the fast boat, and were there from around 11:00 AM until around 5:00 PM). I still think it was worth seeing, but we ended up finding a waterfront bistro and drinking for the last two hours while we waited for the ferry departure time...not that I'm complaining. ;)

Another day trip we enjoyed was visiting San Antonio de Areco, an historical gaucho town, which also included a trip to an estancia. Yeah, it was a little touristy, but hey...we WERE tourists. We loved it.