5 Best Hotels in Punta del Este, Uruguay

It would be hard not to feel like an artist in this whitewashed marvel. Merely riding the old-style iron elevators and walking the sinuous hallways (there are no right angles here) is an experience. Spacious rooms have wooden floors and handsome antique furniture. Each also has a different name—Paloma (Dove), for example, or Luna Negra (Black Moon)—that determines the design of the handmade tiles in your bathroom. The restaurant has a wide terrace with fine coastline views.

This luxe yet bohemian 12-suite ranch property set on 4,000 acres in José Ignacio offers guests the best of both a countryside and beach retreat. Opened in 2009, Estancia Vik has helped establish José Ignacio as an elite international destination. The Spanish colonial-style structure incorporates a vast reflecting pool and numerous open-air courtyards and gardens. Uruguayan artists were commissioned to create original murals throughout, adding to the property's uniqueness. Guests can take out the riding horses or head to the water nearby for fishing and lounging.

At this hotel in the heart of Parque del Golf, one of Punta's chicest neighborhoods, a stone water tower, which now contains guest rooms, rises from a double-wing chalet and affords spectacular Punta panoramas. Rooms are tastefully adorned with antiques; a few quarters even have working fireplaces. Some of Punta del Este's finest beaches are several blocks away, but the vast lawns and lovely terrace gardens create a world apart from the crowded beach. The hotel's eponymous on-site restaurant is one of the best dining options in town and draws people from across Punta—especially for its legendary waffles.

At this alluring, un-Punta-like lodging up a 160-meter (520-foot) hill north of Punta Ballena, you can expect great views and a wooded, away-from-it-all vibe. The rambling ranch building appears to have been transplanted from the U.S. West, and guest rooms—some of which have fireplaces—are festooned with intriguing art. The hotel's restaurant is so good you might never leave the property, and also is highly popular with nonguests, especially for its afternoon tea, which includes warm, fresh baked goods.

While few Punta hotels actually sit on the beach, this is the rare exception: a stay here puts you steps from tranquil Playa Mansa and all its amenities. The hotel is beachy chic, with white walls inside and out, and huge picture windows in all rooms provide sweeping views. Suites and superior rooms face the ocean. Children under 16 are not permitted.