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What to do in Montevideo, Uruguay for the day??


Kiwi_cruiser
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We have never been to Montevideo, Uruguay before.

 

I was wondering would you recommend doing here for the day??

 

If you have been to Montevideo, what did you do there for the day??

 

Does the cruise ships dock near the city? or do we dock a long way from it?

 

Any ideas / suggestions are very welcome clear.png?emoji-smile-1742

 

PS: I read somewhere there on cruise critic is / was a Hop on / hop off bus??, has anyone been on it?? and does anyone know the price?

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We took a half day city tour excursion from the ship. I could have done it myself but I just got too lazy. I think the main plaza is within walking distance from where the ship docks. There is a small soccer museum in the soccer stadium. I am not into soccer so I was kind of board after the first 15. minutes. The capitol building is definitely worth a look. I found that place to be very interesting. There is market next to where the ship docks with several restaurants selling steaks. It was OK maybe a bit overpriced because of its location so close to the ship. All in all I had a pretty good time in Montevideo.

 

However I did have a disaster in Montevideo. I taught Latin American history. I taught countless students the textbook explanation on how Montevideo got its name. Magellan saw a mountain hence Montevideo. Within the first 10 minutes of the tour the guide said that was all wrong. I was not happy about that, Served me right using a textbook. How stupid of me. Should have known better.

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Our ship docked right in the city. As we exited the pier, there was a small visitor's information building (more like a shack) on the right that had very detailed maps for a walking tour of the city. The map even contained short blurbs about the significance of most sights. We just followed that free map for several hours until we got tired of walking.

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Usually there are some tourist buses at the port you can hoho but some folk say they are not that often and can be full when they arrive at popular stops.

Here is the website - https://www.busturisticomontevideo.com.uy/

cost is just under $23.00 US at present.

 

There are also tourist guides with cars and vans that wait for prospective passengers.

The small Carnival museum near the port is interesting if it is open.http://museodelcarnaval.org/en cost about $2.00 US

Edited by Lunenburg
more info added.
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As others said the ship docks very close to town. Once you walk out of the dock area there's a visitor center to your left and a market across the street and to the right.

 

We took a half day driving tour with a private guide, Virginia Sosa. We really enjoyed it because we got to see so much of the area. We had a driver and her all for one price. I think it was $180 for the tour and that included everything. Her email is below if you're interested in talking with her. We liked Montevideo a lot, primarily because of the tour.

 

virginia.turismo.naturaleza@gmail.com

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There is a small plaza you will pass, then visitor greeters, giving out maps, and information under a tent. at the end of the building is the visitor center, left ( absolutely NOT a shack) along with free wifi. A busy highway is ahead. Across the stree to the left is the HOHO bus, the Market plaza is this area.

 

There are multiple- excellent opportunities with walking. Consider superb tip based walking tours. There are multiple buildings you can also enter. I find something new every time I'm there 10++ times. An excellent museum is the Andes Museum as well- with a small admission fee. .

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There is a small plaza you will pass, then visitor greeters, giving out maps, and information under a tent. at the end of the building is the visitor center, left ( absolutely NOT a shack) along with free wifi. A busy highway is ahead. Across the stree to the left is the HOHO bus, the Market plaza is this area.

 

There are multiple- excellent opportunities with walking. Consider superb tip based walking tours. There are multiple buildings you can also enter. I find something new every time I'm there 10++ times. An excellent museum is the Andes Museum as well- with a small admission fee. .

Budget Queen. I know that for some reason you enjoy trying to correct me. There may very well be a visitor center on the left as you exit the port, but the place where we obtained our map for the walking tour was on the right and could not have been any larger than 20' X 20', hence my description of it as a shack. The building I referenced is the one straight ahead in the photo with the blue signs.

1665266951_Untitled1.thumb.jpg.1c316d97f4a9a14531de4c9226ff8503.jpg

Edited by FredZiffle
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Budget Queen. I know that for some reason you enjoy trying to correct me. There may very well be a visitor center on the left as you exit the port, but the place where we obtained our map for the walking tour was on the right and could not have been any larger than 20' X 20', hence my description of it as a shack. The building I referenced is the one straight ahead in the photo with the blue signs.

 

hmmm...this is not what we saw when in Montevideo this past year. There was a very nice visitor center to the left with rest rooms and information. Maybe there are different docking areas or maybe your photo is from past year?

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We had a great tour that was arranged through our roll call last January. It was with a company called Tour Guide Ushuaia; We had several tours with them. They were all good.

 

In Montevideo we booked the city tour with BBQ lunch. The city tour part was fine, our guide took us to all the famous or picturesque sites, kind of a typical city tour.

 

The really wonderful part was the BBQ lunch. This was held in the home of the guide and was a traditional Uruguayan BBQ done in his back patio on a large charcoal grill that could be lowered and raised as needed. His brother, I think did the barbequeing while he and his wife fixed the other parts. His son and college age daughter also helped with serving.

 

Usually I believe people ate at a table in the yard, but it was a little damp that day so we ate in their dining room. Wonderful food; steak, lamb, brats, chicken for sure and also grilled veggies of different types, all in a lovely home style atmosphere, including wine, dessert, salad, etc.

 

The best part was interacting with the delightful family, seeing how people actually live--they had a lovely townhome-style house and we were especially lucky to talk the daughter into singing and playing the guitar.

 

The cost was around $85 pp--the cost went down according to the number of people who took the tour; we had the max of 17. I will always remember Montevideo fondly because of this family.

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We had a great tour that was arranged through our roll call last January. It was with a company called Tour Guide Ushuaia; We had several tours with them. They were all good.

 

In Montevideo we booked the city tour with BBQ lunch. The city tour part was fine, our guide took us to all the famous or picturesque sites, kind of a typical city tour.

 

The really wonderful part was the BBQ lunch. This was held in the home of the guide and was a traditional Uruguayan BBQ done in his back patio on a large charcoal grill that could be lowered and raised as needed. His brother, I think did the barbequeing while he and his wife fixed the other parts. His son and college age daughter also helped with serving.

 

Usually I believe people ate at a table in the yard, but it was a little damp that day so we ate in their dining room. Wonderful food; steak, lamb, brats, chicken for sure and also grilled veggies of different types, all in a lovely home style atmosphere, including wine, dessert, salad, etc.

 

The best part was interacting with the delightful family, seeing how people actually live--they had a lovely townhome-style house and we were especially lucky to talk the daughter into singing and playing the guitar.

 

The cost was around $85 pp--the cost went down according to the number of people who took the tour; we had the max of 17. I will always remember Montevideo fondly because of this family.

 

This sounds wonderful! Our cruise stops in Montevideo in January, and I'm tasked with finding private tours for our roll call. Would you be able to share the information about this guide, so I can reach him?

 

Thanks!

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I think you can just Google 'Tour Guide Ushuaia--they are a tour company. I did not set it up, someone else on our roll call did. We also used the same company in Ushuaia; very good tour there as well. As I remember on the company's site, click on tours of Montevideo and one of those shown will be a city tour with BBQ lunch. I assume that it will be the same tour guide and family, but I suppose that could vary.

 

One of my favorite tours ever.

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Budget Queen. I know that for some reason you enjoy trying to correct me. There may very well be a visitor center on the left as you exit the port, but the place where we obtained our map for the walking tour was on the right and could not have been any larger than 20' X 20', hence my description of it as a shack. The building I referenced is the one straight ahead in the photo with the blue signs.

 

You are wrong- I know exactly where this photo is, it is a COMMERCIAL vendor, there are also phone and internet,, tour arrangements, sold by this business. . The official, Montevideo Visitor Center is exactly where I posted.

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I think you can just Google 'Tour Guide Ushuaia--they are a tour company. I did not set it up, someone else on our roll call did. We also used the same company in Ushuaia; very good tour there as well. As I remember on the company's site, click on tours of Montevideo and one of those shown will be a city tour with BBQ lunch. I assume that it will be the same tour guide and family, but I suppose that could vary.

 

One of my favorite tours ever.

 

Thanks so much! I found them. I also see they've got 5-star reviews on Trip Advisor. That's always a good sign. This tour sounds like it's exactly what we're looking for. :) I appreciate the help!

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Thanks so much! I found them. I also see they've got 5-star reviews on Trip Advisor. That's always a good sign. This tour sounds like it's exactly what we're looking for. :) I appreciate the help!

 

Great. Hope you can do the tour and enjoy it as much as we did. So nice to see just a slice of what life is really like in another place.

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You are wrong- I know exactly where this photo is, it is a COMMERCIAL vendor, there are also phone and internet,, tour arrangements, sold by this business. . The official, Montevideo Visitor Center is exactly where I posted.

You know, Budget Queen, I think it is your attitude that just rubs me the wrong way. I never said this was the Visitor Center. I simply stated that we stopped in here and picked up a map for the free walking tour. I can only report on my own experiences, and, unless you were there with me, you really have no basis for declaring that I am wrong.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The holiday here is Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day. Most Uruguayans stay up late on Christmas Eve, have a big meal and get together and then watch the fireworks at midnight. Parties go on till 3 or 4 am and then they sleep in and go to the beach on Christmas Day - here officially called Family Day.

Where I live, the shops are open on Christmas Day as well as restaurants.

The tourist bus should be running that day from the port.

https://www.busturisticomontevideo.com.uy/

Car rentals are costly here -especially in the high season - mostly from $75 - 90 US for a day.You will also pay extra if you want an automatic which are not common here. There is a bit of a discount if you pay with an out of country credit card off the tax (IVA) iwhich is 22%. Gas (called nafta here) is expensive, currently around $6.60 US a gallon. Most companies will want a big deposit -up to $1500 US, especially if you do not buy the full insurance coverage.

Companies that are popular include

http://alianzarentacar.com.uy

http://www.multicar.com.uy

Edited by Lunenburg
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In 2010, we did a tour (with our roll call) that started with a city tour, then we went to a winery for lunch. It was all arranged with the winery, I found them on this board all those years ago. In fact, we had so much fun, we're doing it again in February.

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I think I read about that tour and we are very interested. Could you email me the name of the company you are going with and more details. My email is lagunaldyatyahoo.com. Sorry for the at but I am not sure we can put the real address. Thank you

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I think I read about that tour and we are very interested. Could you email me the name of the company you are going with and more details. My email is lagunaldyatyahoo.com. Sorry for the at but I am not sure we can put the real address. Thank you

 

If you are replying to me, I'll be happy to.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Usually there are some tourist buses at the port you can hoho but some folk say they are not that often and can be full when they arrive at popular stops.

Here is the website - https://www.busturisticomontevideo.com.uy/

cost is just under $23.00 US at present.

 

There are also tourist guides with cars and vans that wait for prospective passengers.

The small Carnival museum near the port is interesting if it is open.http://museodelcarnaval.org/en cost about $2.00 US

 

Hi, were you able to pay in US dollars?

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