Montevideo Old Town

[Priya2]

We are taking the Azamara Antartica cruise in January. In Montevideo we would like to visit and walk the Old Town by ourselves. A ship’s excursion (at £50) is simply a walk around the Old Town with a guide, followed by “making your own way back to the ship”. Given that ending, I’m assuming the dock is within walking distance. Could someone advise.

 

Many thanks.

[roscoe39]

We are taking the Azamara Antartica cruise in January. In Montevideo we would like to visit and walk the Old Town by ourselves. A ship’s excursion (at £50) is simply a walk around the Old Town with a guide, followed by “making your own way back to the ship”. Given that ending, I’m assuming the dock is within walking distance. Could someone advise.

 

Many thanks.

 

 

Hi , Had a great days wandering around Montevideo a few years ago on the Queen Victoria. The old town is fabulous and easy to do without being led around by an expensive tour guide. I picked up a free walking guide and I think I tipped her $usd10. Lunch offered a profusion of delightful smelling and tasty treats. There is also a really good little museum to the Andes Plane Crash that took the foot ball team a number of years ago. If you want a little bit of an idea about the old town I wrote about it in my travel log here.... have a great day there...regards Roscoe

http://roscoesseafever.blogspot.com/2014/01/montevideo.html

[Priya2]

Hi , Had a great days wandering around Montevideo a few years ago on the Queen Victoria. The old town is fabulous and easy to do without being led around by an expensive tour guide. I picked up a free walking guide and I think I tipped her $usd10. Lunch offered a profusion of delightful smelling and tasty treats. There is also a really good little museum to the Andes Plane Crash that took the foot ball team a number of years ago. If you want a little bit of an idea about the old town I wrote about it in my travel log here.... have a great day there...regards Roscoe

http://roscoesseafever.blogspot.com/2014/01/montevideo.html

Thank you Roscoe, and for the link for your block. Can you tell me how far the old town is from the Port?

[Trend]

Wow are you a professional writer as you are very descriptive on you analogies.

[grmmybtty]

We were in Montevideo 4 years ago on the Oceania Marina. We docked a short walk from downtown/old town. We just wandered on our own with another couple, no guide needed. There is a large memorial to the fight for independence, an opera house and some other interesting buildings. We had a fabulous grilled steak lunch before returning to the ship.

 

 

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[roscoe39]

Thank you Roscoe, and for the link for your block. Can you tell me how far the old town is from the Port?

 

hi Priya, its only a short distance form memory, maybe 5 or 10 minutes, to walk around the town was very easy, I remember walking up an incline into town but it was pretty flat. The opera house on the other side of town from the port is worth aiming for as a starting point.....

[roscoe39]

Wow are you a professional writer as you are very descriptive on you analogies.

 

 

thanks thats flattering Trend, certainly not a professional but I do write a Cruise/travel related column in a magazine - I republish the columns here...

 

http://roscoesseafever.blogspot.com

[Priya2]

Thanks Grrmybtty and Roscoe. That really helps (y)

[roaming_kiwi58]

We were in Montevideo a couple of years ago. It is easy to walk from the cruise terminal. Lots of interesting buildings.

We actually walked as far as the monument in Parque Batlle, which is very impressive. But we are big walkers - it is about 8kms each way from the cruise terminal. The majority of the interesting part of town is not that far out!! There is a lot to see quite close to the cruise terminal too.

We enjoyed our DIY walking tour of Montevideo.

[iancal]

We spent several days in Montevideo on a land trip. You certainly do not need to buy an expensive excursion. The downtown is compact and very attractive. Great beaches a little outside the downtown area but very easily reached by bus or inexpensive cab ride.

[Priya2]

We spent several days in Montevideo on a land trip. You certainly do not need to buy an expensive excursion. The downtown is compact and very attractive. Great beaches a little outside the downtown area but very easily reached by bus or inexpensive cab ride.

looking on YouTube, many of the landmark sites seem to be on very busy roads. Did you keep to the old town or find a way of visiting them? Azamara have a bus tour in which apparently, we would just be driven around the town and stop only at a bar, called Baar! It costs £75 each. It doesn’t seem very good value to me.

[Traveling Library]

Before you leave the port area there is a kiosk with tour options. We've never taken the HoHo but there is one which leaves across the street once you leave the port. The old town area is small and easy to walk thru. Then head to Constitution Square (very pretty, places to sit, usually musicians, etc.) and on to Independence Square (old city gate, Teatro Solis, Artigas Mausoleum, etc.)

[Priya2]

Before you leave the port area there is a kiosk with tour options. We've never taken the HoHo but there is one which leaves across the street once you leave the port. The old town area is small and easy to walk thru. Then head to Constitution Square (very pretty, places to sit, usually musicians, etc.) and on to Independence Square (old city gate, Teatro Solis, Artigas Mausoleum, etc.)

That’s great. Many thanks!

[iancal]

We stayed in a hotel near the beach. The bus stopped outside so we hopped on and 10 minutes later we were in the main square. Another ten or fifteen we were down by the market and restaurant area near the dock.

 

I certainly would not pay 75GBP for a tour. You could do it in a taxi for much less.

 

If you stop to eat at a restaurant do not pay cash. Use your credit card. Visitors who pay with a foreign credit card do not pay any VAT. That means in most restaurants you will pay about 18 percent less than the amount on the menu.

[Priya2]

We stayed in a hotel near the beach. The bus stopped outside so we hopped on and 10 minutes later we were in the main square. Another ten or fifteen we were down by the market and restaurant area near the dock.

 

I certainly would not pay 75GBP for a tour. You could do it in a taxi for much less.

 

If you stop to eat at a restaurant do not pay cash. Use your credit card. Visitors who pay with a foreign credit card do not pay any VAT. That means in most restaurants you will pay about 18 percent less than the amount on the menu.

Great tips. Thank you :)

[iata]

From the cruise ship there is a marked path that show You the way. 5 min walk. No excursion needed

[Grandma Cruising]

The monument mentioned above that is in Independence Square is the Tomb of General Artigas and you can go down into the tomb - it’s permanently guarded by 2 soldiers and is well worth seeing - we were very impressed with it https://www.welcomeuruguay.com/montevideo/mausoleum-general-artigas.html

[Priya2]

Thanks iata and Grandma, very helpful

[Lunenburg]

On 10/8/2018 at 7:58 AM, Priya2 said:

Great tips. Thank you 🙂

Just check in advance they take credit cards, there are still some restaurants that only take cash here.