Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

While we were in Buenos aires we decided to take a ferry across the Rio de la Plata and visit Uruguay, and it’s preserved historic river town, Colonia del Sacramento. An easy one day trip.

Buquebus

Colonia is served by three ferryboat lines from Buenos Aires: Buquebus, Seacat Colonia and Colonia Express. We took the fastest Buquebus Catamaran and it took about an hour; the slow boats take 3. Great trip across the river to Uruguay. The high speed ferry left about 9:00 and got back around 5:00 and was comfortable and smooth.

Colonia del Sacramento (Nova Colonia do Santissimo Sacramento) was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese (Manuel Lobo). Its strategic position and use as a smuggling port meant that its sovereignty was hotly contested and the city changed hands several times between Spain and Portugal.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is renowned for it’s original Barrio Histórico, which retains its irregular street plan contrasting with the wider streets in the newer Spanish area.


The Barrio Histórico has many nice outdoor restaurants to people watch and spend some time at. 

We walked all over Colonia. The Barrio Historico is only about 10 blocks square and the town is very walkable and charming. A lot of the  the streets are lined with beautiful sycamore trees. The old Barrio still has cobblestone streets and i was like stepping back in time, The town is very peaceful and unhurried with very few cars driving on the streets. There are quite a few classic old Cars parked around town however, which adds to the fun.

It is a charming and interesting little town to explore along the River. It would have been very easy to bring an overnight bag on the Buquebus and stay the weekend. A few hours time isn’t really enough to fully enjoy this beautiful place. We plan to return in the future and explore Colonia a little longer and maybe go to Montevideo. Highly recommended!