The road west from Montevideo is one of Uruguay's oldest corridors, worth a day for the Swiss colony midway and the unusual city at journey's end.
The Drive
The day departs Montevideo at 9:30 am on Ruta 1 Brigadier General Manuel Oribe, a 177-kilometre toll highway named in 1975 for the general. The route crosses cattle country before turning south onto Ruta 53 to Nueva Helvecia by mid-morning. Budget an hour there before continuing to Colónia del Sacramento, reaching the Barrio Histórico by afternoon.