7 ways to get to know Montevideo, Uruguay

16.08.2024 - 13:28 / lonelyplanet.com

Aug 16, 2024 • 6 min read

In Montevideo, a sophisticated city can’t escape the influence of the rural campo (countryside). The result is a metropolitan center with an irresistibly not-so-fast-paced urban pulse.

Once a fortified citadel, the Ciudad Vieja (old city) is today surrounded by traces of the city walls, first erected in 1741. Beyond this historic core, visitors can stroll the longest continuous sidewalk in the world, relax on sandy beaches, gorge themselves in one of South America’s best food cities, visit countless museums or sway to carnaval rhythms year-round. 

Here’s our guide to the top things to do in the Uruguayan capital.

At nearly 14 miles (23km), Montevideo’s riverfront Rambla is the longest continuous sidewalk in the world. The avenue snakes along the coast and is popular for cycling and rollerblading. And for sipping yerba maté, too. 

This traditional Indigenous drink was first cultivated by the Guaraní in Paraguay, then popularized as a shared communal drink by the Charrúa in Uruguay. Many Uruguayans always carry their kit with them, which includes the yerba (loose caffeinated tea leaves), a mate (the cup, traditionally a gourd), bombilla (perforated spoon-like straw) and thermo (hot-water bottle). 

Take your maté and go for a stroll on the Rambla around sunset. You’ll pass by a skate park, the moving Holocaust Memorial, Pittamiglio Castle and plenty of street musicians.

Local tip: It’s customary in Uruguay to share your yerba maté with complete strangers. Since this isn’t particularly sanitary, we recommend buying your own kit, available at any grocery store.

As a complement to sunny beach days, the Museo de la Memoria, open since 2007, offers insights and context into the country’s 12-year civic-military dictatorship (1973–85). The site also honors the 200 Uruguayans who were “disappeared” during the junta (the Desaparecidos), and who are still unaccounted for. 

A permanent exhibition featuring pots and pans looks inconspicuous at first. Yet visitors learn that during this era, Uruguayans used these simple kitchen implements as tools of dissent. Protesting the state-sanctioned killing of civilians, residents would bang these objects loudly during events known as cacerolazos – creating chaotic noise that resounded through the halls of power. 

If you visit Uruguay between the end of January and early March, you can take part in the longest carnaval celebration in the world: Uruguayans celebrate for 40 to 50 days in the lead-up to Easter. The festivities are a huge draw for locals, though foreign visitors are most welcome. 

The tradition of carnaval was brought to Uruguay by enslaved Africans. Their descendants introduced candombe drums, a large percussion instrument that’s worn on the body