Where Punta del Este is, and how to get there from Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Brazil
Andante notes · 8 min read
Punta del Este is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of Uruguay, in the department of Maldonado, a little over 130 km east of Montevideo. It is not a neighbourhood of the capital, whatever half the internet asks: it is a separate town with its own bus terminal and its own airport. From Buenos Aires it is a 55-minute flight or a ferry plus a bus; from Montevideo, two hours on a coach. Every road ends at the same corner, where Gorlero begins, and from there the whole peninsula is done on foot.
- Where it is
- Uruguay, department of Maldonado, Atlantic coast, 130 km east of Montevideo
- From Montevideo
- Coach from Tres Cruces, 2 h 15; by car along the Interbalnearia, 1 h 30 and two tolls
- From Carrasco airport
- The same coaches stop at the airport, 1 h 45; official airport taxi, US$ 50 per person
- From Buenos Aires
- Ferry to Montevideo or Colonia plus bus, 5 to 6 h; flight to Laguna del Sauce, 55 min; overnight bus, 11 h
- From Brazil
- Porto Alegre: 740 km via Chuy, 9 to 10 h by car, an overnight bus, or a direct flight in summer
- Own airport
- Laguna del Sauce (PDP), 20 km from the peninsula
- Prices in this note
- Checked in September 2026; they move with the season
From Montevideo: coach, car or taxi
This is the leg almost everyone does, including people arriving from abroad, because the big planes and the ferries land in the capital. It is 130 km along the Ruta Interbalnearia, dual carriageway the whole way, with two tolls and only one possible destination at the end.
By coach from Tres Cruces
2 h 15 · every half hour
COT and COPSA Línea Este leave the Tres Cruces terminal from before five in the morning until half past eleven at night, more than thirty departures a day out of season and a good many more in January. There are direct services and services «por Piriápolis», which detour into that town and add about twenty-five minutes: check the column when you buy. All of them stop at Carrasco airport on the way out and arrive at the Punta del Este terminal, at the base of the peninsula.
- Fare
- $U 466 on COT, September 2026, about US$ 12
- Where to buy
- At Tres Cruces, on each company's website or app; in January it pays to book ahead
By car along the Interbalnearia
1 h 30 · two tolls
You leave Montevideo on the Ruta Interbalnearia and never turn: the road ends in Punta del Este. Two tolls on the way, Pando and Solís. With a car on the peninsula in summer, the problem is not getting there but parking.
- Tolls
- $U 197 each in cash, a little less with Telepeaje; the tariff is revised on 1 June and 1 December
- Fuel
- About fourteen litres of petrol each way
Taxi, remise or app
1 h 30 · per car, not per person
Worth it for three or four people, or with a lot of luggage. From Carrasco airport there is an official transfer fare; from the city centre you arrange a remise or call a ride through an app, and the price is agreed before you get in.
Every road ends at the terminal, twelve minutes on foot from La Mano, where Andante's narrated walk along the peninsula begins.
From Carrasco airport, without going into the city
If you land in Montevideo you do not need to go into town. The COT coaches bound for Punta del Este pass Carrasco airport about thirty minutes after leaving Tres Cruces, and you board them right there, outside arrivals, on the same $U 466 fare. The ride from the airport takes an hour and forty-five minutes. The airport's official taxis offer a transfer to Punta del Este at US$ 50 per person.
From Buenos Aires: ferry and bus, plane, or overnight coach
The most repeated question has a short answer: the ferry does not reach Punta del Este. Neither Buquebus nor Colonia Express crosses this far; both land you in Uruguay and carry on by bus. What does arrive directly is the plane.
Buquebus: ferry to Montevideo or Colonia, then bus
5 to 6 h in all
The direct ferry to Montevideo takes two hours forty-five; the Colonia one an hour and a quarter, and from Colonia it is a good two hours by road to the capital. Buquebus sells the combined ticket through to Punta del Este on its own coaches, with daily departures and a change in Montevideo. Cars travel in the hold on both crossings.
- Price
- Varies by date and class; Colonia is a good deal cheaper than the direct ferry
Colonia Express: ferry to Colonia, then bus
6 h · one departure a day
An hour and a quarter by ferry to Colonia and a connecting bus to the Punta del Este terminal, six hours door to door. It leaves at 8:30 every day and on Fridays also at 18:30; the return from Punta del Este is at 14:00. From November 2026 the morning departure moves to 8:00.
Flight to Laguna del Sauce
55 min · from Aeroparque
Aerolíneas Argentinas flies from Aeroparque, the city airport, not from Ezeiza, to Punta del Este's own airport. In summer that is 28 flights a week, four a day, and from 1 January two weekly flights from Córdoba are added. GOL has announced a São Paulo, Punta del Este, Buenos Aires triangle three times a week for the 2026/27 summer. Out of season the frequency drops, so check the date.
Overnight coach, or driving via Fray Bentos
11 h by coach · 8 h by car
The coaches leave from Retiro and cross the river at the Gualeguaychú, Fray Bentos bridge: CAUVI, EGA, Pullman and others, about eleven hours, almost always overnight. By car the same route is 740 km and eight hours of driving, crossing at the General San Martín bridge; the alternative is to put the car on the Buquebus ferry to Colonia and drive the remaining 320 km.
From Brazil: Porto Alegre via Chuy, by bus or by plane
For the south of Brazil, Punta del Este is a day's drive away. For São Paulo, a flight.
Driving from Porto Alegre
740 km · 9 to 10 h
BR-116 to Pelotas, BR-471 to Chuí, and on the Uruguayan side Ruta 9 down to the Interbalnearia. It is a land border, open around the clock, and the stamp takes a quarter of an hour out of season; in January, February and at Carnival the queue can pass two hours. A Brazilian car needs its papers, the Mercosur Carta Verde insurance, still compulsory in 2026, and the temporary admission registered with Uruguayan customs at the crossing.
Direct overnight bus
9 h · EGA and TTL
EGA runs a direct Porto Alegre to Punta del Este service: it leaves the rodoviária at 21:30 and reaches the Punta terminal at 6:35 in the morning, with the immigration check at Chuy in between. TTL covers the same leg three times a week.
- Fare
- R$ 540 semi-sleeper, R$ 670 sleeper, September 2026
Flights in summer
1 h 45 from Porto Alegre · December to February
The 2026/27 summer brings more direct flights from Brazil than ever. Azul flies from Porto Alegre from 12 December, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and opens Campinas and Belo Horizonte; GOL flies from Guarulhos three times a week between 17 December and 28 February, and from Porto Alegre on Mondays and Fridays from 21 December. The rest of the year the route is São Paulo to Montevideo, with flights every day, and the coach from there.
Punta del Este's own airport
It is called Laguna del Sauce, code PDP, and sits on Ruta 93 about twenty kilometres west of the peninsula: twenty or thirty minutes by taxi. Outside arrivals there is a taxi and remise rank, and all the big rental companies, Avis, Hertz, Europcar, Sixt, Localiza, PuntaCar, have desks. By bus, CODESA's line 8 passes the airport all year round on its way to Punta Ballena and Casapueblo, Maldonado and the Punta del Este terminal.
The terminal, and what changes in November 2026
The Punta del Este bus terminal stands at Bulevar Artigas and calle 32, where Gorlero begins, level with Parada 1 of the Mansa. From there the whole peninsula is walkable: ten minutes to the Mansa, twelve to La Mano, twenty to the port.
From 1 November 2026, interdepartmental and international coaches stop entering this terminal. According to the Maldonado municipality, they end their run at the Maldonado terminal, five kilometres away, and each company carries its passengers to the peninsula in smaller vehicles, at no extra cost and in both directions. The measure was announced for the high season, December to February, the date may slip with the works in Maldonado, and it has met resistance in town. When you buy a ticket, ask where it ends.
Getting around without a car: bus lines, taxis and apps
To stay on the peninsula you do not need a car. The local lines leave from the same terminal: line 8 goes to Punta Ballena, Casapueblo, the airport and Piriápolis; lines 14, 15 and 55 cross the La Barra bridge towards Manantiales and José Ignacio; lines 9, 12, 17 and 19 go to Maldonado. A local ticket costs $U 39 and the longest in the department $U 129, 2026 fares. Uber and Cabify work, with one caveat: in January there are not enough cars, one ride in five gets confirmed, and a night ride back from La Barra can cost between 75 and 100 dollars. The taxi ranks at the terminal and on Avenida Roosevelt remain the safe option at that hour.
- Maldonado
- 7 km · lines 9, 12, 17, 19, 52
- La Barra
- 6 km across the wavy bridge · lines 14, 15, 55
- Casapueblo, Punta Ballena
- 16 km · line 8, all year
- José Ignacio
- 30 km · lines 14 and 42; COT three times a day
- Piriápolis
- 52 km · line 8; COT eight times a day
You have arrived: where to start
Bag dropped at the hotel, the first thing is to get your bearings: things to do in Punta del Este covers the peninsula in an afternoon and what needs a bus. The two shores, the Brava and the Mansa, are ten minutes apart; La Mano, the port and its sea lions and the lighthouse can all be walked in one day. Casapueblo and La Barra are the next day's outing, on line 8 or 14. And if you arrive by cruise ship, the call has a note of its own: what fits in the hours the ship gives you.
Questions that keep coming up
Where is Punta del Este?
In Uruguay, in the department of Maldonado, on a peninsula on the Atlantic a little over 130 km east of Montevideo. It is not in Montevideo: the two are two hours apart by coach, or an hour and a half by car along the Interbalnearia.
How far is Punta del Este from Montevideo?
A little over 130 km along the Ruta Interbalnearia, dual carriageway the whole way. By car, an hour and a half and two tolls of $U 197 each; by coach, two hours and a quarter from Tres Cruces, or an hour and forty-five minutes from Carrasco airport.
What is the best way to get from Montevideo to Punta del Este?
The coach, unless you are three or four with luggage. COT and COPSA leave Tres Cruces from before five in the morning until half past eleven at night, more than thirty times a day out of season, stop at Carrasco airport on the way, and the COT fare is $U 466, about US$ 12, in September 2026.
Is there a ferry from Buenos Aires to Punta del Este?
Not to Punta del Este itself. Buquebus and Colonia Express sail to Montevideo or Colonia and sell a through ticket with a connecting bus: five to six hours in all, depending on the crossing. The direct link from Buenos Aires is the 55-minute flight from Aeroparque.
Can you fly from Buenos Aires to Punta del Este?
Yes, from Aeroparque to Laguna del Sauce airport, 55 minutes in the air. In summer Aerolíneas Argentinas flies four times a day; the rest of the year the frequency drops but the route stays. The airport is twenty minutes from the peninsula.
What is the closest airport to Punta del Este?
Punta del Este's own, Laguna del Sauce, code PDP, 20 km away. It takes flights from Buenos Aires all year and from Córdoba, São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Campinas and Belo Horizonte in summer. Carrasco, in Montevideo, has far more destinations and is an hour and forty-five minutes away by coach.
Can you do a day trip from Montevideo?
Yes. The first coach leaves before five in the morning and the last one comes back at half past eleven at night, with two and a quarter hours each way. That leaves eight or nine hours on the peninsula, enough to walk the whole of it.
Do you need to rent a car?
Not for the peninsula: the terminal is twelve minutes from La Mano and everything else is done on foot. It helps if the plan is Casapueblo, La Barra and José Ignacio in one day, or if you travel in January, when the ride apps run out of cars. Rental desks are at the airport and along Gorlero.
You have arrived: now the peninsula, told
This note ends at the terminal. What begins twelve minutes from there is «La otra Punta del Este»: a narrated walk that starts at La Mano and follows the peninsula, told by Graciela, who was born here. It lasts an hour, plays on your phone, and needs nothing more than the legs you stepped off the coach with.
One hour · 3.8 km · no app, opens in the browser · no group, no set time · $U 199 ≈ US$ 5 · narrated in Spanish
Photo: Mx. Granger (CC0)
