for you, down at the port to see the sea lions and wondering whose place this was before the yachts

Del mar
comemos

A story told in your ear while you walk: it moves with your steps, and if you stop, it waits.

One summer night more than a hundred years ago, when the point was a fishing village, Antonio leaves the port with his nine-year-old son after a black drum worth everything they owe. You walk their day through the streets he went by: from the quay along the bay, round the lighthouse, to the point where the river becomes the ocean.

Book the walking tour

1.8 km · about 35 minutes · starts at the port, by Ártico

an icon on your screen, nothing to install · no group · your own pace · works without internet · ticket $U 199 ≈ US$ 5

How it works

  1. Uno.

    Put your headphones on.

    The walk opens from a link and stays as an icon on your phone's screen: it is not an app, there is nothing to install. It plays online, and if you want to walk without signal you download it to your phone before you set out.

  2. Dos.

    Start at the port, by Ártico, on the corner with the rambla.

    The story begins at night, in this port. Stay there while it starts: the voice tells you when to walk.

  3. Tres.

    Walk towards the point.

    The voice tells you where to turn. Walk slowly or stop to look and the story has more to tell you; walk fast and you miss nothing that matters.

The way

From the fishermen's quay to the southernmost point of Uruguay, going round the lighthouse. All flat, 1.8 km, nearly all of it by the water.

  • The port. The sea lions on the quay and the boats of the artisanal fleet. The night starts here.
  • The Mansa rambla. More than half a kilometre with the water on your right and Gorriti island on the horizon.
  • The lighthouse. You leave the water and walk up to the lighthouse, first lit in 1860. The fishermen's shacks stood around it.
  • The Candelaria. The church of the point and the street that runs down to the ocean.
  • The Brava. The water changes sides and mood.
  • Punta Salinas. The southernmost point of Uruguay, where the river ends and the ocean begins. This is where it ends.

How it sounds

Up among the houses, every window of the new hotel was lit, like the mouths of ovens. There was a dance. Antonio threw it a look of hatred. How those people stayed up! If only they had to get up before dawn to earn their bread!

- on the quay, at two in the morning

What to know

  • Starts at the port, by Ártico, and ends at Punta Salinas, facing the sea.
  • 1.8 km, all flat: the Mansa rambla, the streets round the lighthouse and the Brava rambla. About 35 minutes at an easy pace.
  • Walk it at any hour: the story lasts a whole day, from two in the morning to sundown.
  • Open headphones are best: the port and the sea are part of the walk.
  • The ticket is a link to the player: one ticket, one phone.
  • The walk plays online; if you want to walk without signal, download it before you set out and the voice, the map and the way stay on your phone.
  • From the end to the port or to Gorlero it is about fifteen minutes on foot along the rambla.

A guided tour with a guide and a group starts at US$ 50. Here the guide is in your headphones, and the walk is yours: your pace, your hour.

Book the walking tour

See all the walks