Where to Stay in Montevideo, Departamento de Montevideo

What is Montevideo known for?

Montevideo is known as the capital and largest city of Uruguay, set on the northeastern bank of the Río de la Plata. It is the political and cultural centre of the country, its old core lined with museums such as the National Museum of Visual Arts and the Museo Torres García. The Artigas Mausoleum anchors its main square.

Founded as San Felipe y Santiago de Montevideo, the city carries a long Spanish colonial name and a dense heritage of galleries and civic monuments along the water.

What are the main landmarks in Montevideo?

The main landmarks in Montevideo cluster around the old town and its museum quarter on the Río de la Plata. The Artigas Mausoleum stands beneath the city's main square, a monument to the national hero at the heart of the capital of Uruguay. Museums abound.

The National Museum of Visual Arts and the Museo Torres García hold the country's art, while the National Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Pre-Columbian and Indigenous Art keep its natural and ancient record. The Carnival Museum marks the city's festival tradition.

What is the history of Montevideo?

Montevideo was founded in 1726 as San Felipe y Santiago de Montevideo, a Spanish colonial settlement laid out on the northeastern bank of the Río de la Plata. The site was chosen for its harbour. From that walled port on the river the city grew into the capital and largest city of Uruguay, its old grid still marking the ground where the first colonists staked out the town beside the sheltered bay.

The port shaped everything that followed. As the settlement spread inland from the water, it gathered the institutions of a national capital, and the Artigas Mausoleum on its main square honours the figure at the centre of the country's founding story. Montevideo became the seat of government of Uruguay.

Its museums, among them the Museo Torres García and the Museum of Pre-Columbian and Indigenous Art, hold the long record of that history, from the colonial harbour of 1726 to the modern city that grew up around the old quarter.

Where is Montevideo?

Montevideo sits on the southern coast of Uruguay, on the northeastern bank of the Río de la Plata where the wide estuary meets the Atlantic. The river defines the city. Its built-up area follows the water's edge, curving along the shore from the old harbour and spreading inland across the low ground of the capital.

The Río de la Plata frontage gives Montevideo a long waterfront, and the sheltered bay that first drew settlers still anchors the port at the heart of the capital of Uruguay.

What is the climate of Montevideo?

Montevideo has a mild, humid subtropical climate, shaped by its place on the Río de la Plata on the southern coast of Uruguay. Summers are warm here. Winters stay cool but rarely cold, and rainfall spreads fairly evenly through the year rather than gathering in a single season, moderated by the wide water of the estuary beside the city.

The river keeps the air damp. The maritime setting on the Río de la Plata softens the extremes across the capital of Uruguay.

How do you get to Montevideo?

Montevideo is the main way into Uruguay, the capital and largest city where the country's road, air, and sea links converge on the Río de la Plata. Most travellers arrive here first. The port on the river bank keeps the old sea route that first built the town, and the wide estuary carries connections across the water, while roads fan out from the capital to the rest of Uruguay.

The waterfront is the gateway. From the old harbour it is a short way to the Artigas Mausoleum and the museum quarter.