The most “tranquilo” place on earth

On our little weekend-get-away trip a couple of days ago, we must’ve found the most relaxed and laid back town on this earth – or at least in all of Uruguay. Only an 1:10h by ferry from Buenos Aires, with tickets selling for approx. 65€ round trip, Uruguay is a popular destination for all exchange students, backpackers, as well as Argentinians themselves. However, not all cities along the coast of the 3,3 million inhabitants country are equally worth visiting. While Montevideo and Punta del Este might be names you’ve heard people talk about before, there’s a little town further up the coast, close to the Brazilian border that will take you under its spell immediately. And once you’ve entered this little Uruguayan Neverland, you probably won’t ever want to leave again.

After a day-long bus journey from the port in Colonia via Montevideo, we finally arrived to the quiet village of Punta Del Diablo. Relaxed beach days of doing nothing ahead of us, we felt at home immediately as we set foot into the “Diablo Tranquilo” Hostel. It didn’t take us long to figure out that the majority of the roughly 40-50 people at the hostel were staff and had already been here for a while – the first indicator that this place doesn’t let you go easily. Our first night we already got lucky that, although we had arrived quite late, there were still open spots for the home cooked dinner by two of the girls from the hostel staff. Still happy and amazed by the delicious food that filled our bellies, we only found out after the meal that this was not just a lucky coincidence, but that the two girls spoiled the entire hostel every night with their delightful creations. Needless to say that we signed up for next day’s dinner right away.

Besides just hanging out at the most laid-back hostel all day, laying in one of the hammocks, sunbathing on the beach, or playing cards, we decided to leave our little oasis of relaxation for once and go on a little day trip to the close national park “Santa Teresia”. The well-maintained park is beautiful for a little stroll or a picnic in the sun. After hours of walking in the heat of the Uruguayan summer, we wanted to call it a day and return to our hammocks. But since we would’ve had to wait another hour for the bus to take us back to town, we combined this little excursion with our first hitch hiking experience. And with our barefoot hippie driver in her old shaky car, this first time couldn’t have been more authentic.

As mentioned before, it’s not quite easy to leave this Neverland on the coast of Uruguay. And so, also we – like so many others before us – extended our stay to a third night, cancelling our hostel reservation in Montevideo, deciding for the bus at 2am, and attending the full moon party at what they call their “bar” – it was really not much more than a hut 100m from the hostel, where all staff and guests gathered after yet another delicious dinner. Nevertheless, the place, just like the hostel, had a great vibe to it, and if we would’ve known that we’d miss the bus at 2am because it didn’t stop at the station where we were waiting, we could’ve easily stayed another couple of hours, just talking the night away with some amazing people. In the end, we did manage to leave Punta Del Diablo, heavy heartedly, but also happy that we finally made it onto the bus at 4am, after walking 2,6km through the fresh and windy night to the terminal. But even this final adventure couldn’t lessen our love and passion for this amazing place. If you ever visit Uruguay, make sure to stop by the Diablo Tranquilo in Punta Del Diablo, and don’t count on leaving anytime soon after arriving to the most tranquilo place on earth.

MY TIPS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Book your ferry with ColoniaExpress: we went from Buenos Aires to Colonia for €65 round-trip and the ferry took 1:10h. However, if Punta del Diablo will be your main destination (which I would highly recommend), it might be more convenient/economical to take a direct ferry to Punta del Este and continue by bus from there.
Bus from Colonia to Montevideo: can be booked directly at the bus terminal in Colonia; leaves every hour; takes 2:50h; costs €11
Bus from Montevideo to Punta del Diablo: can be booked directly at the bus terminal in Montevideo; leaves roughly every 3 hours; takes 4:30h; costs €18
You can check time tables for bus departures in advance online on URUBUS
A direct ferry to Punta del Este costs approx. €130-150 and takes 7 hours. Since the entire trip from Buenos Aires via Colonia to Punta del Diablo cost us roughly €125 (€65 ferry + €60 bus Colonia-Punta del Diablo round-trip) as well, and took even longer (we had to spend a night in Colonia), I would recommend going to Punta del Este directly by ferry and taking the 2:30h bus from there to Punta del Diablo. It might be slightly more expensive, but it saves you some travel time on the bus and probably a night at a hostel.
However, in the end you have to decide for yourself, whether you want to see the other cities, such as Montevideo & Punta del Este. In my opinion you’re not missing out on anything, if you don’t visit these places and just enjoy some relaxing days in Punta del Diablo.
Hostel recommendation in Colonia: Hostel del Río (€10)
Restaurant recommendation in Colonia: Pizzería Don Joaquín – best Pizza I’ve had in a long time!
Hostel recommendation in Punta del Diablo: El Diablo Tranquilo (€11)
Whenever you can, pay by VISA credit card and get up to 20% discount on your bill