Trip to Colonia del Sacramento from Buenos Aires

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
4
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
6
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
4
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
3
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
3
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
6
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
47 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
388th/454
Bottom 20%
continent
South America
country
Argentina / Uruguay
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$120 (typically $80 - $160)
Time of year visited
January
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Border crossing Ferry Old town
All Tags
UNESCO world heritage site
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐

Summary

Only a roughly 2 hour ferry ride from Buenos Aires, the UNESCO world heritage town of Colonia del Sacramento is worth taking the day trip to explore. Its quite touristy in places, but its quite easy to get away from the crowds and wander through the narrow cobbled streets of Barrio Historico whilst also looking out over the Rio de la Plata that surrounds the peninsular.  Check it out if have a free day.

Highlights

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#1 Checking out the Uruguayan Chivito!

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#2 Walk back from the bull ring along the waterfront to the old town on a sunny day

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#3 Wandering around the old colonial streets and imagining what it must have been like back when it was part of a key smuggling route

Travel Tips

Ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento – you’ll want to go with one of the two main ferry companies – either Buquebus or Colonia Express Ferries. Pretty similar from what we saw in terms of price, although Buqebus seemed to have more departures. Buquebus departs from Puerto Madero, Colonia Express Ferries from Terminal Internacional de Cruceros on Ave Inmigrantes. Make sure you get to the terminal 30mins before departure as you’ll need to clear customs.  Ferry time is around 1 hour 30mins.

There are quite a few restaurants in town, but many are quite touristy and offer only fairly basic food. Although on the plus side you can get your fill of the Uruguayan Chivito! (super tasty steak sandwich) We tried a few places, but none that really stood out. One place which we did like was La Pergola by the waterfront on the western tip which was a nice place on a sunny day to watch the crowds go by and hear the waves hitting.

The Old Bull Ring (Plaza de Toros Real de San Carlos) is around a 10min cab ride outside of town. While the bull ring itself is not really much to write home about (and you can’t get in!), the hour long walk back along the beach on a sunny day is quite nice.

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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