Uruguay in 2 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)
Two days in Uruguay: Montevideo plus a Colonia day trip, nothing else
Two days is not enough for the Atlantic coast, so this plan doesn’t try. Day one covers Montevideo’s old town and waterfront; day two is a day trip out to Colonia del Sacramento’s UNESCO old town and back to the capital by evening. Skip Punta del Este at this length, the bus alone eats most of a day you don’t have. Budget roughly $45-70 a day per person, and watch the currency trap: Uruguay’s peso is written with the same “$” sign as the US dollar, so a menu showing “$450” is about $11, not $450. Room for the coast too? The 3-day plan turns the Colonia trip into an overnight, and the 4-day plan adds Punta del Este.
| Day | Focus | Travel time | Cost (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montevideo: Ciudad Vieja, Mercado del Puerto, the Rambla | Carrasco Airport transfer, 20-40 min | $45-65 |
| 2 | Colonia del Sacramento, day trip, back to Montevideo by evening | Bus 2h45 each way from Tres Cruces | $35-50 |
Book these before you go:
- Montevideo hotel or apartment : book central, near Ciudad Vieja or Pocitos, so an early day-two bus is a short taxi away.
- Colonia del Sacramento day tour : a guided walk fills in what the cobblestones don’t explain on their own.
- Buquebus ferry schedules : useful if you’re stitching this onto a Buenos Aires trip rather than flying straight into Montevideo.
Before you land: pesos, not dollars, and the bus you’ll actually use
Uruguay’s currency is the peso (UYU), and the mix-up is genuinely common: locals write it with a plain “$” sign, identical to the US dollar symbol, while an actual US dollar price gets marked “U$S.” At roughly 40 pesos to the dollar in mid-2026 (the rate drifts, so treat that as a guide, not a fixed number), a “$100” snack is about $2.50, not $100. Carrasco International Airport (MVD) sits 20-40 minutes from central Montevideo by taxi or the cheaper COT public bus. Arriving from Buenos Aires instead? Buquebus runs direct to Montevideo in about 2h30 (roughly $85-100 one way) or to Colonia in about 1h15 (roughly $60-90), both worth booking ahead in high season. Current entry rules are on the Ministry of Tourism’s site .
Where to stay for one night in Montevideo
Ciudad Vieja puts you inside walking distance of everything on day one and close to Tres Cruces for an early departure; a budget hotel or hostel runs roughly $25-45 a night. Pocitos, the beach neighborhood, costs a little more but has the better dinner options. Either way, a foreign-issued card gets Uruguayan hotels a real VAT exemption for non-resident tourists, worth asking about at check-in.
Day 1: Montevideo, the capital nobody remembers is the capital
Punta del Este is not the capital, Montevideo is, worth clearing up before you land. Spend the morning in Ciudad Vieja: Plaza Independencia, the 1928 Palacio Salvo, and Teatro Solis, the oldest opera house in the Americas (guided tours roughly $10 for foreign visitors). Lunch at Mercado del Puerto, the 19th-century iron-roofed market that’s Montevideo’s parrilla headquarters; a shared grilled-meat platter for two runs roughly $50. Afternoon and evening belong to the Rambla, the roughly 22km waterfront promenade locals call the world’s longest sidewalk (a strong claim, not a certified record), best walked toward sunset with dinner in Pocitos after. More on the capital itself is at montevideo.gub.uy .
Day 2: Colonia del Sacramento, the day trip that earns the whole day
Catch an early bus from Tres Cruces (roughly 2h45, $14-20 one way) and give the whole day to Colonia’s Barrio Historico, a UNESCO World Heritage old town where Portuguese and Spanish colonial styles genuinely mix on the same cobblestone streets, including the photogenic Calle de los Suspiros. Climb the 1857 lighthouse (roughly $U100, about $2.50, cash preferred since USD isn’t reliably accepted at the booth) for river views, then wander until the afternoon ferry crowds from Buenos Aires clear out and the town quiets down. Catch a late-afternoon bus back to Montevideo in time for dinner; confirm the last useful departure the day you arrive, since schedules shift.
Is 2 days enough time for Uruguay?
Two days covers Montevideo’s essentials and one full day in Colonia del Sacramento, but it’s a highlight reel of a much bigger country. You get Ciudad Vieja, Mercado del Puerto, the Rambla, and Colonia’s old town, while the entire Atlantic coast, Punta del Este through Cabo Polonio, gets cut completely. If any of that matters, budget at least 4 days.
How much does 2 days in Uruguay actually cost?
Figure roughly $90-140 total per person: one night’s budget lodging, two days of meals, the Tres Cruces bus round trip to Colonia, and the lighthouse entry fee. That sits at the backpacker end of Uruguay’s $40-60-a-day band, a band that runs noticeably higher than neighboring Argentina or Peru for the same kind of meal. Add a sit-down parrilla dinner or two and the total climbs toward $150-180 for the two days.
Money moves that matter in 48 hours
Carry small pesos for the Colonia lighthouse and any market stall; cards work in most of central Montevideo but not everywhere, and change comes back in pesos even where a price was quoted in dollars. Skip exchanging money at the airport past what covers a taxi; bank-rate ATMs in Ciudad Vieja beat the airport counter.