Find the best beaches in Punta del Este with our Insider's Advice
Soon after Labor Day, cocktail conversation with any bevy of Miami's glamorous South American expats inevitably turns to Punta del Este, as in "Are you going before or after Christmas?" and "How long after New Year's are you staying?" Put simply, Punta del Este is to Buenos Aires and São Paulo (and, bit by bit, Miami) what the Hamptons are to Manhattan. I've spent the past dozen years living in South Beach, where my Argentine friends have taught me that it pays to eat meals of lightly marinated steak with tomato and lettuce salad and to make shopping trips to Buenos Aires — and that "Punta" is the only place in the world worth spending the week between Christmas and New Year's Day.
For decades, porteños ("people of the port," which is what natives of Buenos Aires call themselves) have flocked to the narrow, sandy strip of forested Uruguayan coastline officially known as Punta del Este. For them it's an upscale retreat that's a mere forty-five-minute flight from home. When the Argentine peso was pegged to the U.S. dollar, in the nineties, Argentina's economy soared and Punta's popularity skyrocketed. After the peso's devaluation, in 2002, the resultant strength of the dollar and euro led Americans and Europeans to trek there as never before.
Since then the gorgeous seaside town has had its share of booms and busts — largely a product of Argentina's unstable political climate in the early 2000s — yet it remains the preferred summer vacation spot for the Latin American elite. Annually, there's a small window of time, from roughly December 20 through February 28, when every hotel, restaurant and shop is open and packed to the hilt and all of Punta vibrates with life. An addendum to this is Easter weekend, when the crowds return for one last hurrah.
Until recently, planning a trip to Punta was a challenge for those Stateside unless they were accompanied by their tuned-in South American friends. Not because the city was ever regarded as unsafe or unfriendly to Americans, quite the contrary, but because things there change on a dime and it's hard to keep up. Before my first visit, friends encouraged me to rent a house or stay with them, insisting that Punta wasn't a "hotel type of town." By the end of that trip, I had uncovered a few lodging gems but also understood why it can be difficult for nonlocals to get a bead on the place. What's new and interesting one year is often sold and renamed by the next. Giuseppe Cipriani's resort lasted only one season (from 2003 to 2004) before it was reincarnated as the Mantra. Cream, one of the most fashionable spots for sunset cocktails for more than five years, closed permanently this year when a family bought the property; they're rumored to be building a home on it. Even some beachside boutiques pick up and move every year (but usually within the immediate area). What's more, you still cannot find an English-language guide to the resort; those handbooks devoted to Uruguay concentrate on Montevideo, the country's capital.
But today Punta draws more visitors than before. Word of its stunning beaches, delicious cuisine and dazzling nightlife is spreading, and Americans and Europeans without South American ties are enlisting knowledgeable travel agents to help them plan trips there. And although prices are generally higher than elsewhere in South America, for United States residents the exchange rate is still much more favorable than those in Europe.
