1.
The “Fingers” monument is a sculpture by the Uruguayan artist Mario Irarrassabal, installed on Punta del Este beach in 1982. It is one of the best-known symbols of Uruguay.
The monument has an unofficial name, Los Dedos, which translates as “Fingers,” but the sculpture was originally intended to become a monument to the Drowned Man. Five fingers from the left hand are literally bursting out from beneath a layer of beach sand on Brava Beach. The huge fingers, more than three meters tall, are meant to remind visitors of those who lost their lives along the shores of Punta del Este.
The sculpture was installed in 1982 during a festival of modern urban sculpture. Today, “Fingers” has arguably become the city’s most famous monument, drawing streams of tourists.
2.
The Marine Museum is a small museum dedicated to marine flora, fauna, and the history of Caribbean pirates, located on the Atlantic Ocean coast in Uruguay.
The Marine Museum is an attempt to bring together the main trends of a seaside town in Latin America. Here you can see a significant collection of marine mollusks and shells displayed in decorated rooms and lit with artificial light. In another hall, there are wax figures of famous pirates, next to which you’ll find plaques with the life stories of these outlaws who kept the continent in fear for several centuries. The museum also offers information about the history of the Uruguayan coast and features the skeletons of the largest marine mammals that lived in the Atlantic waters.
3.
The Ralli Museum is located in the center of Punta del Este and is devoted to contemporary art from South American countries. The museum is housed in a huge building surrounded by a park, which is also part of the exhibition.
The Ralli Museum was founded in 1988 with funding from the Uruguayan patron Harry Recanati. Establishing the museum in Uruguay and its popularity led to the expansion of the Recanati family’s museum network and the opening of museums in Chile, Israel, and Spain.
In Punta del Este, the Ralli Museum is located in a large mansion with an interior courtyard and park grounds, where works by contemporary South American sculptors are displayed, as well as several works by Salvador Dalí. The scenic part of the exhibition features works by postmodernists and surrealists.
Admission to the museum is free, and photography is also free. The museum’s creators consider their main mission to be promoting national art around the world, so everything in the museum is aimed at introducing the largest possible number of visitors to contemporary South American art.
4.
The Lionel Viera Bridge connects Punta del Este with another popular beach resort, La Barra.
The bridge was built in 1965 according to a design by Lionel Viera, the well-known Uruguayan architect whose structural ideas formed the foundation of modern architecture, as applied in such famous structures as Madison Square Garden and Washington International Airport.
The bridge has a wavy shape and literally twists over two supports that lift it above the waters of the Maldonado stream.
The silhouette of the Lionel Viera Bridge has become one of the symbols of the province, and its functionality has been confirmed in our time, when, alongside the original bridge, another twin bridge was constructed.
5.
Casapueblo is a magnificent home built by the Uruguayan artist Carlos Páez Vilar on the shore of a bay, 12 kilometers from Punta del Este.
Casapueblo is one of the symbols of Uruguay. The house, built in a whimsical style combining elements of different architectural schools, rises above the coastline like a huge, pristine white rock. The abstract artist created this monument himself in the mid-1960s, dedicating it to the people of Uruguay.
Today, this building houses an Art Gallery, a museum, and also a hotel.
6.
The Port of Punta del Este is a vast area in the seaside city of Punta del Este in eastern Uruguay. Here you’ll find many hotels and cafés, and a well-developed tourist infrastructure-yacht clubs and waterfront restaurants.
The Port of Punta del Este is a tourist area-there are no large transport terminals and heavy industrial enterprises typical of major ports. In Punta del Este, hotels and hostels of various categories are concentrated, many of which have access to the beach.
The coastline is perfect for walking-there is an excellent beach equipped with loungers and awnings, a promenade surrounded by high-rise hotels, and also a small rocky beach from where you can enjoy views of the eastern tip of the La Plata Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
7.
The Alto de Ballena vineyards are a business founded in 1988 by local wine enthusiasts. Today, Alto de Ballena is a huge winemaking complex spread over 20 hectares in the southeast of Uruguay.
The winery is located in the hills of Alto de Ballena near Punta del-
Este. Vineyards are also located here, along with several wine restaurants and guest houses where tourists can stay.
The winery’s current capacity allows it to produce up to 60,000 bottles of Uruguayan wine per year. The large barrels where the wine is stored are also located here, in the basement rooms of the winery’s main building.
The tour includes a visit to the vineyards, the wine restaurant (considered the best in the country), and a tasting of local wine varieties. Alto de Ballena is a popular place, so tours to the winery should be booked in advance.
