Punta del Este Travel Guide
Brazil Hotel Guide / Hotel Openings / Fasano Hotels / Punta del Este Hotels / Scott Mitchem / → All Tags
Brazil's Fasano Hotel to Open in Punta Del Este This December (and It's Already Sold-Out)
Brazil is hot and its going to get hotter in the next decade, thanks to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. That's why we're having journalist Scott Mitchem, who has been traveling to Brazil for years, give us the lowdown on the country’s evolving hotel scene as well as its top players. This week he’s highlighting some of the market’s more interesting developments, starting with what’s new from the country’s premier luxury hospitality company, which is actually expanding outside of Brazil.
If you are familiar with the existing Fasano Hotels - the flagship in São Paulo and the follow-up in Rio de Janeiro – you understand the excitement surrounding the group’s first international property. The family’s century-old reputation as Brazil’s finest restaurateurs, and now one of the world’s top luxury hotel brands is well established among South America’s tastemakers, which made Punta del Este the obvious place to begin the brand’s international expansion.
HotelChatter Questions / New Year's Eve Hotels / Punta Del Este Hotels / → All Tags
Who Knew Punta Del Este Hotels Are All Full Up for New Year's Eve?
This sea lion waited too long to book a hotel room for New Year's Eve.
Got a hotel question? HotelChatter wants to answer it. Send us your questions and we'll put our team of contributors to the task. Today, Eric Rosen fields a question about hotels in Punta Del Ester, Uruguay.
Last week, we got a question from one of our readers about how to get a hotel reservation in Uruguay’s Riviera-like beach party town, Punta Del Este, for New Year’s. It went a little like this:
I was reading a 2008 article by Matt Chesterton on hotels in La Barra. We are looking to book hotels over the upcoming New Year holiday but every places seems to be booked. Do you have any tips or suggestions on getting a place for this time period? We are two adults so we don’t need a huge space. Also, what is the likelihood that there are hotels available that don’t show up in a Google search?
First things first: Though I have been to Uruguay, I have not been to Punta del Este. Still, I already knew that it is probably the most popular New Year’s destination in South America, and that it would be practically impossible to find something for our reader at this point. It's sort of like the Cancun and/or Vegas for South America--where people come from other (more conservative) South American countries to have fun and let loose. There are tons of hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, casinos, and miles and miles of beautiful beaches, but it's not dangerous like Rio.
Yet like the sea lion picture above, you may be sleeping on the beach if you've got your heart set on celebrating New Year's Eve in Punta Del Este and you haven't booked a hotel room.
But I do have a few suggestions for our reader.
Punta Del Este Hotel Guide / Matt Chesterton / Uruguay Hotels / → All Tags
Punta del Este Hotel Scene: José Ignacio
Once again Matt Chesterton has returned to HotelChatter. All week long he will be schooling us on the hot hotel scene in Punta del Este, Uruguay. Any tips, suggestion or questions? Send 'em our way and we'll have Matt answer them for ya. For now, sit back and enjoy.
With our customary zeal for persnickety research, we've unearthed a draft (never published) of a tourist brochure for José Ignacio, the fishing village turned chi-chi resort located 25 km or so east of Punta del Este city. Here's an excerpt:
José Ignacio is the perfect spot to hunker down in during a nuclear holocaust. It's remote enough to ensure no belligerent would waste a missile leveling it but easily reachable from Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and other international hubs.
You'll have access to several well-stocked supermarkets in JI, as well as the world's second largest ocean, so you'll be able to feast on cod and canned sweet corn whenever you fancy! The famous faro (lighthouse) offers panoramic views of the coastline, enabling you and your fellow citizens to keep tabs on the movements of those inevitable gangs of radioactive mutants. And here's the best part. Jose Ignacio is home to an ever-swelling community of writers, artists, new-media tycoons, fashion designers, and beach bums - all the components needed to reboot western civilization from scratch!
Sign up today! Our H-Bomb holiday package starts at 50 million euros for 40 years bed and breakfast -- tax free!
The threat of a thermonuclear freak-out has of course receded since this brochure was penned; the attractions of José Ignacio, on the other hand, have never loomed larger: Latin America's 'best-kept secret' has gone viral.
Punta Del Este Hotel Guide / Matt Chesterton / Uruguay Hotels / → All Tags
Punta del Este Hotel Scene: La Barra
Once again Matt Chesterton has returned to HotelChatter. All week long he will be schooling us on the hot hotel scene in Punta del Este, Uruguay. Any tips, suggestion or questions? Send 'em our way and we'll have Matt answer them for ya. For now, sit back and enjoy.
Bikini Beach: The Taliban's and Susan Sarandon's worst nightmare and every frat boy's soggiest wet dream; less a fleshpot than a fleshcauldron. It's not, however, an elitist scene. Anyone, blonde or brunette, very rich or slightly rich, is encouraged to declare their assets on this sand stage. The only prerequisites are a) enormous fake breasts; b) a wasp waist; c) a bikini. (Interestingly, going topless is a no-no in Punta. No one knows why.)
Punta Del Este Hotel Guide / Matt Chesterton / Uruguay Hotels / → All Tags
Punta del Este Hotel Scene: Staying in The City
Once again Matt Chesterton has returned to HotelChatter. All week long he will be schooling us on the hot hotel scene in Punta del Este, Uruguay. Any tips, suggestion or questions? Send 'em our way and we'll have Matt answer them for ya. For now, sit back and enjoy.
A Martian sends a postcard home from Punta del Este:
Even by Earth standards, this is a strange place. Person A will pay person B to put lumps of plastic underneath her skin. This is so person A becomes bigger. At the same time, person A will pay person C to wake them up in the morning and compel them to do an hour's vigorous exercise. This is so person A becomes smaller. Strangest of all is this: the less time a person spends in his hotel room, the more he pays for it. Apparently if you screw someone just a little bit, they will complain; but if you screw someone really hard, they will brag about it. Wish you were here. PS Please wire more money. PPS Preferably the money known as euros; the currency known as dollars is worth shit.
But at least he didn't write: Punta del Este is the Hamptons of South America. We're getting sick of reading this. [Ed. Note: Oops.] There may even come a point when we get sick of writing it. If only travel journalists would go on strike and Leno's writers go back to work. Does the Hamptons have a hand in the sand? Or anything like this? Case dismissed.
Punta Del Este Hotel Guide / Matt Chesterton / Uruguay Hotels / → All Tags
An Introduction to the Punta del Este Hotel Scene
Once again Matt Chesterton has returned to HotelChatter. All week long he will be schooling us on the hot hotel scene in Punta del Este, Uruguay. Any tips, suggestion or questions? Send 'em our way and we'll have Matt answer them for ya. For now, sit back and enjoy.
In case you hadn't noticed, a crucial, not to mention fiercely fought contest is currently underway. The outcome is uncertain, the stakes sky-high. Candidates? There are many; and all of them have to strut, fret, smirk, and when all else fails, beg. There are friends to placate, enemies to crush, thousands of hands to shake, and a seemingly infinite number of babies to kiss. (Fatigue will take its toll: somewhere along the line a hand will be kissed and a baby shaken.)
Yup, it's mid January in Punta del Este. And before the month is out the glossies will have anointed this season's most coveted awards -- Top Blonde, Rack of the Year and, most hankered-after of all, This Summer's Firm-Yet-Tactile Buttocks. In these competitions, everyone wants the booby prize.
Punta Del Este Hotel Reviews / → All Tags
Southern Hemisphere Hamptons For The Holidays
Want to impress your friends with your New Year's getaway destination? Punta Del Este is the place to be. However, getting a room on Punta Del Este the week between Christmas and New Year's is tough -- Punta Del Este is to Argentinians what the Hamptons is to New Yorkers. And remember, we are talking Southern Hemisphere, so January 1st is their July 4th. Got it?
As for hotels, we have done a Punta Del Este hotel round up before, but a new boutique hotel has come across our radar -- how quaint, they still use the word boutique with pride down there. La Capilla is not going to blow you away with its design innovation, nor its visually impressive rooms, but if you are looking for a short walk to the beach, a five minute cab ride to Punta center, and a decent size room for around $100 -- doubles and up may do it for you here.
One caveat, the La Capilla walls are thin, and the Punta parties tend to go all night, especially during the holiday season.
Related Stories:
· Hotels in Punta Del Este [HotelChatter]
· Punta Del Este Travel [Jaunted]
Cubicle Dreamin' / Uruguay Hotel Reviews / Matt Gross / → All Tags
Cubicle Dreamin': Punta del Este
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven PBB heads for Uruguay. Enjoy.
Depending on who you ask, Punta del Este is either totally hot or totally going to be over in six months. I don't really care--it's not snowing there right now. And if I won't be able to see flurries out my hotel window, I'll be happy.
La Posta del Cangrejo was Frugal Traveler Matt Gross's pick when he stayed on Uruguay's hottest peninsula, and it looks like a great spot for me too. The rates, for an ocean view room, are starting at $100 right now: Much less than you'd expect to pay at some Caribbean budget-killer. Despite the price, sounds like you don't get low-budget flaws.
The location is outstanding, those staying at Mantra were quite jealous indeed. Had an oceanview room which I thought was relatively small for American standards (compared to like a resort in Miami) but in line w/ what you consider a nice size room in Europe. Bathroom can use some updates, again reminded me of Europe a lot. The pool is lovely and has a great view, we used to lounge there for a few hours after breakfast.
Oooo... I'm already envisioning the flurries vanishing.
[Photo:TripAdvisor]
Related Stories:
· La Posta del Cangrejo reviews [Tripadvisor]
Tips / → All Tags
Punta Del Este Hotel Scene: For The Web Reader
Did you know spending time on the web makes you slowly go illiterate? Think about it.
We covered hotels in Punta del Este at length today. Here are the results, all wrapped up in a clickable package for ya.
· Esturión de Montaya in Clowns Are Evil
· Posada del Faro in South American Beach Hideaway
· Mantra Resort in Where New Yorkers Go In Uruguay
· Conrad Punta Del Este Resort in Amazing Race 5 Uruguay Hotels
Hotels / → All Tags
Clowns Are Evil
For the record, clowns scare the hell out of us--we really don't like 'em.
However, we understand that some kids like to hang out with these pale freaks.
Almost as if to prove Punta del Este isn't just just for bikini clad drunks, Esturión de Montaya, a beachfront hotel in the middle of the melee, put an Escuela de Circo de la Playa (Circus for the Kids) on the beach in front of their property.
The youngest members of the family are welcome to our children's section and to the Escuela de Circo de la Playa (a circus school) where they can learn the art of juggling, the skill of acrobatics and what it feels like on the ropes and trapeze.
Repeat after us: Clowns are Siths, Masters of the Dark Arts, Painted Maestros of Evil.
Other than the clown thing, this place looks like a cool beachfront hotel in hotter than hot Punta del Este.
Related Stories:
· Esturión de Montaya [aluruguay]
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Mantra: Where New Yorkers Go In Uruguay
Punta del Este is the "it" town in Uruguay. It is the place where high rolling Argentines and Brazilians go to party. So it is no wonder that the Euros and Americans are starting to join the party.
Where do you stay when visiting Bikini Beach? Well if you want to be close to Punta, but not directly in the fray, check out Mantra. Mantra Resort is a member of the Leading Small Hotels of The World and if you are traveling with kids, Mantra is specifically up to the task.
Leave the little ones at the Kids' Club while you go to the beach, the nightclubs, or the nearby casino.
So what is the downside to this hotel? It is a bit of a car ride from Punta Del Este proper, and according to one recent visitor:
It attracts a bit too many people from New York. There was one couple there with their kids who were so unbelievably annoying and loud and insulting ... it embarassed me to tell people I was from NYC.
Related Stories:
· Mantra Resort Reviews [TripAdvisor]
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