Once a simple fishing village -- and still a simple fishing village between March and November -- minding its own business, roosting on a stunning, U-shaped stretch of coastline, JI is now a magnet for what we might call the judicious jet-set; the kind of people who helpfully stack piles of old New Yorkers in all five guest bedrooms and whose byline might even appear in its venerable pages. British literary superstar Martin Amis, whose wife is Uruguayan, lived here for a couple of years.

But you don't need to have written Money to enjoy a weekend (or, better yet, a decade) in JI -- you just need to have quite a bit of it; though -- we repeat -- rates start dropping sharply at around the same time as do the leaves.

Casa Suaya

You may have heard of Adolfo Suaya, the restaurateur behind LA eateries The Lodge and Geisha House. It's only a matter of time these days before a chap like this opens a boutique lodging, and here it is. There are six beautiful rooms, modernistic but cozy, and more to come next year, along with a restaurant.

Azul Marino Posada & Bed and Breakfast

Our online dictionary provides us with the following definition of 'posada': '(in some Spanish-speaking countries) a government-operated or -approved inn offering moderately priced rooms to tourists, esp. in a historic area.' Hmm. But then the Holiday Inn isn't really an 'inn,' is it? Semantics aside, Azul Marino is a very classy whatever, with nine rooms, all with great views of the famous lighthouse and/or the ocean. The super-friendly (we're yet to meet a Uruguayan we didn't like) staff will help arrange horse rides, water skiing, fishing excursions, and so on.

La Posada del Faro

Another posada -- and one that, we blush to confess, we know very little about. Our ignorance, happily, is your bliss, since it allows us to dragoon the services of a proper writer and journalist, the wonderful Ian Mount:

I've often wondered if hoteliers who embrace all-white design are hiding color-blindness or trying to save pesos on paint tint, but José García Arocena's elegantly calm Posada del Faro proves that the sunbleached-by-the-Med look is not an unfailing predictor of achromatopsia or shabby stinginess.

A sunset view of the ocean, decidedly non-ugly guests like Naomi Campbell and Gisele Bundchen, and an in-pool bar for indolent cirrhosis-seekers don't hurt.

[Photo: Cintra Scott]