• Enjoy the eclectic mix of colonial, European and modern influences in Montevideo; Uruguay's capital city. Don't miss the Ciudad Vieja (Old Town), the fascinating Gaucho Museum, the recently opened Carnival Museum and the appealing beach suburbs east of town.

• Soak in the many hot springs near Salto: including the remote and tranquil Termas de Arapey, the family-friendly Termas de Daymán, or the new-agey Termas de San Nicanor.

• Stroll Colonia del Sacramento's cobblestoned streets and sycamore-shaded plazas, watch the sunset over the Río de la Plata, and enjoy the cozy restaurants and cafes of Uruguay's oldest city, founded in 1680.

• Visit Carlos Paéz Vilaró's extravagantly whimsical art studio, Casapueblo (website: www.carlospaezvilaro.com), a nine-story whitewashed masterpiece cascading down the cliffs of Punta Ballena, near Punta del Este.

• Contemplate the international impact of the Oxo beef cube (manufactured in Uruguay and prized by everyone from Edmund Hillary to soldiers in the WWI trenches) at the Museo de la Revolución Industrial; a 19th-century meat processing plant-turned-museum in Fray Bentos.

• Climb into the beautiful hills around Minas, visiting the source of Uruguay's popular Salus mineral water or basking in the rural tranquility of Villa Serrana; a tiny hilltop village.

• Ride the waves and wander the endless sandy beaches at low-key Atlantic resorts like Punta del Diablo, La Paloma and La Pedrera.

•Sample Uruguay's fine dairy products in the 19th-century Swiss settlement of Colonia Suiza (The Swiss Colony), west of the capital.

• Get a feel for the historic conflict between Spanish and Portuguese forces at the northern fortresses of Santa Teresa and San Miguel near the Brazilian border.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.