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El Cubo de Montevideo

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Uruguay

Travel to Montevideo

Flying to Montevideo

Airlines offering flights to Montevideo from the UK include TAM Linhas Aeras, Iberia, Lufthansa, LAN Airlines and American Airlines. There are no direct flights to Montevideo from the UK. Flights to Montevideo from London take about 14 hours.

Flight times: 

From Madrid - 12 hours; Miami - 9 hours.

Travel by road

Summary:

Uruguay has an extensive system of paved highways and the roads into Montevideo are generally in good condition. Traffic drives on the right and the minimum driving age is 18 years old. An International Driving Permit or licence from your home country is required.

Emergency breakdown service:

Automobile Club of Uruguay (tel: 1707); Car Up (tel: (02) 628 1555).

Routes:

From Argentina, there are road crossings at Paysandú and further north, but it is simpler to take a boat across the River Plate's estuary from Buenos Aires with Buquebus (www.buquebus.com). There is a direct crossing to Montevideo and a shorter crossing to Colonia del Sacramento with bus connections on to the capital.

The ruta interbalnearia (inter-beach route) runs from Chuy on the Brazilian border all the way to Montevideo and is a pretty coastal drive, popular with tourists.

Driving times:

From Porto Alegre (Brazil) - 11 hours 30 minutes; São Paulo - 30 hours; Rio de Janeiro - 36 hours.

Coaches:

Pluma (tel: (41) 3212 2689; www.pluma.com.br) runs a variety of coach services from cities in Brazil. These buses and those from other parts of Uruguay arrive at the city's Tres Cruces bus station. A full list of operators and timetables is available online: www.trescruces.com.uy.

Travel by rail

Services:

Uruguay is devoid of long-distance rail services with only a few commuter services operating around Montevideo.

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