Punta del Diablo

Punta del Diablo needs 2 days: touring its two main beaches, La Viuda and La Rada, separated by the rocky point where the original fishermen's shacks cluster, on one, an excursion to nearby Santa Teresa National Park, with its colonial fortress and plant nursery, on the other. December-February is high season, though the town fills with a younger, more backpacker-oriented crowd than Punta del Este or José Ignacio. It's cheap by Uruguayan coast standards. It started as a fishing hamlet with no defined urban plan, and that grid of unnamed sandy lanes, which it still keeps, is part of its bohemian identity in contrast to the real estate development of other Rocha resorts.