Discover Colonia del Sacramento–Private City Tour UNESCO

The historic city of Colonia del Sacramento, founded in 1680, evokes images of ancient Lisbon for its Portuguese-style architecture and winding streets. Colonia is located in the southwestern part of Uruguay, on the River Plate, and in 1995 UNESCO declared it to World Heritage Site. You can visit Colonia easily by ferry from Buenos Aires in just a day trip, and this is one of the reasons that make its beaches a popular destination of great tourist attraction for Argentines. Among its main monuments are the Church Matrix, which is the oldest in the country, the Municipal Museum and a port dating from the seventeenth century that merges harmoniously with the river.

It was built in the year 1745 by order of the Portuguese governor Vasconcellos who at that time was leading these lands. In its origins the Door was the portico of entrance to Colony, protected at that time by a strong military of thick walls that were frequent target of pirate attacks, Spanish and English.

It is born in the Plaza Mayor and continues on a slope to the Río de la Plata. It is a narrow street with Portuguese characteristics, cobbled with a wedge and without sidewalks. The sides are tilted towards the center to form a drainage channel.

The houses, built in the first half of the 18th century, have stone walls, tile roofs and ceramic floors. The doors and windows are small and made of wood, although only houses with a gabled roof are preserved.

It was built in January 1857. It has two red flashes every nine seconds. It is a circular tower of white masonry with a dome with white and red radial stripes. It has a unique structure with a square base and a cylindrical tower that reaches the lantern. It was built on one of the old towers of the Convent of San Francisco, whose ruins are at the foot of the lighthouse. Its height is 26 meters and has a luminous range of 7.8 nautical miles

The Basilica has a most unusual altar feature for its time and even now; an back lit semi-circular alcove that features a very large monstrance (receptacle for displaying the Sacred Host or Blessed Sacrament). The outside brickwork shows the Portuguese influence of its builders.

The Plaza de Toros Real de San Carlos is located in the Real de San Carlos area, 5 km from the historic neighborhood of Colonia del Sacramento, capital of the department of Colonia, Uruguay. It is the only place that remains in Uruguay and was erected with a Mudejar style, very similar to the bullring of Spain, preserving arches and some circumference details. It is a work done by the Argentine architect José Marcovich and the engineer Dupuy. It was inaugurated on January 9, 1910 with eight official runs, although there were more than eighty, because the space for shows was still used even under the prohibition of running by President José Batlle and Ordonez in 1912.

Stop at the Colonia Cartel to take some beautiful photos of our tourists with the memory of their visit to the city and also to enjoy the landscape of the Río de la Plata

Visit to the Pencil Museum and Granja Arenas (Wines and Cheeses)