Travel Tips
Boat Travel
Ferries run frequently across the Río de la Plata between Buenos Aires and the Uruguayan cities of Colonia and Montevideo. Seacat or Colonia Express catamarans, which take an hour or less to Colonia and three hours to Montevideo, offer the best value. Full-price round-trip tickets cost around 1,000 and 1,250 pesos, respectively, but they often drop as low as 650 and 770 pesos if you book online (same-day return tickets are sometimes even less). Buquebus offers similar services on high-speed ferries. Round-trip tickets cost 1,350 pesos to Colonia and 1,550 pesos to Montevideo, but there are substantial off-peak and midweek discounts.
All three companies also sell packages that include bus tickets to La Paloma, Montevideo, and Punta del Este direct from Colonia's ferry terminal. You can order tickets by phone or online. Buquebus and Seacat leave from a terminal at the northern end of Puerto Madero. The Colonia Express terminal is on Avenida Pedro de Mendoza (the extension of Avenida Huergo) at 20 de Septiembre, south of Puerto Madero. It's best reached by taxi.
Contacts
Buquebus. 11/4316–6500; www.buquebus.com.
Colonia Express. 11/4317–4100; www.coloniaexpress.com.
Seacat. 11/4314–5100; www.seacatcolonia.com.