The exceptional ecotourism of Rocha

[Iberia Airlines]

Two hours' drive east from Montevideo and a little over an hour from Punta del Este lies a stretch of coast some 180 kilometres (112 miles) long that's been the secret of a few in-the-know Uruguayans and fewer neighboring Argentines, and even fewer other foreign visitors - with wild sand dunes, little villages, sea-lion colonies, whale watching (October and November), and unspoilt white-sand beaches such as Punta del Diablo, Cabo Polonia, Santa Teresa (top), and La Paloma. But my subject today lies not here but inland: a look at the ecotourism bounty of one of Uruguay's more undersung departments, La Rocha.

read post