Guided Day Trip to Colonia del Sacramento from Montevideo

Montevideo, Uruguay

Day Trip to Discover Citadel of Colonia del Sacramento from Montevideo

8 to 9 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Explore Colonia del Sacramento, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on this full-day tour from Montevideo. Listen to a guide's commentary on the Spanish and Portuguese heritage of the area, dating from the 17th century. Other stops include a local farm, a Uraguayan candy shop, and the Granja Colonia Collections Museum.

Explore the UNESCO World Heritage-listed citadel of Colonia del Sacramento
Learn about the Portuguese and Spanish heritage of the citadel and town
Visit a local farm and museum
Round-trip transport from Montevideo provided

What's Included

Hotel pickup and drop-off
Air-conditioned vehicle
Professional guide

Gratuities
Food and drinks
Museum ticket

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

08:00 AM

Pickup details

Our company starts picking up 07:50 am at the first hotel. Important you communicate to inform where you will be taking the service to coordinate the pick up nearest or the meeting point. Pick up only in hotel areas and within Montevideo.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Infants must sit on laps
May be operated by a multi-lingual guide
Children must be accompanied by an adult
Not wheelchair accessible

At time of booking, hotel name and address required
We do not accept passengers who are traveling on a cruise.
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 42 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Heather_P

Colonia was charming. Charco Bistro overlooking the bay was our lunch destination and we highly recommend it. The view from the lighthouse was worth the climb. Our tour guide, Marcela, was outstanding—professional, helpful and thorough. Thanks for a super tour!!

Reviews

4.0

113 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 113 reviews

Great Experience

Martha_S, Apr 2024

The tour was a great way to see more of Uruguay. Marcela, the guide, was very knowledgeable and professional. We learned a great deal about the history of Colonia. She took us to the best sites and allowed us plenty of time to enjoy the ones we preferred. As we were spending extra time in the town, she gave us great recommendations for additional activities.

Meh.

RalphLane_W, Apr 2024

The city was a bit dull. The guide spoke way too fast and seemed to be spitting out a memorized script as fast as she could. She repeated things 4 or 5 times (and still people on the bus were late). Since there were 3 languages, everything took 3 times as long. A big bus of old people. The speed changing between languages and the accent made it hard to understand when you needed to listen. More on lifestyle and less on road length and numbers would bring more heart into the tour.

Excellent

Erika_U, Mar 2024

Schedule, friendly, knowledge. The guide had a lot of experience. The bus was very cleaned…….each activity was very interesting

Very poor

Janeth_H, Feb 2024

Been picked up at 8:00am and by 10am still going around town picking the other travellers. . Doesn’t really worth to pay for the tour. They take you (literally) running to 3 different places for 2/3 minutes each and that’s all. The rest you have to do it by yourself.

Perfect tour!

Miguel_O, Jan 2024

We greatly enjoyed our tour and exploration of Colonia! Our ride to Colonia and back was incredibly pleasant - our tour guide Marcelo filled the time with fun, engaging, and educational information about the history of Uruguay and the Río de la Plata. We stopped to see a Plaza de toros on the way, and were then treated to a guided walking tour of the main sights of Colonia by Marcelo. Then we had a few hours to explore the town and eat lunch, which we greatly appreciated and made the most of. It was a perfect combination of guided learning and free exploration time. Colonia is a great place to visit and explore, and this guided tour was perfect for it!

Not very impressive

CheSayang_O, Jan 2024

This tour doesn’t take us to many interesting places . Three stop it was it . Not much things to see. I wish the tour guide can speak a little more English. She talks mostly in Spanish/Portugest. It was a little expensive.

Much Ado About Nothing

Roberta_M, Jan 2024

A lot of driving to see...well, not much. First stop, basically an enhanced bathroom break, was a dairy farm where we were rushed through an odd collection of "stuff," then jammed in a sales room that sold marmalade and cheeses. After a very cursory walking tour of Colonia, we were left to our own devices for 3 hours of very touristy and overpriced restaurants and gift shops. Don't fall for the hype....

Disappointed in Colonia del Sacramento

Arthur_L, Dec 2023

This was not much better than a bus ride to Colonia del Sacramento. It was a full bus, primarily populated by Spanish or Portuguese speakers, which would be entirely acceptable if I hadn't signed up for an English tour. Although the tour guide did try to insert some English commentary, to my ear it was insufficient and fairly uninformative. I would have easily had the same experience by taking a public bus to Colonia del Sacramento, picking up an English walking tour map at the local tourist office.

Beautiful city. Concise trip!

Michael_Q, Dec 2023

Really great way to conveniently and comfortable see the old town as a day trip from Montevideo. Guide and transport were excellent!

Incomprehensible Spanglish

Rainer_G, Dec 2023

It's an ok activity to spend a day. Colonia is a nice, small interesting place. It has a very interesting history (according to Wikipedia). The pencil museum is an experience of a life time (many of us probably could have done without it). The tour was completely let down by the Spanglish of the tour guide which was largely incomprehensible.

A great place, but tour experience was not the best.

Alan_K, Oct 2023

Colonia is a great place, but information from the guide was insufficient and inadequately presented.

Nice trip to Colonia

Mark_L, May 2023

Very nice trip with a helpful and attentive guide. Plenty of free time to explore the old town. My only slight issue was that I couldn’t hear the guide while on the bus, so missed most of the commentary.

Charming and historic place

Tammy_P, Mar 2023

Very nice interpreter, but her English was difficult to understand. I enjoyed walking around Colonia del Este.

Colônia

Jeff_Y, Mar 2023

I see why there are a variety of opinions about this trip. He tour operator was excellent. Picked up at hotel within five minutes of the communicated time, guide spoke in both Spanish and English, timelines for sightseeing were well thought out. The tour itself was not as interesting as I thought it would be. The scenery to Colonia is very bland. Flat, some agriculture, and some trees. If you saw five minutes outside Montevideo, you basically saw it all. Stopping at the farm with the Guiness record holder for a variety of collections like key chains, pins, perfume bottles, ashtrays, etc. was interesting, and gave a great restroom break. Colônia itself was only somewhat interesting. While many of the old constructions have been preserved, many were updated over the years. The lighthouse was fun to go up. Warning - you will not be allowed in with any type of open toed footwear. We had about three hours to eat and explorer which was more than enough.

Colonia at a glance

Malia_H, Mar 2023

The trip itself wasn't bad, but it was hard to hear the guide on the walking tour at times unless you were right up on them given the group size. By the time the walking tour and eating lunch was completed, you maybe had an hour left to explore if you were lucky.

Pretty and historical

Margie_P, Mar 2023

The city of Colonia is very lovely. there is a brief walking tour into the old center of town and then a few hours on your own.

Colonia from Montevideo

Sherry_V, Mar 2023

Hans know a lot about history. Did a great job showing us all around. He even knew about some nice restaurants. We even stopped at interesting place, where the world’s largest collection of pencils is! Wow! This trip is by bus about 2 hours there and 2 hours back, plus pick up time for passengers. They did pick some up in shuttles and brought us to meeting point, which helped. But, a long day.

I would not go with this tour guide until she can speak to where most can understand her.

James_M, Jan 2023

The guide spoke English but she spoke so fast that none of the English speaking people on the tour could understand her. When we told her this she seemed to get mad. If she would speak slower we may have been able to understand her. The places we visited were nice and she did help us some at the restaurants.

Waste of time and money

Guilherme_V, Jan 2023

Waste of time, money and expectations. The city is beautiful, but there is no reason to spend a day there.

A wonderful day trip

Thomas_M, Dec 2022

Excellent tour. Bus pick up at hotel on time. Guide spoke three languages, very personable and knowledgable. Colonia del Sacramento is a beautiful old town and it is very well preserved with lots of restaurants, cafes, shops etc. Reasonable prices, nice people, a wonderful day trip.