On the beach in January: the Montevideo waterfront

Walking along the waterfront in January, it is 80°F but feels considerably warmer. Even though Montevideo has a fantastic swimming beach right in the city, it is a workday so the beach is not the least bit crowded. In fact, it’s all but vacant by North American standards.

Montevideo waterfront and beaches

Technically speaking, the beach opens onto the waters of the river Rio de la Plata. However, if you look at where Montevideo is situated on a map, you’ll see that there’s hardly a distinction between the very mouth of the river and the wider Atlantic Ocean.

So I don’t think it’s stretching the truth too far to say that Montevideo has an ocean beach right inside its city limits. In fact, the entire waterfront starting from the industrial shipping docks on the west side of the city has a very nice paved path. It is wide enough for walkers, bicyclists, joggers, baby strollers, dogs… you name it.

Dotted with little parks and punctuated with benches every few meters, it is literally referred to as espacio publica (“public space”). I don’t know how long the path extends but I have walked about 6.5km (a little over 4 miles) of it and could see that it still extends far to the north and east from where I left off.

Did I mention already that Montevideo is my favorite of all the Latin American cities I have been to so far? Even if I have, it bears repeating.