Ab Mvd: Ein Tag in Colonia del Sacramento (UNESCO-Welterbe)

If you’re looking for a half-day excursion that gets you outdoors in Uruguay, this is a great opportunity to learn and to see areas beyond Montevideo.

City is pleasant. Bus was on time. We could understand very little of what the guide told us in English. Might as well have driven there. Also, missed historic parts of town as we were pointed to restaurants and shops and away from historic areas. Audio in bus was fairly quiet, which made understanding even more difficult.

It was good to see the historic place and spend good amount of time there. The drive was very long, the short stop at the museum ( which was interesting)and small breaks to take photos by the river and Bullring were just little breaks from sitting a long time. Marcela our guide managed well, she organised every thing. She not only gave lot of information in three different languages but also went to each person or group and personally inquired and advised where needed. A very good help .

It is worth visiting Colonia de Sacramento, interesting to know its history and get into it through its streets. Very good organization and professionalism of the guide

Where to start... 1. We were told an 8AM pickup from a nearby hotel, so we were there at 7:45. At 8AM we got a message saying that the pickup would be at 9AM from a different location. The reason was that "they had to wait for a few passengers" (bad omen). We sat for 1.5h until the bus came at 9:30 AM. To her credit, the tour guide, Marcela, was responsive when we contacted her about the wait. 2. The large bus (about 50 ppl) was already packed when we got on. There were only a few seats open so we sat apart, among many families with young children. Half way through the 2.5h trip, Marcela did manage to get us adjoining seats by asking others to move around. Unfortunately our seats (now together) were across from the toilet. 3. The bus was, in fact, comfortable and air conditioned. As stated, it had a toilet. 4. The tour we signed up on Viator for said "Guide: English." While Marcela did in fact speak English, almost all of the guests spoke Spanish and Portuguese, so she had to repeat everything in three languages. Not ideal, esp. when she is identifying things going by while on the road. It also means listening to a LOT of talking (and therefore waiting). Unfortunately many of the non-English-speaking guests seemed to think that the best time to talk to each other was when Marcela was speaking English. Can't say I blame them, really, but given the sitch it was pretty rude. Plus we ended up missing some critical info. Where are we... oh, 5. It's a 2.5 hour drive to Colonia. Rather than go straight there, the bus first stopped at three throw-away locations where all 50+ people had to get off and on the bus. The first was a really sad "museum" consisting of rooms packed with (I kid you not) thousands of pencils, key chains and ashtrays that some dude had collected over his lifetime. I felt absolutely horrible leaving there. The second stop was a photo op of the Rio Plata, and then at a stadium that used to be a bull ring (but only for photos outside). Each time we had to wait for wandering stragglers to get back on the bus. 6. By the time we reached Colonia we were so overstimulated and hungry (1.5h late start + 3 stops + 2.5h drive) that we decided to go off on our own for some peace and food rather than do the tri-lingual walking tour with Marcela. Colonia is not very big, so you can see it yourself with the help of Google Maps. 7. This certainly is no fault of the tour operator or guide, but that day it was HOT with brutal sunshine. There is not much shade or many air conditioned spaces in the historic center of Colonia so touring around was uncomfortable at best. We managed to find a resto with nice staff, decent food and a small air conditioned room where we lingered over lunch for 1.5h. 8. The moral of the story is... The tour was not overly expensive, so the cost was probably similar to transportation to and from Colonia, which is most of what we wanted. The en route stops were just frustrating and time consuming. The tour guide Marcela was responsive and did the best she could with a poorly-designed and over-sold tour on a blisteringly hot day. If you do decide to take this tour, CHECK THE FORECAST and don't expect the tour to be exclusively in your language (as implied by Viator).

On December 30, we went from Montevideo to the Sacramento Colony with INVER. The tour started very late because Inver had to pick up the passengers at various points. In our case, Van went to pick us up and then we switched to a bus, which was not from the company Inver, semi bed, old, without a microphone, with air conditioning that hardly worked in the front of the bus, and leaving the back of the bus with low operation. It was clear that, due to overcrowding, they took a bus from a company that did not match the other Inver buses. The guide Fabian, visibly embarrassed, only apologized because he had nothing to do, besides not being able to comment on the points on the journey. The bus was in full traffic. To my unhappiness, I took a chair that, when sitting down, she descended alone to a semi-leaning position, unable to lock.... I called the guide who could not solve the problem, only regretted, in turn the driver also could not solve the problem. I immediately contacted Inver, via WhatsApp, who viewing my messages simply blocked me, so I could not make any complaints. I am old, imagine taking a walk back and forth, practically lying in an uncomfortable armchair, without air conditioning, unable to enjoy the landscape, unable to hear the explanations because there was no microphone ... the worst, without any satisfaction from Inver. I bought the ride with Decolar, in Rio de Janeiro, which becomes co-responsible, because it was who indicated Inver, a company that ignores the customer.

Beautiful place but the guide Marcela was ugly. Speaks very fast a Portuguese with Spanish that no one understood anything. They were punctual. Not recommend if it is the same guide

Good tour... hectic day... .a lot of time on the bus. The tour guide was great, but sometimes she was hard to follow. She was tasked with giving dialogue in Spanish, Portuguese and English and she fluidly transitioned between the three. Highly recommended.

The place is wonderful, but the guide service is terrible. Many people without being able to hear the guide that could have used an amplifier. But it seemed little to care about the group.

Basically it was just 3 hours of drive to each way, stop at a place near colonia to visit some museum, then little bit of explanations about the city, and then free time for 2 hours. I didn't like it, and if i would have know that so i would have done a tour in montevideo instead. The only reason i gave it 2 stars just because they were organized with the pick ups.