Desde Mvd: Un Día a Colonia del Sacramento (Patrimonio UNESCO)

Seeing Uruguay for 1/2 Day

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.

Response from the operator: Thanks

via Viator

English Difficult to Understand

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.

via Tripadvisor

Long drive

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 .

Response from the operator: Thanks

via Viator

Pretty much a wasted day

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).

via Viator

Good tour! Recommended!

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.

Response from the operator: Thanks

via Viator