Roaming South America

Piriápolis: Where the Sun Sets Over the Atlantic

September 28, 2026

Piriápolis, Uruguay

Piriápolis is a beach town and has a marina for boats of all sizes including big motor yachts. Piriápolis has a population of around 13,000 but that swells considerably during the summer. This was the first resort town in Uruguay. From the beach you can look out over the Atlantic Ocean to the East, walk down the beach a ways and you'll be looking South, then walk around the point and you're looking due west. That caught me by surprise when I saw the sunset directly due west, and thinking, "Wait a second, I'm on the Atlantic coast, why am I seeing the sunset?" Yeah, it's a rather odd thing - see the sunrise and the sunset from the same location. Piriápolis is a resort town, and it caters to visitors from Europe as well as South America.

Apparently, the town's heyday is behind it. There used to be: a ferry between here and Montevideo; there used to be an auto race track; there used to be a Grand Prix street circuit; there used to be a cable car to the top of San Antonio Hill; there used to be a train that brought tourists between the town Pan de Azúcar and Piriápolis; there used to be a golf course; there used to be a much bigger entertainment scene around the Pabellón de las Rosas, where large excursions arrived by boat, train, bus and even seaplane; there used to be regular passenger ship service here and Buenos Aires. Piriápolis wasn't merely a pleasant little beach town that happened to acquire some old buildings. Piria was trying to create a South American resort on the model of the European Belle Époque resorts.

A little History

The founder of Piriápolis was Francisco Piria, born in 1847. When he was a youngster, he was taken to Italy where he spent his childhood. He was educated by a Jesuit priest, especially in historical, mythological and philosophical knowledge. When he was 16, he returned to Uruguay. He founded the Old Market in Montevideo and managed it until 1875. He dedicated himself to the sales of plots of land in installments in Montevideo, which was the main part of his fortune. He founded 70 neighborhoods in Montevideo and others throughout Uruguay. He also dedicated himself to jounalism and literature, and founded the newspaper La Tribuna Popular.

He eventually purchased about 2,700 hectares (6,672 acres) of land on the coast north of Montevideo. He started by cultivated tobacco, grapes, and olives. Then came the wine. And from one of the nearby hills he extracted and sold granite, which was cut and processed on-site, then moved by horse and cart as far as Buenos Aires. He also planted a chestnut orchard.

And finally, he wanted to bring his dream to life&emdash;Piriápolis, "The seaside city of the future." He built the Hotel Piriápolis in 1905, began construction of the rambla (seafront promenade) in 1910, and in 1912 began selling lots for vacation homes. The railway was extended from Pan de Azúcar to Piriápolis to bring visitors and supplies to the resort, and the port was completed in 1916. The rambla and port were not just amenities. They were central pieces of Piria's plan to create a major seaside resort modeled on the European destinations he had visited.

His biggest project was the Argentino Hotel. Construction began in 1920, and when the enormous hotel finally opened on December 24, 1930, it was the largest and most luxurious hotel in South America. It had been designed to attract wealthy visitors from Uruguay, Argentina, and beyond, and Piriápolis now had the sort of grand hotel that Piria believed was necessary for a first-class international resort. The rambla, the port, the railway, the hotels, the parks and the surrounding hills all formed parts of the same grand experiment.

Piria didn't get to enjoy his finished masterpiece for long. He died in 1933, only three years after the Argentino Hotel opened. Without its founder directing virtually every aspect of the enterprise, Piriápolis gradually changed. The railway eventually disappeared in 1958, and the hotels and other properties passed through different hands. The resort itself survived and remains a popular destination, but much of what made Piria's original vision so unusual has disappeared. What remains today is a rather remarkable collection of his grand experiment: the rambla, the port, the old hotels, the parks, the hills and the city he designed around them.

While I was here for only 1 day (because I found it to be too expensive, basically double or more than everywhere else I've been in UY), I would say that this is a place you might want to visit if you visit Uruguay. Not necessarily a must-see, but a recommended-visit. And keep this in mind: uring the high-season (November - March) you should expect high prices for hotels/hostals. Also, don't rely on Google Maps for your searches, it's awful. Use social media sites first, Google Maps second.