Parque Nacional Santa Teresa is Uruguay's oldest and largest coastal national park, stretching along a long, wild strip of Atlantic coastline in the northeastern corner of the country, about 35 km south of the Brazilian border. The park protects a mix of pine forests, dunes, wetlands, and beaches, and it is one of the few places on the Uruguayan coast where the land behind the beach has been left largely undeveloped.
The centerpiece of the park is the Fortaleza de Santa Teresa, an 18th-century Spanish fortress built in 1762, later captured and completed by the Portuguese. It is one of the best-preserved colonial military structures in South America and sits imposingly on a low ridge above the pine forests, its thick stone walls and moat intact. Entrance is free.
Near the park's eastern edge is La Coronilla, a tiny beach village just 15 km south of the Brazilian border and almost entirely unknown to foreign visitors. The beach there is long, generally deserted, and backed by dunes and forest — the kind of coast that is increasingly hard to find. The park is reachable by car or bus from Chuy, the border crossing town, or from Rocha to the south.