Punta del Este offers two distinct experiences depending on when you go. In summer (December to March), the city runs on glamour: beach clubs, designer boutiques, art galleries and a constant buzz of wealthy Latin Americans who treat this as their private Riviera. Out of season, the same peninsula becomes a quiet, unhurried place — still beautiful, with long beaches and good seafood, but returned to the locals and the occasional off-season traveller.
The landmark is La Mano (The Hand), Mario Irarrázabal's enormous sculpture of five fingers emerging from the sand on Playa Brava — one of the most photographed pieces of public art in South America. The old port area has good seafood restaurants and a working fish market. Gorlero Avenue is the main commercial strip, lined with boutiques and cafes. Casapueblo, Carlos Páez Vilaró's extraordinary white-washed artist's palace at Punta Ballena, a few kilometres west, is worth a half-day trip on its own — the views at sunset are remarkable.
Gorriti Island, a 10-minute boat ride from the port, is popular in summer for beaches and a pair of old forts that have survived from the Spanish colonial period.