When we booked a cruise sailing from Buenos Aires to Rio with a few stops in Brazil and one in Uruguay, we were mostly excited about the bookends of the cruise. Because we had always wanted to visit both cities, we added a pre-cruise stay in Buenos Aires and a post-cruise stay in Rio de Janeiro. Before the cruise we also added a few days in Iguazu Falls which was spectacular.
The cruise headed out from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and our first stop was in Punta del Este in Uruguay.
Punta del Este, Uruguay
This was a tender port, and the ship was only in port from 7am to 2pm. Being such a small seaside town, we opted to do our own excursion by just walking to some of the more popular sites.
Aside from a scenic coastline and an old lighthouse, the main attraction here was somewhat overrated. “La Mano”, by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal, is a sculpture of a hand emerging from the sand. It’s also called “Los Dedos” as it depicts five human fingers.
The hand sculpture is located on Brava Beach which was about a 40-minute walk from the small port. It’s Punta del Este most famous attraction and of course it was crowded with all the ship tours.
There were some museums in port that were too far to walk to from the tender port, including the Casa Pueblo and the Museum Del Mar. It may make sense to take a ship tour or taxi to see them. With limited time in port we preferred exploring on our own.
We enjoyed the walk to the lighthouse and the small Church of Our Lady of the Candelaria as well as the beaches of Playa Brava and the peninsula. Note that the Mermaid statue is no longer there. In lieu there was a monument indicating that we were at the most southern point of Uruguay and place where the Rio de la Plata and the Atlantic Ocean meet.
Our favorite memory was seeing the frolicking sea lions that in the harbor begging for food as the fishermen cleaned their catch on the docks. This is also where the tender boats dock.
Sao Paolo Santos, Brazil
Our next stop was in Santos which is a suburb of Sao Paolo. The port area was so poor we looked in dismay and saw people that looked like they were starving among the dilapidated buildings. Here we opted for a ship excursion as it was not safe to walk in the port area.
The tour first stopped at a coffee museum. Set inside a beautiful historical building, formerly the Bolsa Official de Café, the museum aims to preserve the history of coffee in Brazil. We really liked the ceiling’s stained-glass window featuring wildlife from Brazil. Also notable was the elaborate design of the marble floor of the old Bidding Hall.
We also visited the Botanical Garden which was small but nice. Unfortunately, their orchidarium was closed, but we got to see some marmosets (small squirrel-like monkeys) and birds.
Then they took us to what was supposed to be the biggest aquarium in South America, but it was honestly not very impressive. We were sad to see the polluted, brackish water in the tanks and felt bad for the fish.
In Guaruja, the ship tour included a 30-minute stop at the beach where we enjoyed watching the large waves come ashore.
Like many ship excursions it was a military-style ‘watch the clock and get back to the bus or else’ type of experience. We much prefer going out on our own.
Ihla Grande, Brazil
The next stop was on Ihla Grande, a small island off the coast of Brazil. The scenery coming into port was beautiful. We had a boat trip with some snorkeling and also roamed around the beach area for a bit.
The island was described to us as one of Brazil’s most beautiful islands with pristine beaches and crystal-clear waters. I beg to differ, the water near the tender port beach was terribly dirty and far from clear! However, it was quite picturesque.
The snorkeling excursion was described as having three snorkel spots, but they only took us to one along with an obligatory stop at a local restaurant (as if we don’t eat enough on a cruise) located on a small beach. At least, where we snorkeled the water was better than at the beach but still a far cry from pristine.
Another thing worth mentioning was that on the official cruise itinerary it was specified that in Ihla Grande the ship would dock. No such luck, this was another tender port like I suspected from my pre cruise reading. This of course adds to the time it takes to get ashore and back as you have to tender.
Buzios, Brazil
The next stop was also in Brazil. We had considered organizing some scuba diving but heard that the underwater scenery was not really worth it, so we opted instead to just walk around. The greenish water also discouraged us from swimming.
Here the highlight seemed to be a bronze statue of Brigitte Bardot. There was always a lineup of people waiting to take pictures. There were also lots of dune buggies circling the port hoping to take people on local tours. We just walked around the port a bit and the day passed quickly.
Here too, the official cruise itinerary specified that the ship would dock in Buzios, but this too was a tender port.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
With that, the cruise ended in Rio. In fact, we stayed on the ship for the first night in Rio, so we had an extra day as part of the cruise to explore the port area.
Here, we walked around the port where we visited the local attractions before heading off to our hotel the next day.
We cover these attractions in our Rio de Janeiro post, as some may just come into the city directly and the port area is next to Downtown Rio and a must-see regardless of whether you cruise or not.
Conclusion
Just a note about the cruise. To be quite honest, we didn’t love it. If we could do it again, we would have simply flown from Buenos Aires to Iguazu Falls, perhaps crossed over to Brazil to see the falls from the Brazilian side for a few days and then simply flown into Rio. These were our favorite parts, so it was honestly like wasted time in the ports and on the ship. Others seemed to love it, but we both felt that our time at Iguazu Falls, in Buenos Aires, and in Rio de Janeiro were the highlights of the trip.