eSIM Uruguay

Montevideo end to end: Ciudad Vieja, Centro, Pocitos, Punta Carretas and the Rambla out to Carrasco and the airport. East along the coast through Atlántida, Piriápolis, Maldonado, Punta del Este, La Barra and José Ignacio, then on to La Paloma and Punta del Diablo in Rocha. West to Colonia del Sacramento and Carmelo on the river. Inland, the main towns are covered, including Salto, Paysandú, Tacuarembó and Rivera, but the cattle country between them has stretches with weak or no signal.

Connects to Antel and Movistar on 4G/LTE. Montevideo, the Canelones coast, the Maldonado resorts, Colonia and the larger inland towns all get good signal. It thins out in Cabo Polonio, among the dunes and lagoons of Rocha, inside Santa Teresa National Park and at Quebrada de los Cuervos. In late December and January, crowds in Punta del Este can slow uploads at busy hours. You can usually choose the network manually in your phone’s settings if one is weak. Esimy adds no throttling, so the speed you see depends on signal, location and your device.

• 1–3 GB: a long weekend in Colonia from Buenos Aires, or a few days in Montevideo with maps, rides and WhatsApp
• 5–10 GB: a week or two along the coast, with beach photos, Instagram stories and video calls home
• 20 GB: a full summer month in Punta del Este or José Ignacio, remote work, or a laptop on hotspot

Ciudad Vieja in Montevideo, with Plaza Independencia, Palacio Salvo and Teatro Solís; a long lunch at the grills of the Mercado del Puerto; the Rambla at sunset, on foot or by bike; the Barrio Histórico of Colonia del Sacramento, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its lighthouse; La Mano on Playa Brava and Casapueblo at Punta Ballena; quieter sand at José Ignacio and Punta del Diablo; the sea lions and lighthouse at Cabo Polonio; Tannat wineries in Canelones and around Carmelo; and the thermal pools near Salto. Everywhere you go, people carry a thermos under one arm and a mate gourd in hand.

Uber and Cabify for rides in Montevideo; PedidosYa, which started in Uruguay, for food delivery; Google Maps for walking routes and the drive along the coast; and WhatsApp, which guesthouses, wineries and tour guides use for bookings. COT and Copsa run intercity buses out of Tres Cruces terminal, and it’s worth checking timetables online before summer weekends. Cards and phone wallets are widely accepted in Montevideo and Punta del Este, but keep some pesos for kiosks and beach stalls.

Visitors from Argentina or Brazil may be able to roam on their home line, at whatever rate their operator sets, so check before you travel. From Europe or North America, roaming in Uruguay usually costs a lot. Set the Esimy eSIM as your mobile-data line with Data Roaming on, and switch Data Roaming off for your home SIM; it still takes calls and texts. On the ferry from Buenos Aires the signal drops out mid-river, so change the data line to the Uruguay eSIM once you’ve docked in Colonia or Montevideo. Chuy and Rivera are border towns whose other halves, Chuí and Santana do Livramento, are in Brazil and outside this plan.

• Connects to both Antel and Movistar on 4G/LTE, not just one network
• Working at Carrasco Airport or the Colonia ferry port without a visit to a phone shop
• Validity counts from your first connection in Uruguay, so buying a few weeks early is fine
• Run a laptop or a travel companion’s phone off your hotspot
• Sits next to an Argentina or Brazil eSIM on the same phone for a multi-country trip

• December to February: summer, when Punta del Este and José Ignacio fill up, above all in January
• Carnival, from late January into early March: murgas and candombe drums in Montevideo, including the Desfile de Llamadas through Barrio Sur and Palermo
• Semana de Turismo (Holy Week): half the country goes on holiday, so book buses and coastal rooms early
• March to May: warm early autumn, a calmer coast and harvest time at the wineries

24/7 support via live chat, email and WhatsApp.