The ferry crossing between Buenos Aires and Montevideo is one of those trips that sounds simple until you are standing at the port at 6 in the morning in 5 degree weather trying to figure out which queue to join.
I woke up at 5am, arrived at the Buquebus terminal by 6 for a 7:30 departure. The immigration process was smoother than I expected. Argentine exit stamp, Uruguayan entry stamp, biometric photos, done in about 15 minutes total. I grabbed a pastry and waited at the gate.
The ferry itself is comfortable. Tourist class has good seats, there is an onboard duty-free shop, and the crossing takes roughly two and a half hours across the Rio de la Plata. The water was calm. The cold outside was not.
Montevideo in winter is genuinely cold. The temperature that day felt like minus 6 with wind. I still walked the Rambla along the coast, visited the Ciudad Vieja, had empanadas at a market, and took a free panoramic view from a government building rooftop. None of that was less good because of the cold. You just need the right jacket.
The return trip is where things went wrong. My return ticket was not a direct Buquebus back to Buenos Aires. It was a bus to Colonia del Sacramento followed by a separate ferry. That information was in my booking confirmation, but I had not read it carefully enough. I had to rush, buy a bus ticket at the station, sit on a 4 hour bus, and then take the crossing from Colonia. I arrived back in Buenos Aires late and exhausted.
Read your return ticket before you go. If it says Colonia Express, plan accordingly. The crossing itself is beautiful either way.
