Colonia del Sacramento

Colonia del Sacramento is a UNESCO World Heritage city on the Río de la Plata estuary, founded by the Portuguese in 1680 as a trading post and contested with Spain throughout the colonial period. Its historic quarter preserves an unusually intact streetscape of cobblestone lanes, ruins of a seventeenth-century convent, a lighthouse converted from a colonial bulwark, and low single-storey houses with terracotta rooftiles. The city is accessible by high-speed ferry from Buenos Aires in just over an hour, making it a popular weekend excursion.