Coming from Argentina

Buenos Aires and Montevideo are close, and the border between them is short. What shapes the day is how you cross the river that divides the two countries — by boat, by bus, or on the bike itself. Each asks something different of you.

The most comfortable crossing is the ferry across the Río de la Plata, from Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires: a fast direct boat to Montevideo, a shorter one to Colonia, or the popular Colonia-plus-coach combination on one ticket. Both companies carry a bike per passenger, and — the part that makes it so easy — you clear both countries' customs before you board.

The long-distance coach runs Buenos Aires to Montevideo in around eight hours, crossing at the Fray Bentos bridge. As everywhere on this route, no company publishes a bicycle policy, so the bike travels by arrangement — wheel off, wrapped, a small surcharge — and a call a few days ahead is what secures the space.

The romantic option is to ride in over one of the three road bridges that link the two countries — Libertador General San Martín at Fray Bentos, General Artigas at Paysandú, and the Salto Grande dam at Salto. The first two bridges formally prohibit independent bicycle crossings under CARU Resolution 34/2007; the documented practice is to wait at the customs yard until an officer flags down a truck and asks the driver to carry you and the bike over — riders have described waits of a couple of hours. The status at Salto Grande has not been independently confirmed: check before building a route around it. Worth knowing before you build a route around it.

There's also a short Buenos Aires–Montevideo flight, useful only as a last leg if you're already flying in from elsewhere in Argentina or from abroad. Against the ferry it's expensive, and the bike fee widens the gap.