URUGUAY

See a whole country in a week, or perhaps not – this is, after all, South America’s answer to slow travel

This diminutive nation has been in the news lately for its laconic ex-president and liberal values.

Capital Montevideo is an emerging destination. Its Sofitel-run Carrasco hotel, summer carnival (Jan-Feb), atmospheric port market and Afro-Latin population and laid-back pace make it feel very different from Buenos Aires – across the river, and connected by fast ferry.

Uruguayans are justly proud of their farming and cattle-rearing history. Inland from the River Plate it’s easy to get to an estancia for horse riding, a barbecue and birding on the pampas. The wreckage of the Fray Bentos meat factory was made into a Unesco World Industrial Heritage site in 2015.

The Atlantic coast is overloaded with ambitious boutique hotels, fad-hungry restaurants and posers’ pads. Bypass Punta del Este (mobbed by Argentines late Dec-Mar) and aim for smart but attractive Jose Ignacio, or continue north to mellower La Paloma and Cabo Polonio (the latter is great for camping). Don’t miss: Montevideo, La Paloma and the northern Atlantic coast, Fray Bentos and the Uruguayan Pampas.

How to do it: Last Frontiers’ (lastfrontiers.com) 10-day Classic Uruguay itinerary combines Montevideo, Colonia, a beach posada in Jose Ignacio and Fray Bentos. For more travel ideas and more than 275 tour operators and service providers, see the website of the Latin American Travel Association (lata.travel).