Cabo Polonio

Cabo Polonio is a full-day visit: the village, with no grid electricity or paved streets, accessible only by special 4x4 trucks crossing the dunes, and the sea lion colony by the lighthouse, one of the largest in South America, on the same visit. December-March is best. It's cheap, with a bohemian, backpacker profile. Part of Cabo Polonio National Park since 2009, it's one of the few villages in South America without conventional electrical connection -power comes from solar panels and generators-, giving it a deliberately isolated identity uncommon on the Uruguayan coast.