Day Tour in Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay

Posted By : Matthew_G
We bought these tickets from Viatour via Trip Advisor. The description implied that there would be a guided walking tour of Colonia de Sacramento. This is not the case. You are only buying tickets that cannot be changed or refunded. The price for the tickets was decent, however. Trip Advisor said we would be contacted by the ferry company Colonia Express via email. We never received an email, but I figured they could figure it out at the ferry terminal. When we went to check in with the receipt we received from Trip Advisor, the woman at the counter couldn't find our reservation and sent us to the ticket sales window. The very nice women at the ticket sales window had to search for 30 minutes to find our reservation. (They took a photo of my receipt on my phone and spent 10 minutes on the phone with some other person.) We finally got our tickets, but I didn't bother to check the time of our return ferry. They had put us on the 8:30pm boat rather than the 6pm ferry described online. (My bad.) The ferry was very nice and comfortable and the view was excellent out the front windows. It was cold but refreshing outside, but the view was fantastic. Upon debarking at the very modern terminal, we looked for the meeting spot for the tour. There was another American there as well, looking for the tour. When we asked at the Colonia Express counter, they said there was no tour, but to get a map from the tourist info counter. The old part of Colonia is very scenic and an easy walk from the ferry. You can see everything in a couple of hours. It is a laid back, well preserved colonial town. There was a line of stray dogs sleeping in the sun lying against a store front on the main avenue. When we got back to the ferry terminal at 5pm to check in for the 6pm ferry, we were told our tickets were for the 8:30p ferry. Since we had a 9pm reservation at a fancy restaurant back in BA, this wouldn't work. They claimed that the 6pm was full and we had always been cooked on the 8:30p ferry. They were dismissive of my complaints and said they could do nothing for me. We had to buy 2 tickets on the competing ferry company (Barquebus) which had space on their 5pm ferry. This cost us an additional $60 U.S. Bottom line: these are discounted tickets, not a tour. If you don't get an email from Colonia Express, follow-up with them immediately. Their website and timetable are confusing. Their systems don't appear to work very well. But Colonia is a nice town and worth spending an afternoon walking around if the weather is decent.
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Posted On : 2024-05-17

Posted By : Matthew G
We never received the email with the ticket number to allow boarding. Fortunately, we arrived early enough that they could eventually find it. When we arrived in Colonia, there was no guide available. One other traveler who had booked using ViaTour was also stood up. From reading other reviews, this appears to happen frequently. Unacceptable.
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Posted On : 2024-05-16

Posted By : Q853YCzoec
Never been so bad. No tour guy showed up at meeting point ever. What we bought a day trip to colonial del Sacramento actually was a round trip boat ticket.
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Posted On : 2024-05-02

Posted By : xingfu c
No tour guide, nobody receives us at destination. We have to wonder around in a strange place ourselves. TripAdvisor should let us know there is no tour guide, so that we can just buy ferry tickets at station ourselves and save money.
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Posted On : 2024-05-02

Posted By : mel7155
Took this ferry in April , booked the 0830 ferry and returned by the 1800 ferry . I went on a weekday Monday so it was not crowded . It was a ferry and rainy day . So it was terrible to visit the city in the rain . That being said , here is my opinion of the ferries . 0830 ferry - top of the line ferry that was modern, clean and large. Similar to those ferries you take in the Baltic Sea to visit Helsinki, Riga etc … 1800 ferry - old dilapidated ferry with spoilt or busted seats , smelly and uncomfortable seats . I felt a little unsafe on this ferry with the life vests all strewn under the seats . Guided tour - It was a 1 hour tour that was rudimentary , uninspiring and the guide just wanted to get rid of us to return . As it was bad weather,, maybe she also wanted to return . So I would not recommend a tour - you can DIY at the tourist information and get a guide from there - the people there are more helpful . So my take - take the ferry but don’t bother the guided tour or eating meals at overrated and over priced restaurants in the old town .
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Posted On : 2024-04-21

Posted By : Linda_B
Never contact this company. They nevercame to meet up. I asked and this kind of thing had happened before. Sorry 1´+
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Posted On : 2024-03-30

Posted By : 50cab50
Tried to book and pay online for all sorts of activities in ARG, but the Colonia Express was the only one that worked! I printed off my invoice/bar code and it all worked smoothly - thank you Colonia Express. We thought about turning up early at the port to look around/watch boats etc but so glad we didn’t as there was literally nothing there but an ugly port. We did arrive 90 minutes in advance, and sat around a fair bit. You can get a coffee and an alfajora but we didn’t. Very little to do at the port, and no activity to watch (apart from people checking in with dogs and cats). Fun to watch cats on leads being exercised on the boat, but maybe we were lucky that day. We did a half day trip to Colonia (12.50-20.30) which was plenty for a meal and a wander. The artisan market right next to the ferry terminal/old railway station is very nice. Book tickets well in advance as they sell out (I booked about 6 weeks in advance and full day tickets had already gone!)
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Posted On : 2024-03-29

Posted By : darrenw893
If you have too much time in Buenos Aires this going to Colonia de Sacremento is probably worth it but not on this trip This "trip" is just a return ferry trip and the times are fixed We didn't use our return trip but instead paid extra to come back with another company rather than sit around for 4 hours a) with nothing to do and b) meaning that we would have got back to Buenos Aires too late to eat
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Posted On : 2024-03-09

Posted By : 172jannel
The concept of a golf car included in the trip is genius. It allowed us the freedom to easily move around the whole area and to see and experience things we never would have done if we were by foot. Excellent choice
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Posted On : 2019-11-19

Posted By : 697aryc
Bom passeio. Conheci um pouco da história do lugar. Achei que a guia exagerou no tempo de fala em cada ponto, mas no geral foi bom também pelo conhecimento que ela tinha do lugar.
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Posted On : 2024-03-27