Punta del Este

INE calculates rent from rental guarantee registries (ANDA, Mapfre, Porto, Sancor, SGA) as a trimmed mean. July 2026, Maldonado department: existing contracts - 23,083 pesos a month, new contracts - 25,177. For existing contracts this is second place in the country after Montevideo (23,472), and for new July contracts Maldonado is first and more expensive than the capital (24,073). The national average for existing contracts is 22,278. For new contracts in Maldonado over the last 11 months the average ranged from 21,985 pesos in January 2026 to 27,983 in April 2026; INE does not explain the reasons. Maldonado accounts for 4.22% of all existing contracts in the country. Two caveats: this is the whole department, including the city of Maldonado, San Carlos and Piriápolis, and these are only contracts with a rental guarantee, that is the year-round market. Summer short-term and monthly letting to holidaymakers is not included here at all.

Gallito listings on 29 September 2026: 302 listings for rental of two-bedroom apartments in Punta del Este, with prices usually in dollars. The category mixes year-round, winter and summer rental, so we read the text of all 80 listings on the first page. Explicitly for a year or for winter (alquiler anual, invernal) 16 are offered: fourteen in dollars - from 700 to 3,500, median 1,550, and two in pesos - 28,000 for 50 m² on the Península and 32,500 in Roosevelt. Winter ones separately: 700–1,800 dollars, median 1,200; year-round: 750–3,500, median 1,700; three listings offer both options. The cheapest are a house near the university and sanatoriums (700) and Roosevelt (from 750), the most expensive are towers on Mansa (3,400–3,500). Gastos comunes, the monthly building fee, is shown in the listings separately from the price: 13,650 pesos in a house without a pool and gym, 19,235 pesos in a tower on Roosevelt, 490, 1,000 and 1,417 dollars in towers with a pool, gym and other shared amenities. Who pays it is not stated in the listings; this has to be clarified. These are asking prices, and the first page includes promoted listings.

Gallito on 29 September 2026: 4,155 listings for sale of two-bedroom apartments in Punta del Este, prices in dollars. On the first page (80 listings) prices run from 138,000 to 967,000, median 270,000, and half of the listings are between 232,000 and 350,000. The median area across the 68 listings where it is stated is 75.5 m², and the median price per square metre across them is about 3,650 dollars; this is our calculation. The first page consists of promoted listings, so the figure is skewed upward. INE does not publish median transaction prices for the department, but the share of the market shows how lively it is: in July 2026 Maldonado accounted for 15.92% of all registered real estate transactions in the country, second place after Montevideo (35.29%).

INE calculates the Canasta Básica Alimentaria, that is the destitution line, per person per month, separately for Montevideo and for the rest of the country (Interior); Maldonado belongs to Interior. January 2025 - 5,421 pesos per person, June 2025 - 5,621. For a family of four this is 21,684–22,484 pesos a month; the multiplication by four is ours. This is a minimum for food, not a real supermarket bill, and it is an average across all cities outside the capital, while Maldonado, according to INE rent data, is the most expensive department after Montevideo. The data are a year old; prices have risen since then.

INE poverty lines for Interior for January 2025, the variant for those who rent housing: one person - 18,953 pesos a month, two - 31,082, three - 42,055. For those who do not rent: 12,703, 23,520 and 33,799. For comparison, in Montevideo a renting family of three - 54,233. This is the official lower survival bound, an average across all cities outside Montevideo, and it assumes rent at prices outside the capital. In Punta del Este, year-round rent alone for a two-bedroom apartment starts, by the listings, from 700 dollars plus gastos comunes, so the budget of a Russian-speaking family here starts noticeably above this threshold. Data for January 2025. Note: the definition differs from other cities - a family of three renting housing outside the capital; the value includes rent and is not suitable for comparison with a poverty line for four without rent.

Decree 339/025 approved UTE tariffs from 1 January 2026; they are the same across the whole country. Tarifa Residencial Simple: 1–100 kWh a month - 6.744 pesos per kWh, 101–600 - 8.452, above 600 - 10.539; a power charge of 83.2 pesos per kW and a fixed 324.9 pesos a month. At these rates, with 3 kW of power, 300 kWh cost about 2,940 pesos and 600 kWh about 5,470; this is our arithmetic, not a UTE bill, and taxes are not addressed separately in the decree. The second example is needed because rental listings include electric underfloor heating (losa radiante), air conditioners and wood stoves, and with electric heating winter consumption is higher. A local expense item is gastos comunes, the monthly building fee: in the listings for two-bedroom rentals on Gallito it is shown separately from the price - 13,650 pesos in a house without a pool and gym, 19,235 pesos in a tower on Roosevelt, 490–1,417 dollars in towers with a pool, gym and other shared amenities. What exactly gastos comunes include and who pays it is not stated in the listings; this has to be clarified before signing.

OSE tariff from 1 January 2026 (decree 340/025, indexation of 8.5%), category “Zona balnearia Maldonado” for metered housing. The variable part is by steps of monthly consumption: 0–5 m³ - 236.79 pesos for the whole step, 5–10 m³ - 473.71 for the whole step, 10–15 m³ - 47.41 pesos per m³, 15–20 m³ - 142.14, 20–25 m³ - 181.47, 25–30 m³ - 211.64, 30–50 m³ - 238.63, over 50 m³ - 267.17. If consumption is above 15 m³, then, as the decree states, the whole metered volume is charged at the price of the step it falls into. The fixed part by connection diameter: 636.68 pesos a month for 12.5–13 mm (an ordinary house or apartment), 948.46 for 19 mm, 1,523.75 for 25 mm; if average consumption over the year is above 15 m³, 101.45 pesos a month is added. Sewage in this department is provided by OSE itself: the variable part equals 100% of the variable part for water, the fixed part is 137.05 pesos a month per dwelling unit (for the network and for “efluente decantado” in the resort zone the terms are the same). Example for 15 m³ a month, 13 mm connection: water 15 x 47.41 + 636.68 = about 1,348 pesos, sewage 711 + 137 = about 848, total about 2,196; this is arithmetic from the tariff, not anyone's real bill. For comparison, in Montevideo by the same calculation OSE water is about 881 pesos. Caveat: the decree does not list the localities of the “Zona balnearia Maldonado” zone, and we found no confirmation that Punta del Este falls precisely within it. The city lies in the department of Maldonado, so we applied this category by name; if an address turns out to be in the rest of the “Zona balnearia” (excluding Maldonado), the variable part there is the same as in Montevideo (36.91 per m³ up to 15 m³) and the fixed part is the same, 636.68, which gives water of about 1,190 pesos instead of 1,348. Which category applies to a specific address has to be checked with OSE. Taxes are not shown as a separate line in the tariff table.

In its section on network gas, URSEA lists two distributors: Montevideo Gas, whose licence is named in the decree as the gas distribution service in Montevideo, and Conecta. On its website Conecta has network maps only for four departments: Canelones, Colonia, Paysandú and San José. Maldonado is on neither list, so we did not find natural gas by pipe in Punta del Este; this is a conclusion from absence on the lists, not a direct statement from a company, and we did not check private piped-gas systems in individual complexes. On the Megal shop page, refilling a 13 kg cylinder costs 1,216 pesos, that is about 93.5 pesos per kilogram; a second price of 1,094 pesos is shown next to it, and the reason for the discount is not explained; this is retail from Montevideo, not a local dealer in Punta del Este, and delivery is charged separately. We do not calculate cylinder consumption for a winter month: there is no source on consumption in Punta del Este. Electricity at the single UTE tariff is covered in a separate fact on electricity.

The agency La Cite Realtors (1 April 2026) names three main international schools in the department: Woodside School, St Clare's College and The Garzón School, and estimates the full cost of schooling at 6,000–15,000 dollars a year per child, with higher grades costing more; a family with two children, they say, easily spends more than 20,000 dollars a year. Per month that is 500–1,250 dollars; the conversion is ours. This is an estimate by a real estate agency, not the schools' price lists, so confidence is low. According to an El Observador article retold by El Cronista in 2021, Woodside has 750 students, 40% of them foreigners and 90% of the foreigners Argentines; Instituto Uruguayo-Argentino has more than 700 students, 25% foreigners. The prices in that article are given without a currency, so we do not use them. The same agency warns that in summer the road to school can take 40 minutes one way, and advises choosing housing around the school, not the other way round.

The department's state hospital is Hospital Departamental de Maldonado Dr. Elbio Rivero Moreno (ASSE), address Ventura Alegre s/n y Las Dalias, city of Maldonado; the ASSE page was updated in January 2026. The private Sanatorio SEMM-Mautone runs a sanatorium on Calle Honduras y Roosevelt and clinics in Maldonado, Piriápolis and San Carlos, with clinic hours Monday to Friday from 8 to 21 and Saturday from 8 to 13; under agreements with ASSE and the municipality it also serves José Ignacio, Garzón, Aiguá and the districts of Maldonado Nuevo and Cerro Pelado. The second local mutualista is Asistencia Médica Cooperativa de Maldonado (Asistencial); its main address according to the BPS list is Av. Roosevelt parada 13, Punta del Este; the list is dated 2018. The Mautone sanatorium and clinic and the Asistencial head office are on Av. Roosevelt, which connects Punta del Este and Maldonado; the state hospital is in Maldonado itself. For how the system works and how much contributions cost, see the facts on Uruguay.

According to Interior Ministry data for 2025 published by Montevideo Portal, most homicides are in Montevideo (210), then Canelones (43), Maldonado (14) and Durazno (13); nationwide 369, that is 10.3 per 100 thousand residents. The population of Maldonado according to the final results of the 2023 census is 212,951 people; 14 homicides on this population give about 6.6 per 100 thousand - this is our calculation using the 2023 population; if the department has continued to grow as INE forecasts, the real rate is slightly lower. The source has no separate figures for Punta del Este, nor for thefts and robberies in the department, nor data on natural risks.

According to Ministry of Tourism data retold by Puntanews (8 April 2026), from December 2025 to February 2026, 1,301,913 tourists entered Uruguay, and Punta del Este is the most visited destination. Among them 900,385 are Argentines and 155,931 Brazilians; the average trip is 8 nights, the average spending is 713 dollars per tourist. Housing prices at the peak of the season are of a different order: on Gallito a two-bedroom apartment in a house with a pool and gym near parada 4½ Mansa is rented for the second half of January 2026 for 6,500 dollars - about as much as four months of year-round rent of a two-bedroom at the median of the listings (about 1,550 a month); the conversion is ours. Of the 80 rental listings on the first page of Gallito, 12 are explicitly marked as summer or temporary, and for most the term is not stated in the price - this has to be asked of the owner. Seasonality is visible in services too: Antel has a separate Fibra Temporada tariff with unlimited data only from December to March, and flights to Santiago, Asunción and Campinas in the 2024–2025 season flew into Laguna del Sauce only from December to March. The agency La Cite warns that in summer the road through the city can take twice as long.

According to the final results of the 2023 census (INE, 10 December 2024), the department of Maldonado has 212,951 residents. At the presentation on 12 November 2025 INE technical director Marcelo Bisogno said that Maldonado is the department with the greatest population growth in the country, and explained this by migration: more Uruguayans from other departments and more foreigners move here than anywhere else. In his words, growth is not due to the birth rate or a young population but because the department attracts people, and INE projections say the trend will continue and the department will establish itself as an urban and labour centre.

The agency La Cite Realtors (1 April 2026) names Cantegril, Beverly Hills, Pinares and Mansa as the most practical neighbourhoods for a family's daily life. Traffic around Roosevelt, Punta Shopping, La Barra and the peninsula (Península) noticeably lengthens the journey in summer; travel time can double. Families of Woodside students, by their observation, more often live in central Punta del Este, Roosevelt, Cantegril, Beverly Hills and San Rafael; St Clare's - in Pinares, Mansa and the centre; The Garzón School - in José Ignacio, Manantiales and La Barra. The state hospital and the Mautone sanatorium are in the neighbouring city of Maldonado. This is the opinion of a real estate agency, not statistics, so confidence is low.

COPSA Línea Este fares, valid from 7 January 2026 until further notice. From Montevideo: to Punta del Este - 466 pesos, return 932, student 373, pensioner from 233; to Maldonado - 450; to José Ignacio - 579. Within the department: from Punta del Este or Maldonado to Manantiales - 97 pesos, to José Ignacio - 161. The fares do not include the boarding fee at the bus terminal. The source does not give the travel time.

According to Aviacionline (13 November 2024), Aerolíneas Argentinas to Buenos Aires and Azul to São Paulo (Guarulhos) fly from Laguna del Sauce airport all year round. For the 2024–2025 season the following were added: up to 18 flights a week by Aerolíneas Argentinas, Azul from Campinas (Viracopos) from 18 December to 2 February, Paranair from Asunción from 25 December to 9 February and LATAM from Santiago from 5 December to 16 March, three times a week. According to Correo de Punta del Este (28 November 2024), in December 2024 there were 57 Aerolíneas Argentinas flights from Aeroparque, 16 Azul flights from São Paulo and 12 LATAM flights to Santiago. There are no flights to Europe or the US in these lists. The data are almost two years old; the schedule for the new season has to be checked.

Climate normals for Punta del Este in the WMO reference, data from the Uruguayan weather service INUMET. July: average daily minimum 8.7, average maximum 14.4 degrees. June 9.5 and 14.8, August 8.8 and 14.7, September 9.9 and 16.0. The warmest months are January (18.1 and 25.2) and February (18.4 and 25.1). The spread between winter and summer is small: winters are not freezing, in summer the average maximum is about 25 degrees, and there are 9–10 rain days a month in winter. The normals were submitted by the weather service in 2001; the WMO does not publish the averaging period, so this is a guide to the climate, not to recent years.

According to WMO normals (INUMET data), monthly precipitation totals in Punta del Este run from 66.6 mm in December to 93.9 mm in August; adding up the twelve monthly normals gives 1,010.9 mm a year; there is no separate annual line in the source, this is our sum. There is no dry season: days with precipitation range from 8 in November–January to 10 in June and July. Winter is slightly rainier than summer - May to September give 80–94 mm a month, December–January 67–75 mm. The normals were submitted by the weather service in 2001; the averaging period is not stated.

Antel price list for 2026, prices including taxes: Fibra Básico (400/30 Mbit/s, 500 GB) - 1,650 pesos a month, Fibra Plus (550/40) - 2,138, Fibra Super Entretenimiento (900/200) - 3,420, Fibra Ultra (1000/300, 2,500 GB) - 4,342; two-year contract, and after the traffic allowance is used up the speed is cut. Separately, for resort homes there is Fibra Temporada: 400/30 Mbit/s, 865 pesos a month, one-year contract, unlimited data from 1 December to 31 March. On the volume outside the season the price list contradicts itself: the table says 200 GB, the footnote says 100 GB from 1 April to 30 November. For a family working from home all year round this tariff is not suitable; the benchmark is the regular plans from 1,650 pesos. The price list is nationwide; whether fibre is available at a specific address has to be checked with Antel.