Introduction: Santa Teresa Park & Laguna Negra
One of the things to do while in Punta del Diablo is to visit the Santa Teresa national park and the Laguna Negra. To do so many options are available, and this trip could be done in one, two or even more days. In order to do it in one day, we had to rent an electric bike (eBike) as the distance are to great to be walked in one day. We chose this option so that we will only have to rent one time a eBike.
Table of Contents
Santa Teresa national park
Generality
The Santa Teresa national park is a huge 3000 hectares park of which 1400 are covered with forest and populated with over 2 million of exotic and native trees.
During high season (from December to March) it can be visited for the day with free admission from 8 am to 8 pm.
Also a military based in wihtin the park, so you will come across soldier along the way.
Within the park many sites are to be visited:
- Capatacia
- Botanical garden
- Laguna de Peña (Peña Lagoon)
- La Pajarera (wildlife refuge and reserve)
- El choro
- Santa Teresa Fortress
- Beaches
There are also available accommodations and camping within the park.
To access the park, you need to enter by the main entrance or the fortress. Both can be access either by bus or by car.
Capatacia
Located at the entrance of the park, it is a square with information center, supermarket, bakery, ATM, toilets.
Botanical garden
Huge, great, beautiful, gorgeous, splendid are the word that come to my mind when I think about this place. It is located right at across Capatacia and can be access on foot.
First there is the two big pounds in front of the greenhouse with lotus flower, then the greenhouse built in 1939 of granite and glass capsules with its own managed heating and cooling system is home to tropical flora from the 5 continents.
Also, aquariums and pounds are within its wall and shelters fresh and saltwater fishes.
Opposite to the greenhouse, following a path there first was a little souvenir store and later a shaded house is used to encourage the development of the tropical species.
Laguna de Peña (Peña Lagoon)
A bit further, there was the lagoon where birds can mainly be seen as well as some other animal apparently. But unfortunately, we didn’t see any ☹
The place to try to spot the animal is the observation deck where a list and picture of the birds and animals is present.
La Pajarera (wildlife refuge and reserve)
To get there we headed back to our eBike and rode there. Once the eBike parked, we first saw Llamas and horses and bit further there were ostrich, capybara and goats. Behind that we walked to wooden bridges where lots Capybaras were. As we kept walking around, we saw people trying to get close to a wild pig but even if it was used to human it wouldn’t let them touch it. We also saw groups of goose flying away. It was super cool.
On the other side of the pounds, there was some caged houses where we could walk inside. It was full of birds from various species and all with different and stunning colors.
El choro
El Choro is a stone construction and a natural pool where you can refresh yourself. Also, near this point, toilets, supermarket and restaurants can be found.
Santa Teresa Fortress
Built in 1762 by the Portuguese and restored around 1957, the fortress was witness to many battles and is now a piece of art. Greatly restored, you can walk in almost every corner of this beautiful place and discover its chapel, powder storage room, officer quarters, blacksmith forge, infirmary, toilets and a room of art, more like a museum where on one side guns and weaponries are exposed and on the other model of fortresses across Uruguay.
This is the only paid entrance site of the whole park for 25 pesos per person.
Beaches
The park has over 12km of beaches, so we couldn’t visit them all as we are restricted with the battery of the eBike. We decided to first stop by Playa del Barco as it was on our way. It was a nice beach without too many people. Then we went to playa grande which was a good 20min ride one way. When we arrived at the beach it wasn’t the greatest and it was really windy. It is at this point that our first eBike battery run out of power.
Laguna Negra
We headed out of the park and went on the opposite road of it toward laguna Negra. It was well indicated but quickly after the roundabout the road become a dust path. We followed it until Puesta del sol which is the end of the road. There we found a family that was fishing and just caught a nice fish. After a while, we headed back as we still wanted to pop by downtown Punta del Diablo. But if you have time, friends recommended us to stay in the lagoon until sunset.
“The most beautiful in the world is, of course, the world itself.” – Wallace Stevens
Where to stay in Punta del Diablo
- Budget: Angelo
- Posada: Posada Las Maravillas
- House: QuedateAqui
