Spanish Courses in Uruguay

Montevideo

Montevideo is Uruguay’s jewel that basks in the glory of the
colonial times while still preserving its tranquillity.

Montevideo

Show course location (new browser window)

The school

Combination Course

Brief information

LISA! Quality Mark

Sightseeing

Accommodation

Courses and prices

Dates and services

Travel

Online booking

Montevideo

On the map, Montevideo is just across the River Plate or ‘Rio de la Plate’ estuary from Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires. The Uruguayan capital city can be easily reached from Argentina within 45 minutes on the plane or slightly longer by ferry. The city, which has 1.4 million inhabitants, is Uruguay’s cultural, political and economic centre. The narrow alleyways of its Old Town ‘Ciudad Vieja’, full of grand buildings from the Spanish colonial times, is the birthplace of tango, despite Buenos Aires attempting to claim the title for itself. Horse-drawn stagecoaches are still a common sight here against the backdrop of Montevideo’s harmonious combination of technology, people and environmental consciousness, so typical of smaller towns, which prevails here over the typical hustle and bustle of a Latin American metropolis.

Montevideo provides long sandy beaches, where the locals meet after a hard day at work, astounding architecture that has lasted for centuries, brilliant weekend and antique markets such ‘Feria’ in the ‘Parque Rodó’ district and in ‘Trastan Narvaja’. In the city centre, there some great places to go shopping such as ‘Avenida 18 de Julio’ and ‘Calle 21 de Septiembre’ in the ‘Pocitos’ district, where there are numerous shopping malls, trendy boutiques and an unbelievable number of small cafés, bars and restaurants. At ‘Placa Independencia’ is one of the most famous houses in the world: the ‘Palacio Salvo’. The 26-storey Renaissance building was once South America’s highest edifice but was branded as one of the ugliest buildings ever built by the Uruguayan author, Mario Bendetti. With its turrets, small windows, curvatures and ornamental deco, the ‘Palacio Salvo’ is thought to resemble a sandcastle. However, it is recommended to go and judge it for yourself as it is an integral part of this city on the hill.

Some of the best restaurants and ‘parilladas’, for which Montevideo is famous for, are in the market area ‘Mercado del pueblo’ at the harbour. The food is brilliant here, for example delicious beef filets are served in numerous different ways and barbequed. Montevideo also has serveral great drinks such as the after-dinner drink ‘Grappamiel’, a grappa flavoured with honey, or a hot maté tea, which can be enjoyed at any time of the day.

The school

Our high-quality language school is in the middle of the city centre in the ‘Parque Rodo’ district and is situated in a beautiful old house. The school has 4 bright and well-furnished classrooms, a library, a fully-equipped kitchen and patio, where students can spend their breaks. There are also barbeques here every Friday night. The school is a short walk away from many restaurants, bars and shops, wonderful weekend markets, as well as the huge park and National Library. The beach is just a 10 minute walk away. All tutors are native speakers and are specially qualified to teach Spanish as a foreign language.

Combination Course

You book a 4, 8 or 12 week Spanish course and spend half of the time in Buenos Aires and the other half in Montevideo. Further combinations are possible between Santiago de Chile, Mendoza and Cordoba. A combination with Ushuaia is also possible. Please call us for more information.

Brief information

LISA! Quality Mark

The LISA! language school is accredited by the following organisations: WYSE, ALTO, BELTA, AMPEI, NAFSA and STAYWYSE.

Sightseeing in Montevideo

Montevideo has many places worth seeing around the city. Two of Montevideo’s most famous buildings can be found on ‘Plaza Independencia’, the Renaissance style ‘Palacio Salvo’, which creates quite a stir in the city with its sandcastle-esque appearance, and the ‘Teatro Solis’, where there are theatre performances every night. There are also famous museums such as the Museum of Fine Art and the National Museum, which exhibits artefacts from the history, the founding and the development of this once colonial city, as well as of Uruguay. In Montevideo’s old town ‘Ciudad Vieja’, you can find the clubbing and shopping districts, including. ‘Avenida 18 de Julio’, where there are a whole range bars, trendy boutiques and galleries. You can see that Montevideo has still kept to its traditional tranquil roots, as horse-drawn stagecoaches are still around on the streets.

As the city was built and founded on the River Plate estuary, it has long sandy beaches with a promenade. You can play sport in the huge parks and amble through the flea markets and weekend markets.

Before it is time to tango in Montevideo, where this style originated, there are scores of bars and grill bars, which are ready to welcome you every evening.

Accommodation

Residence: Single room (SR) or double room (DR). Kitchens and bathrooms are shared by several residents. Average distance to the school: 15 minutes by public transport.

Family: Single room (SR) with half board (HB), on Sundays there is no catering. Please note that no food will be provided at weekends if you opt for half board. Average distance to the school: 20 minutes by public transport.

Courses and prices

Dates and services

Package includes:

• Language course as booked
• Accommodation as booked
• Loan of course materials
• Organised social/activity programme
• Travel advice and information
• Certificate on course completion

Additional services:

• Extra night without lessons: £ 41
  
• Single transfer from the airport to the accommodation: £ 55

Travel

We recommend that you book a flight to Montevideo. An organised airport transfer can be booked in addition. Please contact our staff for further information and advice.