Punta del Este

Punta del Este is a peninsular resort city in Uruguay's Maldonado Department, at the point where the Rio de la Plata meets the Atlantic Ocean, with a year-round population of 18,193 recorded at the 2023 census. Founded in 1829 as Villa Ituzaingo by the shipowner and merchant Francisco Aguilar and initially an appendage of the nearby city of Maldonado, it was formally established as its own municipality in 1907 and remained a small, relatively undeveloped town until the 1940s, when it began its transformation into one of South America's most prominent vacation destinations, its winter population swelling many times over during the summer tourist season.