Punta del Este

Last year, close to three and a half million visitors made the trip to Uruguay and the government thinks there is room for plenty more.

Beyond the beaches of Punta del Este, the pitch is tannat wine, asado, hot springs and a famously unhurried pace.

Monaco's managing editor, Joanna Moser, spoke to the country's Minister of Tourism, Pablo Minoni.

It is quite important to us

For instance, corned beef is made in Friventos, and corned beef fed the Allies troops during the Second World War.

So in Uruguay, we say that Uruguay made its contribution to the Allies to win the Second World War.

And we've seen this summer, you know, Punta del Este had a record summer for a lot of people coming in these private chats and José Ignacio was almost fully booked, like the two main spots, the hot spots this summer.

Who are today's big spenders and how is luxury offer growing from the new design hotels, Cipriani, the wineries, such as this one that you mentioned?

surf? Not really.

Nowadays, possibly, I remember Punta Ballena and Punta del Este, but I don't remember seeing any surfing there.

I'm sure there is.

Nowadays, there's surfing anywhere on the planet where there's a wave, including tidal bores in Berlin.

Leading the rankings is South Lake Tahoe, California, where year-over-year travel searches increased by an extraordinary 195%.

In second place is Japan's Hyogo region with a 95% increase, followed by Punta del Este in Uruguay, a popular coastal resort destination.

We're seeing interest in historic towns, cultural destinations, coastlines, natural landscapes, and places that are not necessarily the most obvious choice for first-time international travelers.

Of course, increased searches don't automatically mean more actual bookings, but these rankings offer inspiration if you're interested in exploring somewhere beyond the usual travel hotspots.

faster than anywhere else in the country.

That department is Maldonado, home to Punta del Este.

For generations, Uruguay has been South America's safe haven and Punta its most glamorous beach destination.

Wealthy Argentines and Brazilians have been coming here for decades to spend the summer on the beach and to keep their money safe.

Which brings us to where that money likes to live in Uruguay.

Well, it has flowed into Uruguay for a long time.

And the major place it goes is Punta del Este.

This city exists because of a lucky accident of geography.

Her husband, Marcelo, happened to be away that weekend as well, but he was only away for the weekend.

He was playing in a golf tournament held across the border in Punta del Este, Uruguay, alongside a very big group of friends, which included the husbands of several of Nora's own friends.

So with everybody out and about doing their own thing, that left Nora on her own for that entire weekend.

That Friday, Nora woke up, got ready for the day, and headed over to the family business to do some light administrative work before heading to her parents' house to have some lunch.

three phones with them when they left and they have never been recovered.

The third phone that was left behind was found under a remote control on the nightstand and this phone was actually used after Nora was murdered.

Yeah, at 12.35pm on Saturday, after the estimated time of death was declared between 4am and 10am, that exact phone that was found in her nightstand was used to open an incoming text message sent from Punta del Este, Uruguay, where Nora's husband was for the golf tournament.

But it wasn't her husband Marcelo that sent that message.

And he had the Japanese culture.

And he was invited to an apartment we have in Punta del Este.

It belongs to my wife.

She's the owner.

Tornadoes are rare and I've only really seen it happen in the interior part of the country where there's open farmland.

So away from the more populated cities such as Montevideo and Punta del Este is where I've seen or heard of accounts of tornadoes since we've been living here.

there is occasional flooding near riverbank areas specifically or like low-lying areas but Uruguay is not multiple feet below sea level like my hometown of New Orleans where I grew up so that's a benefit they call the tropical storms that do come through here they call them cyclones and Just in general climate weather wise, there are definitely four distinct seasons here, which I enjoy.

So since we lived here, a few climate things have stood out.

Next thing you know, I'm skiing in Bariloche.

I'm in Punta del Este on people's yachts.

I'm on the best float in Carnival.

I'm 19 years old.

It's like an old Japanese town.

Punta del Este in Uruguay.

Sedona, Arizona, which that does make sense.

That's very much in the mountains, and a lot of people want to go visit there for the natural beauty.