Bella Unión – Monte Caseros International Ferry

Tripoint areas are fascinating. Our primary focus was to visit the southernmost tripoint in the world – ARBRUY – the tripoint between Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, however as is the case with wet tripoints there are also physical links and/or ferries between the adjacent countries. Uruguay is linked to Argentina via a ferry between Bella Unión and Monte Caseros whereas Uruguay is linked with Brazil via the Bella Unión – Barra do Quaraí International Bridge, details here

As with other border crossings on the IBRG SATEX-25 expedition there were no restrictions to us exploring the border facilities. Unfortunately time constraints prevented us from travelling to Argentina, which was a shame as there were border POI’s worth exploring on the other side. The Paso Internacional Monte Caseros – Bella Unión provides a regular international ferry service across the Uruguay River, connecting the 2 countries.

This route is primarily used for local transit and trade and is served by two passenger-only boats: the Santa Inés (Argentine) and El Tiburón (Uruguayan), the journey between the 2 ports takes 10–15 minutes and costs $300 Uruguayan pesos. The official crossing point is generally open from 08:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 20:00 on weekdays. Since 2022 there have been initial studies into the building of a bridge between the 2 towns. This project remains within the early planning phase.