The boarding process for the ferry from Argentina to Uruguay was smooth. We arrived an hour before departure which was plenty of time. However, the boarding process for the ferry back to Argentina was a nightmare! Mass chaos as there was only one line for both Buquebus and Colonia Express. Our ferry was departing at 5:15 but the line did not move through security until 4:50. They opened the line to some people but didn't announce who it was for. Imagine "Lord of the Flies" scenario - everyone for themselves! Terrible, and stressful experience! read more

I booked one of their day tours to Uruguay because when I compared the pricing for independent round trips, it added up to about the same price. My day tour included the round trip ferry to Colonia from Buenos Aires, hop on-hop off bus, walking tour of the historic town, and wine tasting at a local winery that gave 3 tastings and accompanying hors d'oeuvres with each glass. 10/10 recommend. Getting there even 15 minutes before departure is totally fine. The ferries are not glamorous but very clean, has a duty free store, coffee store, and lounge area. read more

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There is efficiency boarding the Buenos Aires side. If you are a foreigner you are good arriving an hour before your boarding time. Very orderly and timely with very good directions by the staff. The Uruguay side is a whole different story. There is no order, workers are not available or give direction. You have to get with other passengers for direction. I would say be there 2 hours before and bring a high dose of patience. This the most disorganized and disorderly terminal. There is lots of room for improvement. I would say, they need to work on this ASAP as it leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth after having a good day. read more

You DO NOT need to arrive 1-2 hours prior to your ticket time. Immigration goes quickly and the onboarding on the ferry takes 45 minutes past the boarding time. Since everyone is going to the same place and the ferry has so many seats, no need to arrive so early. Purchasing Buquebus tickets round trip from Buenos Aires to Colonia de Sacramento was a bit complex. The website isn't the best to navigate. We wanted to go on a Saturday and realized there was only two time slots during the entire day, one at 8am and then another at 6pm. We found this inconvenient and purchased tickets for Sunday. We didn't realize how badly it was going to rain on Sunday so we wanted to reschedule our tickets. We walked over to the office in Recoleta and had no luck. Even though we purchased flexible tickets, we could not change the tickets since it was short of 24 hours, but it hadn't even been 24 hours since purchasing the tickets...We got on the ferry and once in Uruguay, we asked to extend our return time because we didn't realize onboarding would take so long. The merchant at the window wasn't super ecstatic but after some time, we were able to change the timings for $4.50 which wasn't bad. I just wish they were easier about it. I am sure they deal with it all the time but it seemed foreign to them. The ticket prices range from $125-$300 round trip. Even though the ferry ride itself is one hour, it's more like 2-3 hours with onboarding, getting everyone seated and taking off. Would recommend Colonia Express where onboarding and time on the water is MUCH less. Seats are nice and clean and spacious. The ferry itself has a duty-free tax store. read more

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Don't use this ferry. This ferry is expensive and should be fast but the ferry broke down and then was out of service delaying both legs of our roundtrip from Buenos Aires to Montevideo. The company was not interested in compensating us. read more

changed ferry booking last minute which meant our trip took twice as long and had to go at an inconvenient time. customer service was non existent and didn't refund the difference in price paid. definitely avoid using if you can read more

I thought this was a good adventure option to go to Uruguay for a few hours. They do have just boat tickets, or getaway packages to Colonia or Montevideo. If you plan correctly, you can get a good price, but even buying last minute can be a good option depending on the season. Tickets can be bought online or in person. Check-in is downstairs, you go upstairs to pass through immigration then proceed to the waiting area. There was a decent amount of ppl, but it wasn't packed on the boat. I haven't been on ferries this big before, but it was decent and is fast. The furnishings look like they're from the 90s. read more

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Don't buy your tickets online from USA; it costs much more, and my tickets were all messed up. I paid for business class, and they put me in tourist class. Tourist class was fine, but I paid for business. The woman on board insisted I be in tourist and was quite rude. I found my online tickets and finally they believed me. On the way back, they said I missed my ferry and would have to pay again. took me awhile to straighten out things. Get your tickets at the ferry terminal. Colonia is lovely and worth the visit. read more

Not the greatest experience with Buquebus but it wasn't the worst. Pros: - Quick transit between Uruguay and Buenos Aires. - Food, beverages and duty free available on board. - Business class section Cons: - Delays without any reparations for the customers. Turned by 1/2 day Uruguay adventure to a 1.5 hour lunch. - Seating is extremely limited. Good luck finding a seat if you board towards to the end - Not able to upgrade once on the boat. read more

One of two companies that offer day trip packages to Uruguay. The purchase process was really easy, and included the tickets and with an upgrade fee snacks and sandwich and water on the boat. My main issue is it was sold as you pick the food, and on the boat itself the cashier only offered ham sandwiches. No thought or consideration to those with allergies, religious restrictions, or vegetarians. Which is their business decision to make, but that should be expressly told to customers before upselling a food package that some can't actually use with no recourse. Everything else with the trip was smooth read more

Buquebus - Travel Services Near Me - Buenos Aires, C

Refused refund for health-related COVID 19 cancellation. My wife was diagnosed with an issue that weakens her immune system so we of course had to cancel our trip, especially in the middle of the Corona Virus pandemic. We had to cancel reservations with multiple hotels, airlines and car rentals. Everyone gave a full refund with no questions asked, except Buquebus. This is clearly not a company that cares about the well being of its customers. I would look for alternate options if you can. read more

Really impressed by this ferry!! Super fast, clean, you need slipper to protect the carpet, and they are super comfortable seats even in the economy. I was lucky enough to sit in business and it was so darn comfy, it made the trip so much better! They served us with a glass if champagne and some cookies after you got to our seats, nice touch!! read more

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Ridiculous! We were scheduled for an 8:15am departure to Colonia and at the departure time someone over the intercom announced that the port was closed. There are hundreds of people who have been standing in line for hours and they provided NO explanation other than "meteorological" reasons. It is rather foggy here but the fact that they provided no reasoning until departure time is UNACCEPTABLE! After paying nearly $3000 pesos per person, management needs to provide accommodations to their guests. This has been a dreadful experience from what was anticipated to be a great trip. The fact that a boat port has no protocol for fog other than to close unexpectedly without explanation for hundreds of passengers shows the type of commitment Buquebus has to service and their guests. I absolutely would NOT recommend this type of travel to anyone else after this terrible experience. read more

Terrible service. SIGNIFICANT delays both ways to and from Colonia. Yapping dogs, kids running around, zero organization.

Great and fast service from Montevideo to Buenos Aires. Highly recommend it. It was really fast!

It gets the job done. Around $80 - $90 round trip from BA to Colonia, you need to purchase at least 2-days in-advance. Don't forget you're going to a new country and will need to check-in and go through immigration, so be sure to arrive at least an hour in-advance. First come first serve seating, there's a small food counter aboard and a makeup / perfume shop. The fumes from the ferry were flowing through the boat for the last five minutes of the ride and all the way until we finally got off. Toxic and nauseating. read more

I give it 4 star instead of 3 because it was significantly inexpensive compare to purchasing a tour. I read a lot of reviews about guided tours in Colonia that was disappointing so I decided to go on my own. You don't need all day at Colonia. If you can catch 11:30 am boat, sleep in. The website has English language choice. It's on the upper right. It will often default to Spanish which is annoying but I am in another country so need to remember world doesn't revolve around English speaking tourist. I bought my tickets the night before so I didn't plan in advance. It was recommended that you get there 30 minutes to clear custom from Argentina and Uruguay on the same side before departure. I got there 20 minutes beforehand. There was no line and going through both side of customs was easy and quick. There was a long line to board before they even started boarding. Get there early not for customs but if you want a window seat. There was a duty free shop. Separately there was a concession shop with basic beverages including beer and snacks. The ferry did not leave on time but it arrived on time. It was the same way on the way back and they allowed you to go through immigration more than 30 minutes before departure. I was determined to get a window seat on the way back so I got in line as soon as I saw a line. Beware there is more than one ship line and destinations. After walking 5 -10 minutes up and down far away from waiting area and right before boat where tickets were being collected, I was told my tickets were for a different boat. How embarrassing walking back against traffic asking to be let in the waiting area instead of exiting out into Uruguay so I can go through customs again. First class looks nice and empty on the second floor. Coach was mediocre. It was clean enough. I didn't want to confirm my theory and use the restroom. It's one of those places where I can end up giving them an extra star or seriously regret drinking too much coffee. read more

Buquebus - Travel Services Near Me - Buenos Aires, C

Very convenient way to travel to 3 destinations in Uruguay: Colonia del Sacremento, Montevideo, and Punta del Este. But is quite overpriced. I rode the Francisco Papa ship from Montevideo to Buenos Aires on my arrival date, then the Atlantic III from BA to Colonia and Colonia to BA, and finally Fancisco Papa from BA to Montevideo. Bought the first class tickets for the Francisco ferries BA to M and M to BA. The crew of Francisco are quite rude. Also, don't be fooled by the first class pictures, the buffet in the pictures is not included, and the food is massively overpriced. The announcements are in Spanish, and I don't speak much. When nearing arrival to Montevideo, I started to head down to near the exits. This dude asks me something in Spanish, so I replied, "No hablo Espanol." He repeats the question in Spanish again! So I replied: "What?" Then he speaks English, saying are you driving. I said no. He says then return to your seat here, pointing to the economy class. So I started to walk back to my first class seat, and he said, here, again pointing to the economy class. I said, I'm going back to first class, and just carried on my way. Upstairs I look down, and the dude has this mean look on his face. I chuckled and continued on. The first class is freezing cold, so take a blanket with you. I told the women working the food counter: "Es muy frio" hoping they would turn down the AC. Instead she just said "Bueno" and didn't do a thing about it. Also, the river was pretty choppy, so the ship kept swinging to the sides. A sliding glass door kept banging 1 inche in and out of the wall. It was super annoying. Finally, the Internet, which is free with a code attached to the ticket, didn't work at all. When you get to the destination, don't get the taxis, they're scams. Just get an Uber to your destination. But coming back to the terminal in any of the cities, you should take the taxi; it's cheaper. read more

Our trip was canceled because of COVID-19. Buquebus said we could re-book within a year (not a possibility) but that if we canceled, we would have to pay the 30% fee. We are not the ones who cancelled this trip. This is not an acceptable approach to the health crisis. This is not the approach of a responsible, honest business. The experience with this company has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I plan to skip Uruguay altogether when I am able to re-plan my trip to South America. read more

During my travels in South America, we decided in advance that we'd like to take the ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia. There are a few operators of ferries and as a foreign visitor, the only website I could figure out how to purchase tickets in advance was Seacat. Since we were traveling between the Christmas and New Year holidays, we wanted to have our tickets purchased in advance and were able to do so via the Seacat website. Armed with our confirmation, we headed off on our trip. Everything we needed was in that confirmation. At check-in, you'll need that confirm and your passport. Check in was relatively organized, there are well-marked signs directing you upon entry to the hall where you check in. You're given a bag tag for any checked luggage and directed upstairs to wait in line. The passport control on the Argentinean side was a bit of a circus. You are directed wait in line, multiple ferries all at the same time. The passport control stations don't start processing the lines until about 30 minutes before the departure time listed on your ticket. The departure time should be viewed more as a guideline. We weren't too delayed on our outbound ferry, but on our return, our ferry left 90 minutes late. It's quite easy to see how the inefficiencies with completing the passport control process can lead to it. Both Uruguay and Argentina are processed at the same time. Once you're on board, the seats are comfortable enough and the ride is smooth. There is a duty free shopping area, as well as a small concessions area selling snacks and beverages. You don't have a ton of options, and as a US citizen there was only one website that actually allowed me to purchase ferry tickets in advance. While the trip to Colonia is totally worth it, having patience during the travel process is definitely advised. read more

I took buquebus to go to Uruguay (Montevideo) yesterday. We basically bought a ticket with everything included, the vessel ticket, the tour bus in Montevideo, the lunch and the transport back to the seaport. The vessel is so clean, the chairs are super comfortable. We traveled in business class because there was not tourist class. We travel like that because in the cheaper tariffs is where you can see how is the service for real. In VIP or business they will do whatever you want because you paid more. The vessel departure and arrival was on time, not delays at all. The have a very complete service, in the first floor you have duty free and in the second floor you will find your area of siting (depending your rate) which includes a restaurant. I will go back to Uruguay, another city, and I will do it with buquebus. read more

Be careful buying tickets on their website. We purchased ferry tickets and we were unable to make the ferry. I called their customer service and the representative told me if I submitted the form on their website, then they could change our tickets dates. After doing so, they emailed me and told me they could not do so. After many more calls to them and more exemption forms submitted, they would not change our tickets or give me a credit or refund. These two tickets were $3200 AR pesos that I never got back. Crooks. read more

I'm giving this 2 starts because the trip itself was fine and fast. The boat was clean, nice and the staff on the boat were ok. But I really think this service deserves 0 starts because of their crappy customer service to book and resolve issues. I tried booking my tickets on line in December, it told me that my transaction didn't go thru. The next morning my partner and I went to the station and they said that I hadn't paid for the tickets yet, which I agreed with since the online system told me the tickets didn't got thru. Then I paid for the tickets on the station booth. Now I have 2 charges on my credit card from them. I called there this week when I realized that and it took 4 calls of waiting for over 1 hr for someone (in Spanish) tell me to email their sales people. I emailed them immediately with all my info, then emailed again, and contacted them on Facebook. And nothing. Not a word. It's a $700 dollar charge! This kind of mistake needs to be rectified immediately. I wouldn't recommend trusting their online system if you are so all concerned with this poor organization and ability to resolve problems. It was a very expensive ride... read more

Better way to go to Uruguay from Buenos Aires. However a little bit disorganised on the boarding.

I've taken the trip on Buquebus from Argentina to Colonia, Uruguay three times. It's a very nice way to experience the river and have a fun day exploring Uruguay. The boat is clean and the staff is very nice and efficient. The food and drinks on board are very expensive so I recommend you bring your own snacks. They have a fast boat that takes an hour to arrive in Colonia and a slower one that takes about three hours ( obviously the faster boat is more expensive ). We've sat in first class and sat in coach and it's a much better deal to sit in coach. Colonia is a sleepy little town with numerous cafes and restaurants and historical monuments to enjoy. It reminds me of Saint Augustine, Florida except a little smaller and a little less crowded. The food in Colonia is extremely expensive so keep that in mind. It's a nice place to relax and sit outside at a cafe and enjoy a beer or your favorite beverage. It's also a nice place to sit in a park and drink mate while watching the tourists stroll by. Overall I'm a fan of Buquebus. read more

This company is an absolute disaster! I don't even know where to begin regarding the level of inefficiency that we experienced with this ferry company. It was extremely complicated simply getting tickets. We waited in long lines going in both directions from Buenos Aires to Colonia. There was no air conditioning in the terminals. The boat was an hour late in both directions on our day trip to Colonia. Terrible staffing levels, with one man yelling at the top of his lungs to the large group of people waiting to board. What a joke of a company. read more

This company is absolutely ridiculous. They know they have the market tapped for travel to Colonia from BA and so they invent prices! I went into the office (located at the ferry terminal in BA) to purchase my ticket for the following day. Not only did it take over an hour to purchase this roundtrip ticket because their computers were down, they also charged me nearly DOUBLE. The saleswoman claimed this was the best price ($103 USD). An hour later, I checked the prices online which were only about $60USD. Same exact times, same exact type of ticket. I called the hotline number asking for a price adjustment, of course they said this could only be done in person at point of sale. So the next day, I went back to the office in the terminal and asked for a price adjustment. She then again redirected me to the internet. I have sent 3 emails trying to request a price adjustment. I received one response, however after the initial email, no communication since. This is COMPLETELY unethical and just a flat out scam. Do not trust this company whatsoever. There is absolutely NO benefit to their boats - they are nothing special. And frankly, Colonia was an overpriced destination anyway. So I'd avoid at all costs and spend your money elsewhere. This company is full of crooks with absolutely ZERO sense of customer service. read more