Arriving at Carrasco Airport

Posted on February 24, 2007
Filed Under Montevideo, Transportation, Expat Tips | 2 Comments

If you are going to Montevideo from just about anywhere other than Argentina or southern Brazil, chances are that you will be arriving through Carrasco Airport. If this is your first time to Montevideo, there are few things that you might want to know.

Unlike most airports, Carrasco does not have jetways. So your first experience into the country will be going down a Plexiglas covered stairs to an awaiting bus on the tarmac. Consider yourself lucky because just a few short years ago, one needed to walk about 100 meters from the plane to the lobby. If you are handicapped or cannot use the stairs, they will escort you through the back door and will use a truck with a telescopic cargo hold. They will wheel you in, chock the wheels with large blocks and then drive you to the immigration hall. I actually escorted a friend with a broken leg on the way back and saw the process first hand.

Buses will shuttle the passengers to the immigration hall. There is only one line for all passengers. This line feeds up to several booths of immigration officials. The line, although appearing dreadfully long at first, moves very fast. In two separate trips, it took us less than 15 minutes to clear immigration.

During your flight, you should be given an Uruguayan entry form. This form is a bit irritating since it asks the same information three times and in slightly different ways. Fill it out in the plane, before you arrive. Have it handy.

The immigration officials are friendly and very fast. There may be questions like purpose and length of your trip. However it is often as simple as handing them your passport and the form, waiting 30 seconds for a stamp on the form and passport and away you go. Keep the form and passport handy, you may need them again if you get picked in the customs random sampling. Also you will need to give this same stamped form back to immigration when you leave the country. If you lose it, you’ll pay a fine of around 100 dollars.

After immigration, proceed to the right into the baggage carousel room next door. Pick up your luggage and proceed to the exit. If your luggage has not arrived, yes that has happened to me once when I had a short connection in the States; you’ll need to wait until all other pieces of luggage from the flight are retrieved. Contact the airline representative from the inside of the carousel room. They will take your name, hotel number and will contact you when it gets there. Which in Montevideo typically means next day. Eventually my luggage did arrive.

Near the exit, there is a divider with a button and a guard next to it. If the guard is there, which is not always, he may nod you to move on to the exit. If he does not, you are supposed to press the button and if you get the red light you proceed to the right and customs will ask for the form you filled out and will open your luggage. If the guard is not there or if you get the green light, you go to the left of the divider and through the door and into the crowds of people waiting for their relatives. Welcome to Montevideo.

You are now in a long wide hallway that connects the arrivals and departure wings. You will quickly note that the airport is very small, so no chance of getting lost there. Since you have probably just traveled 12 or more hours with little sleep, I recommend that you sit down for a second to get your bearings and plan your next steps.

My next step is always to get some Uruguayan pesos so I can pay the cab. Fortunately, there is an ATM within 10 meters from the baggage claim exit, on the same wall. I believe you need to press a button for the door to open. If your bankcard is part of the Cirrus network, it should work fine. The machine has the choice of a menu in English. If you get a choice of which bank network, choose the Uruguayan one, and choose the withdrawal in Pesos (some machines allow withdrawals in dollars). I recommend that you take an amount that has a 300 in it, 1300, 2300 etc. This way you will have small bills for the taxi.

If you do not speak Spanish, your next step should be to write your destination on a piece of paper so you can hand it to the cab driver. Even if you speak Spanish, find the address before you leave the Airport. But don’t worry, cabs in Montevideo are quite safe, unlike some other cities in South America where the driver may take a detour to relieve you of your valuables first.

There are two types of cabs in Montevideo, the regular type and special ones serving the Airport. The Airport taxis are about double the price. And that’s what you’ll get if you walk out of the door with your luggage. A person will take your luggage and place it in the first special taxi available, before you have time to say jetlag. Make sure you have a dollar or two available to hand to your “helper” if that happens to you.

If instead, you exit to the far left of the Airport, you may see some regular taxis, usually painted black and yellow. If you can get one, they will be about half the price. Be forewarned that both types of cab have a laminated sheet indicating a price correction for increases in the price of gas. This is normal. However the sheet has two versions, one in red for Sundays, holidays and nights and another one in white for other days/hours. Make sure when you arrive at your destination the driver does not pull out the red one, unless you are arriving on a Sunday. A cab ride on a special cab can be around 500 pesos, and about half as much for a regular cab. Although not required, a five percent tip will be appreciated.

If you rented a car, the car rental agencies have booths right there, in the area where you exited from customs.

If you only have a carry-on and are adventurous and frugal, you can take a bus into the city. As you exit the main door, cross the first two car lanes. There is a bus stop there. Any bus that says Montevideo or Centro will take you downtown, for 15 pesos.

If you are heading to Punta del Este or other points east, you don’t need to go downtown first, you can take an intercity bus from the Airport. Several companies serving the coastal area make a stop at the airport to pick up passengers. COT has an office at the airport near the arrivals door and it is open Monday to Friday 7 AM to 9:30 PM, Saturday 9 AM to 4:30 PM and is closed on Sundays. Click here for the schedule. You can also pay the fare on the bus, however you will need pesos while at the office you have the option to pay in dollars. COPSA does not have an office at the Airport, but the buses do stop in front of the Airport as well. Click here for the schedule.

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2 Responses to “Arriving at Carrasco Airport”

Ant on May 9th, 2007 1:51 pm

Some things i’d like to add… try to change as little as you need at the aeroport. The exchange rate there is a rip off. You can easily expect 3 pesos per dollar more (10+% more) if you get the money exchanged in the City itself.

Is this black and red pricing system valid across the city?
Brazzie on May 9th, 2007 3:15 pm

Good point. I believe this is also true for most international Airports, not just Uruguay.

The exchange rate of the Peso is set my market forces and not by the UY government (other than through monetary policy). So you should expect some variation from one financial institution to another.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguayan_peso

Arriving at Carrasco Airport

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