Altos del Arapey

Altos del Arapey is the one hotel in Salto that people outside Uruguay have heard of: a 156-room, five-star, all-inclusive resort at Termas del Arapey, about 85 km north of the city by Route 3. It stands in open country on the Arapey river, with its golf course on one side and the small hot-springs village on the other.

It is the unhurried end of Salto. Nobody comes here to see the city. You come for three or four nights, eat and drink what is included, play golf in the morning, sit in the water in the afternoon, go to the spa, and the farthest you go is the municipal pools across the village. If that is the trip you want, nothing else in the department does it at this level.

The water comes from the hotel's own well, 950 m deep, and surfaces at 39 to 40 °C; even the showers in the rooms run on it. There are five open-air pools, one of them for children and one a jacuzzi for adults at over 39 °C, with a wet bar looking over the Arapey river. The sixth is the one to know about in winter: a heated pool half under a roof and half open to the sky, so you swim from one side to the other without getting out.

The spa, which the hotel calls Estilo Altos, runs a relaxation circuit, massages, facials and body treatments, a sauna and hydromassage, from 9am to 8pm. Treatments are not part of the all-inclusive.

The course is 18 holes, 7,298 yards, par 73 for men and 72 for women, laid out over 60 hectares by Dr Ernesto Llovet, with water on several holes, raised tees and greens, a driving range and a putting green. There are lessons for beginners, and the hotel runs tournaments through the year.

Green fees and carts are sold with the hotel's golf packages rather than simply thrown in, so ask what your rate includes when you book.

Breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea (merienda) and dinner, with Uruguayan and imported drinks. The main restaurant is a buffet with four live cooking stations, open from 8am to 11pm, and there are three bars and a snack bar. The kitchen caters for special diets if you say so when you book.

Also in the rate: the Kids Club, the gym, two padel courts, a multi-sport court, evening entertainment and a programme of outdoor activities, with canoes on the river, horse riding, birdwatching and guided walks.