My husband and I stayed at this hotel on March 1-3, 2007. The hotel is located in the beautiful La Barra area of Punta Del Este. I highly recommend staying in La Barra as it seems to be the hub of Punta's restaurant and bar scene. It is also very close to some amazing beaches and a nicely removed from all the cookie cutter high-rises of Punta.

The hotel, itself, was fine...but, nothing made it spectacular. However, my understanding of La Barra is that it doesn't have any truly "spectacular" hotels.

The positive aspects about the hotel are that it has (1) a beautiful pool overlooking a stunning beach (more used by surfers than swimming, though) with poolside food and beverage service should you want that; (2) it has a very good restaurant should you decide to eat there; and (3) it is very centrally located to all the activity in La Barra (you can walk to all the shopping, dining, and clubs).

The only negative aspect about the hotel and that is that the decor doesn't seem to have been updated in a very long time and the rooms are sparsely appointed. But, given the fact that you are in such a nice location, one can easily overlook such a minor flaw.

We would definitely recommend staying at this hotel if you want to stay in La Barra. As a side note, my husband and I drove over to The Mantra (where we had considered staying)) and were so happy we chose La Posta Del Cangrejo!! The Mantra is hike away from the beach with no views or the sounds of waves crashing on the beach.

Also, one more thing to note, if you staying in La Barra for the nightlife, make sure you go in December and January (mid -February at the latest) as a lot of the "cool" clubs and restaurants close for the season after those months.

I stayed at La Posta for five days last February. The location is outstanding, those staying at Mantra were quite jealous indeed. Had an oceanview room which I thought was relatively small for American standards (compared to like a resort in Miami) but in line w/ what you consider a nice size room in Europe. Bathroom can use some updates, again reminded me of Europe a lot. The pool is lovely and has a great view, we used to lounge there for a few hours after breakfast. Breakfast was above expectations, best croissants I ever have outside of France and my friend died for their pain au chocolat (that's why we needed some recovery time at the pool every morning). They have a really nicely decorated spacious living room next to the breakfast bar that makes for a great spot for reading on a rainy day. The staff couldn't be any nicer (except for the front desk lady) they went way out of their way to help you with whatever you may need. I will certainly go back because of the feeling of the place, the amazing views, the nice pool, the croissants and the perfect location.

When we arrived in Punta del Este we spent the first night in the San Rafael, the old hotel icon of Punta. But one night was more than enough as the best time have passed.
So I convinced my wife to look for a hotel in LaBarra which I like more. It was her first time in Uruguay and the Posta del Cangrejo and its team made a lot that she will come back.
The rooms are very clean and very nice decorated. There are some garden rooms but when we saw the ocean view rooms we decided to spent a little bit more for a spectecular view over the ocean. Luckily we had one of the 2 rooms with a terrace. Very nice for relaxing but be carful, you can get sunburned easliy.
In the evening we had a bottle of the fantastic local champagne. The waiters from the bar gave us a cooler for free. Everybody in the hotel is very helpful and friendly. A big thank you to the concierge who helped us when we had a flat tire. First they tried to help with the car rental comapny as our spanish is to bad. When nothing happened they changed the tire. A really unusual help from hotel staff. There is only a small minus for the breakfast, it is just a petit dejeuner like in France. But enough if you had a big lomo the evening before it's OK. Next time in Punta we'll defintely stay again in the Posta del Cangrejo.