Tiny houses in Uruguay

All 31 of Uruguay's verified stays sit in Rocha, the department holding the country's wildest stretch of Atlantic coast, and every single one is a cabin — no domes, no tipis, nothing else. What changes from town to town is the atmosphere.

Punta del Diablo carries the most, eighteen of thirty-one. Once a small fishing village, it's grown into a laid-back surf and backpacker hub, but the accommodation has stayed true to its roots — small wooden cabañas along sandy streets rather than resort blocks, busiest with young Uruguayans and Argentines through the summer.

La Pedrera, with nine, is the quieter and more design-conscious neighbour, its cabins perched on low cliffs above the Atlantic and closely linked to the lighthouse town of La Paloma next door. It draws an artsier crowd than Punta del Diablo, though the format is the same — wooden cabins rather than anything more built-up.

Cabo Polonio and nearby Valizas hold the last four, and they're the most distinctive stretch of coast in the country. Cabo Polonio is a protected nature reserve with no paved road and, for most of its history, no power grid — the only way in is on foot or by a specialised truck crossing the dunes, and the reward is a rocky point with one of South America's largest sea lion colonies. Valizas sits beside the continent's tallest shifting sand dune. Cabins here typically run on solar panels or generators rather than mains electricity, genuinely off-grid rather than rustic-themed. Across all three towns the season is the same: December to March, the southern hemisphere summer when Uruguay's Atlantic coast is at its warmest and busiest, with prices averaging around 60 euros a night. Access is via Montevideo, a few hours by car or bus along Ruta 10 — though the last stretch into Cabo Polonio always means swapping your own car for that truck.