The natural surroundings, the peace you breathe, and the warmth of the local people make you never want to leave once you enter Villa Serrana.

The site is accessed via Route 8 through two entrances. The villa was designed and built in 1945 by architect Julio Vilamajó as a European-style holiday villa, and built with local materials.

What to see in Villa Serrana?

Among unpaved streets and lots of vegetation, we find cabins, houses, and hotels to stay in, and thus spend a few nice days surrounded by the nature of the place.

The Stewart Vargas dam stands out among the buildings in the area. It is the reservoir of the Miraflores stream, a large mirror of water that reflects the beauty of the place. It was built in 1958 by the architect who named it, and in times of drought it supplies water to the area.

The Ventorrilo de la Buena Vista is the emblematic construction of the area. Built by the architect Julio Vilamajó in 1946, it is a National Historic Monument and one of the symbols of Villa Serrana.

It has a restaurant and accommodation as well.

In 2019, the Espacio Vilamajó was inaugurated: a museum room where tribute is paid to the architect of Ventorrillo and exhibitions of different national artists are presented.

Luckily, nature keeps within us some of the primitive intuition. Because, what would become of the world if everything was explained or needed an explanation? Detestable, detestable. Magic exists, it has to exist, to perfume life and no matter how much science tries to kill its mother, Magic: it will not be able to. There will always be magicians or geniuses who will make sure that this does not happen. Julio Vilamajó

Another place worth mentioning in Villa Serrana is the Indian Bath, which you can reach on a beautiful natural route. It is a waterfall preceded by a dam and has a legend. The legend says that a young Indian woman was bathing in the stream when a young man, who was watching her, took her clothes. When she realized that she had no way to cover herself, she stayed in the water and died of cold. Her father, upon finding her body, executed the Indian from the tribe who had spied on her and taken her clothes.

Legend has it that today the Indian woman continues to frequent the lake, transformed into a puma, the young Indian spy on her, transformed into a hill, but his father watches over him, flying over the valley, transformed into a crow.

Where to stay?

In Villa Serrana you have several inns and cabins to stay, you can also look for a house on Airbnb.

Some options :

►The Inn

►Panambi Cabin

►Aroma of the Sierra

↓Find your accommodation in Villa Serrana↓

Visits in the surroundings of Villa Serrana

There are many places to visit near the town if you are spending a few days there. The following stand out:

Penitent’s Jump

With two accesses to the park from route number 8, after a panoramic tour between mountains we find this waterfall nestled in nature. The Salto del Penitente is approximately 20 kilometers from Villa Serrana.

In the park you have a rest stop and options for hiking, rappelling, horseback riding and many other things. Here is the link: saltodelpenitente.com

Arequita Hill

11 kilometers from the city of Minas and 40 kilometers from Villa Serrana we find this rock massif, a 230-meter-high elevation of volcanic origin, which has a spacious cave, the Arequita Hill and its Colón Cave.

 Arequita is surrounded by an indigenous forest, and at its foot is the so-called Ombúes Island, a strange group of these native trees, which form a compact group growing among the rocks.

Two kilometers from the hill is the Laguna de los Cuervos. Near the hill we find the El Mirador inn, from there you can plan your climb to the hill or visit the cave.

We leave you the link lavalleja.uy for more information.

City of Minas

Just 26 kilometers from Villa Serrana we find the city of Minas, capital of the department of Lavalleja.

There are several places to visit, including the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, its square, the Irisarri confectionery (to buy delicious damasquitos and serranitos), and the Artigas hill, among many other things.

Salus Park Reserve

The park known as Salus Park, today the Salus Reserve, is a typical walk to take in the surroundings of Minas. Here we find the Puma fountain.

Legend has it that a puma found a spring of pure, crystal-clear water with unique properties in this place, and from then on the spring was called the Puma Fountain.

Acá se embotella la tradicional Agua Salus, y en la entrada podemos ver la figura de un puma.

The reserve can be visited, as well as the fountain, I leave here the link to coordinate the visit: Salus Reserve.

Virgin of Verdun

Located on the Verdún hill, we find the National Sanctuary of the Virgin of Verdún.

On the way up are the fourteen stations of the Via Crucis.

Since 1901, a pilgrimage to the Virgin has been celebrated on April 19. The date coincides with that of the Liberating Crusade of the 33 Orientals, led by Juan Antonio Lavalleja.

► If you are visiting Uruguay, I invite you to visit our article about Piriápolis

Extras: map and video

NOTE: The information in this article is based on our own experience, being totally objective. This article contains affiliate links.

La entrada Villa Serrana, Lavalleja, Uruguay se publicó primero en Europa acompañada.