Uruguay 
In numbers.
Jun–Sep
Best months
223m
Elevation
The water at Salto del Penitente, month by month
It roars from February to October.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year.
- 58%Jan
- 76%Feb
- 92%Mar
- 91%Apr
- 87%May
- 99%Jun
- 97%Jul
- 100%Aug
- 94%Sep
- 88%Oct
- 72%Nov
- 59%Dec
Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to September.
Estimate from rain, snowmelt and evaporation month by month (NASA POWER, 1991–2020) around the falls. Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Salto del Penitente is a waterfall in Uruguay.
Getting there.
- Minasnearest town · 17 km in a straight line
- Parking 120 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Capitan Corbeta CA Curbelo International Airport (PDP)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 54 km in a straight lineCar hire at PDP airport (Punta del Este)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From June to Septemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 72 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 56 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 1viewpointsSalto del Penitente
- —waymarked walking routes
- 1car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- —other named waterfalls within 4 km
- —caves
- 1campsites
- 2hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmMeson de las cañas
- 2restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Minas17 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 29 | 27 | 25 | 21 | 17 | 14 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 27 |
| Night °C | 16 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 14 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 97 | 118 | 125 | 104 | 95 | 107 | 96 | 106 | 100 | 103 | 90 | 88 |
| Wet days | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 |
| Sun h/day | 9.8 | 8.4 | 7.7 | 6.5 | 5.2 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 5.3 | 6.4 | 7.4 | 9.2 | 9.8 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (223 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 62% | 36% | 28% | 109% | 58% | 277% | 49% | 61% | 63% | 50% | 26% | 31% |
| 2021 | 90% | 183% | 105% | 73% | 72% | 131% | 59% | 69% | 115% | 41% | 122% | 12% |
| 2022 | 234% | 72% | 41% | 99% | 62% | 6% | 142% | 37% | 21% | 49% | 34% | 21% |
| 2023 | 6% | 21% | 32% | 34% | 19% | 3% | 20% | 41% | 33% | 33% | 52% | 96% |
| 2024 | 24% | 31% | 93% | 66% | 66% | 50% | 5% | 41% | 23% | 16% | 35% | 57% |
| 2025 | 26% | 36% | 54% | 72% | 81% | 37% | 14% | 65% | 34% | 54% | 52% | 31% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q2215452) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves or dark skies?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.You are here
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Coming soonVisit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit