Nueva Helvecia

Nueva Helvecia was founded in 1862 by Swiss and German settlers, and the colony's origins are still legible: family names on the shopfronts, a Swiss-style hotel, a cheese industry that supplies much of the country, and a beer and dairy tradition that came with the founders. The town holds a Swiss festival each year and a small museum records the settlement. It is often called the Swiss colony and the label has stuck for a century and a half.

What you actually see

• The cheese industry - dairies producing much of the country's cheese.
• The founding families - Swiss and German names still on the shops.
• The colony museum - the record of the 1862 settlement.
• The Swiss festival - the annual celebration of the town's origins.

When to go

Year round; the Swiss festival falls in the spring. Dairies take visitors by arrangement. Summer weekends bring day trips from Colonia.

Honest expectations

The Swiss character is more a matter of names and food than of architecture; visitors expecting an alpine village will be disappointed. The museum is small. Dairy visits need arranging.

Nearby

Colonia del Sacramento is southwest, and Conchillas is west.