the new Uruguayan pause

By Flavia Tomaello, https://flaviatomaello.blog/, Instagram @flavia.tomaello

Montevideo is a city with its own pulse. Its slow pace, its infinite promenade, its air that mixes salt and serenity, make it a natural refuge for those looking to breathe differently. In recent years, the Uruguayan capital has become a discreet wellness mecca. Not that spa and glass well-being, but that which is woven in small gestures: a conversation without haste, a shared mate while looking at the river, or a caress of the breeze that seems to remind us that time, sometimes, can stop.
In that spirit, Odonata Boutique Spa was born, a corner that seems to breathe in time with the city. It is located between Pocitos and Punta Carretas, two neighborhoods where Montevideo appears more vital, more walkable, more intimate. From the outside, it could be mistaken for one of the many houses that keep stories within its walls. But upon crossing its door, the urban bustle dissolves. The air changes. There is a dim light, aromas of flowers and woods, music that does not invade, it barely accompanies. Everything invites you to stay.
Its name—Odonata—evokes the dragonfly, a symbol of transformation and balance. It couldn’t be more accurate. Because what happens here is not just a beauty treatment or a massage: it is an experience that proposes reconnecting with your own body, listening to its language and restoring calm.
The creator of this space, Mónica Morales, has been linked to the world of aesthetics, fashion and health for more than two decades. Trained in cosmiatry at the University of Buenos Aires and with international experience, she decided to open a shelter in Montevideo where the skin is cared for with respect. Their philosophy is summed up in a phrase that can be breathed in every corner: “Healthy skin reflects a balanced life.”
Here, wellness rituals are not presented as standardized formulas, but as personal paths. Each treatment begins with a conversation, a listening. There are no identical recipes, because each body tells a different story. Relaxing and decontracting massages, facial yoga sessions or exfoliation rituals with natural salts and essential oils are combined with cutting-edge techniques in facial and body rejuvenation, but without losing the common thread of respect for the natural and sensory.
Odonata does not seek to promise immediate results. Their bet is another: that of generating a time of conscious pause. A kind of journey inward that, curiously, begins in a city that invites you to look outward, at the horizon of the Río de la Plata.
The environment accompanies this search. Each space is designed to sustain an atmosphere of harmony: the dim lights, the soft music, the exact temperature that envelops, the aroma that changes depending on the time of day. Nothing is left to chance. Even the silences are measured.
In the words of its director: «Odonata was born to create a space where people can stop, breathe and take care of their body with awareness. Here it is not about leaving transformed, but about remembering what it feels like to be well.»
Montevideo, with its friendly cadence and serene landscape, seems like the perfect setting for this type of experience. Just steps from the promenade and the main hotels, Odonata has become a secret shared between locals and visitors. Tourists arriving from Buenos Aires, just crossing the Río de la Plata, find here that type of Uruguayan hospitality that does not need words: a mix of warmth, professionalism and closeness that turns each gesture into something memorable.
The experience ends—or perhaps begins—with an herbal tea or water flavored with fresh fruits. A minimal gesture that works as a farewell and welcome at the same time. Outside, the wind brings the murmur of the river again and the city continues its course, but something has changed. There is a sensation of lightness, as if the skin and the mind were breathing in the same rhythm.
Traveling today is no longer just about seeing new places. It is also about discovering different ways of living ourselves. Montevideo offers that: the possibility of stopping, even for a few hours, and listening to the silence itself. At Odonata, that silence becomes art, and well-being, a form of beauty that does not seek mirrors, but balance.
Because in the end, as Mónica says, “taking care of yourself is not a luxury, it is a way of being present in your own life.” And perhaps that is the simplest and most profound lesson that this experience leaves us: that authentic well-being cannot be bought or achieved; It is cultivated, with patience, with love and with time.

You can move around Montevideo easily: Uber is a simple and well-known resource, the 1919 Celeritas Taxis will schedule any section for you, Transfer Transfers and Incoming Tourism can make your journey end-to-end.

For the Buenos Aires–Montevideo route, Buquebús operates with 25 weekly frequencies, maintaining daily departures and multiple schedules per day.