Buenos Aires

Another thread on this board addresses the "which neighborhood" question, if that helps. Most overseas visitors seem to prefer the Microcentro, Retiro, Recoleta, and Palermo neighborhoods. Those are listed in order of distance from the urban core. You might prefer a central location or a quieter one, a big hotel or a smaller hotel or b&b. A good guidebook should help you decide -- I like Lonely Planet.

The guidebook should also help with getting to Punta del Este, I don't know how that works. But I understand that there are frequent ferries to Montevideo, and getting from there to Punta del Este shouldn't be difficult.

We fled a hotel in the center for Recoleta, lovely neighborhood, good choice of restaurants, many nice hotels. We stayed at Melia Recoleta Plaza and higjly recommend it.