Or the nearly 14-mile palm-fringed ribbon called La Rambla, in Montevideo ... promenade runs between a busy road and the Río de la Plata, a wide waterway separating Uruguay and Argentina.

“In the end, I suppose they’re not so different,” says Karen Higgs, creator of the Guru’Guay travel guides to Uruguay and Montevideo, which focus on the nation’s best food and wine.