What’s most striking about Uruguay’s coastal towns is what they don’t have: high-rises (except in Punta, which even has a Trump Tower), chain restaurants and hotels, overdeveloped beaches. Each beach might have a parador, where you can buy a cold bottle of Zillertal, one of the national beers that’s big enough for two, but otherwise they’re mostly empty of commercialism. Someone might stop by your beach chair to try to sell you a sandwich, a pot cookie or some handmade jewelry, but because this is Uruguay, they’re never pushy, taking rejection with perfect equanimity and a smile.

Get a glimpse of local life with a lunch stop 10 miles south of La Pedrera. On the edge of the Laguna de Rocha, separated from the Atlantic by a narrow strip of land, is a wooden deck dotted with plastic chairs and tables. This is Cocina de la Barra, a small restaurant run by the wives and daughters of the fishermen who make their living from the lagoon. The stock of fresh shrimp, crab and delicately fried fish come straight from the small fishing boats into the kitchen, a delightful community partnership that began three years ago. Lunch, eaten off plastic plates, is a bargain at around 800 pesos for two.

If you want to truly get off the grid, Cabo Polonio is perhaps the country’s most desirable spot. Though it’s the least accessible coastal village in Uruguay, sitting within an undeveloped national park, it’s also one of the most beautiful. It requires some forethought to reach: trucks that can cross the sand dunes barring the way depart on regular schedules from a bus station off the main road (round trip 230 pesos, plus another 100 if you want to bring your surfboard), or you can walk along the beach the six or so miles from Valizas, the next town to the north.

Cabo Polonio’s remoteness is treasured by its handful of year-round inhabitants. While the town’s hostels and bare-bones restaurants get busy in the summer, there’s virtually no Wi-Fi and electricity is minimal: Generators create enough refrigeration for a cold beer at an open-air restaurant, but not for a light in your dorm room (a bed in a dormitory in either the Viejo Lobo or Cabo Polonio Hostel costs around $30 a night, cash only). You can hear honking from the colony of sea lions gathered under the lighthouse, and it’s possible to see whales from September to November. This part of the coast can still feel wild, particularly in the off-season, when the only thing you’ll encounter on the beach is the occasional cow that has lost its way.