Monte Hermoso is a town located on the Atlantic coast of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, some east of the city of

Bahía Blanca Bahía Blanca (; English: ''White Bay''), colloquially referred to by its own local inhabitants as simply Bahía, is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires province of Argentina, centered on the northwestern end of the eponymous Blanc ...

, in the south of the

Province of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

. It is the administrative seat of the partido of

Monte Hermoso Monte Hermoso is a town located on the Atlantic coast of Argentina, some east of the city of Bahía Blanca, in the south of the Buenos Aires Province, Province of Buenos Aires. It is the administrative seat of the Partidos of Buenos Aires, partid ...

. Founded at the beginning of the twentieth century, Monte Hermoso is a family seaside resort with more than of beach overlooking the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

and with the unique characteristic in Argentina of having both sunrises and sunsets over the sea. The summer climate of Monte Hermoso is more temperate than that of other major seaside resorts due to the

sea breeze A sea breeze or onshore breeze is a wind that blows in the afternoon from a large body of water toward or onto a landmass. By contrast, a land breeze or offshore breeze is a wind that blows in the night from a landmass toward or onto a large ...

effect, while the water itself is warmer, making for a pleasant

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

experience. Monte Hermoso owes its existence to the 1879 purchase of 4,000 seaside hectares (10,000 acres) by Esteban Dufaur. His son, Sulpicio, created the ''El Recreo''

estancia An estancia or estância is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias are located in the southern South American grasslands of Chilean and Argentine Patagonia, while the ''pampas'' have historically bee ...

in 1910, and in 1918, began welcoming guests with the inaugural of the ''Hotel de Madera''; the hotel was built by Dafaur with lumber salvaged from a shipwreck on the shore. The settlement was established as such in 1975, and given autonomy on April 1, 1979. The

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

, ''Faro Recalada a Bahia Blanca'', high and the tallest in South America, is situated on the coastal road to Sauce Grande about east of the resort, where it marks the route to the nearby port of

. Prefabricated in France by the same construction company, ''Barbier Bernad and Turenne'' that built the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, it was erected in Argentina under the direction of Engineer Luigi, who also supervised the construction of the nearby naval base at Puerto Belgrano. Opened on 1 January 1906, the staffed lighthouse, painted in red and white and giving out a white flash every 9 seconds, comprises an octagonal pyramidal cast iron tower with a central cylinder lantern and gallery. Guided tours of the lighthouse are provided daily.

Notable people

* Baltasar Rodríguez (born 2003), first Monte Hermoso native to play in

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

( Racing Club)

References

External links

*
Official siteInformative siteMaps and informationNews (Spanish)Tourism (Spanish)Informative and commercial siteRecalada Lighthouse (English)Faro Recalada (Spanish)
*{{cite rowlett, arg Populated places in Buenos Aires Province Populated coastal places in Argentina Seaside resorts in Argentina Populated places established in 1975