Bookstores in Montevideo
If you judge a town by its bookshops, Montevideo, Montevideo gives you 45 to judge by. That's 45 bookshops mapped around Montevideo, each with its own shelves and specialties. The used sections are where the real bargains hide. Staff picks shelves are the fastest way to read a shop's personality.
This guide covers every bookstore we could verify in and around Montevideo (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include Afrodita and Puro Verso, plus Rayuela. If a bookshop's missing from Montevideo's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet.
The Montevideo bookstore lineup
45 mapped within about 40 km:
Afrodita
Bookstore
Afrodita — Bookstore.
Puro Verso
Bookstore
Puro Verso — Bookstore.
Rayuela
Bookstore
Rayuela is Bookstore.
Horizonte
Bookstore
Horizonte is Bookstore.
El Inmortal
Bookstore
El Inmortal — Bookstore.
Babilonia
Bookstore
Babilonia — Bookstore.
Libros de la Arena
Bookstore
Libros de la Arena is Bookstore on 962 Juan Benito Blanco, Montevideo.
962 Juan Benito Blanco, Montevideo
PV livraria e restaurante
Bookstore
PV livraria e restaurante — Bookstore on Sarandí.
Sarandí
Mundo Eva / Tiempo de Lectores
Bookstore
Mundo Eva / Tiempo de Lectores is Bookstore on 1036 Minas, Montevideo. Mundo Eva / Tiempo de Lectores also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:00-18:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
1036 Minas, Montevideo, 11600
Hours: Mo-Fr 10:00-18:00
Phone: +598 96 164 545
Pigmalión
Bookstore
Pigmalión — Bookstore, found on 990 Francisco Gómez in Montevideo.
990 Francisco Gómez, Montevideo
Borkum Libros
Bookstore
Borkum Libros is Bookstore on 2839 Avenida Italia. Borkum Libros also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Su 09:00-18:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
2839 Avenida Italia
Hours: Mo-Su 09:00-18:00
Phone: +598 2481 2902
Escaramuza
Bookstore
Escaramuza — Bookstore, found on 1185 Doctor Pablo de María in Montevideo. Also worth knowing about Escaramuza: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 09:00-21:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
1185 Doctor Pablo de María, Montevideo, 11200
Hours: Mo-Sa 09:00-21:00
Phone: +598 2401 3475
Eliezer
Bookstore
Eliezer — Bookstore.
Palacio Del Libro
Bookstore
Palacio Del Libro — Bookstore.
El Virrey
Bookstore
El Virrey — Bookstore, found on 2747 21 de Setiembre in Montevideo.
2747 21 de Setiembre, Montevideo
Lautréamont
Bookstore
Lautréamont is Bookstore on 2045 Maldonado, Montevideo. Lautréamont also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:00-20:00; Sa 10:00-14:00; it has a website with more detail.
2045 Maldonado, Montevideo
Hours: Mo-Fr 10:00-20:00; Sa 10:00-14:00
Diomedes
Bookstore
Diomedes is Bookstore on Bulevar España, Montevideo.
Bulevar España, Montevideo
Pocho
Bookstore
Pocho is Bookstore.
Pocho
Bookstore
Pocho is Bookstore.
Libreria Letras
Bookstore
Libreria Letras is Bookstore on Avenida Instrucciones del Año XIII.
Avenida Instrucciones del Año XIII
Yenny
Bookstore
Yenny is Bookstore on Bulevar España.
Bulevar España
Linardi y Risso
Bookstore
Linardi y Risso is Bookstore on 1435 Juan Carlos Gómez, Montevideo. Linardi y Risso also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:30-18:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
1435 Juan Carlos Gómez, Montevideo, 11000
Hours: Mo-Fr 10:30-18:00
Phone: +598 2915 7129
Feria del Libro
Bookstore
Feria del Libro is Bookstore.
Librería Puro Verso
Bookstore
Librería Puro Verso is Bookstore on 1199 Avenida 18 de Julio.
1199 Avenida 18 de Julio
Papacito
Bookstore
Papacito — Bookstore, found on 888 Avenida 18 de Julio in Montevideo. Also worth knowing about Papacito: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
888 Avenida 18 de Julio, Montevideo, 11100
Phone: +598 29002872
Sitio del Lector
Bookstore
Sitio del Lector — Bookstore.
Sitio del Lector
Bookstore
Sitio del Lector — Bookstore. Also worth knowing about Sitio del Lector: the map lists its hours as Mo-Su 09:00-22:00.
Hours: Mo-Su 09:00-22:00
Feltrinelli
Bookstore
Feltrinelli — Bookstore, found on 675 Sarandí in Montevideo. Also worth knowing about Feltrinelli: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 09:00-21:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
675 Sarandí, Montevideo
Hours: Mo-Sa 09:00-21:00
Phone: +598 91435460
CLC Uruguay
Bookstore
CLC Uruguay is Bookstore on 1424 Avenida Uruguay, Montevideo.
1424 Avenida Uruguay, Montevideo
El Virrey
Bookstore
El Virrey — Bookstore.
Bildung Libros
Bookstore
Bildung Libros is Bookstore.
La Lupa
Bookstore
La Lupa is Bookstore on 1318 Bacacay.
1318 Bacacay
Libros de la Arena
Bookstore
Libros de la Arena is Bookstore on Orinoco.
Orinoco
Cultura Alfabeta
Bookstore
Cultura Alfabeta is Bookstore.
Amazonia
Bookstore
Amazonia — Bookstore, found on 1775 Maldonado in Montevideo. Also worth knowing about Amazonia: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 09:00-20:00; Sa 12:00-20:00.
1775 Maldonado, Montevideo
Hours: Mo-Fr 09:00-20:00; Sa 12:00-20:00
Bookshop
Bookstore
Bookshop is Bookstore.
El Virrey
Bookstore
El Virrey — Bookstore.
Lecturas Cómics
Bookstore
Lecturas Cómics is Bookstore on 892 Colonia. Lecturas Cómics also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:00-12:30,13:30-19:00; Sa 10:00-13:30; it has a website with more detail.
892 Colonia
Hours: Mo-Fr 10:00-12:30,13:30-19:00; Sa 10:00-13:30
Bookshop
Bookstore
Bookshop is Bookstore.
Libros de la arena
Bookstore
Libros de la arena is Bookstore. Libros de la arena also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Su,Mo 10:00-18:00; Tu-Sa 10:00-20:00.
Hours: Su,Mo 10:00-18:00; Tu-Sa 10:00-20:00
Papacito
Bookstore
Papacito — Bookstore, found on 1409 Avenida 18 de Julio in Montevideo. Also worth knowing about Papacito: the map lists its hours as Mo-Fr 10:00-19:00; Sa 10:00-15:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
1409 Avenida 18 de Julio, Montevideo, 11200
Hours: Mo-Fr 10:00-19:00; Sa 10:00-15:00
Phone: +598 29087250
Sociedad Bíblica del Uruguay
Bookstore
Sociedad Bíblica del Uruguay — Bookstore, found on 1540 Constituyente in Montevideo.
1540 Constituyente, Montevideo
Adagio Libros y Café
Bookstore
Adagio Libros y Café — Bookstore.
Bookshop
Bookstore
Bookshop is Bookstore.
Libros Del Paso
Bookstore
Libros Del Paso is Bookstore on Avenida Agraciada.
Avenida Agraciada
What the map tells us about bookstores in Montevideo
11 of the 45 list their opening hours on the map, which is genuinely useful — bookshops keep civilised hours, so the listed ones are usually reliable.
7 have websites listed. Worth a look for events — readings and signings get announced there first.
There's a cluster: 2 of them sit on Bulevar España, so you can string those into one walk and drive between the rest.
The Montevideo bookstore crawl
Plot these on a map and the day plans itself: Afrodita, Puro Verso, Rayuela, Horizonte, El Inmortal, Babilonia, Libros de la Arena on 962 Juan Benito Blanco, and PV livraria e restaurante on Sarandí. That's 45 stops on the Montevideo bookstore crawl. 37 more are listed below.
Bookstore tips for Montevideo
Browsing in Montevideo? A little strategy helps:
- Browse by serendipity, buy by list at Afrodita. Keep a want-list on your phone for the hunt, but let the shelves surprise you too. The best finds are never the planned ones.
- Don't overlook the classics wall at Puro Verso. Every shop has one. Cheap editions of the books everyone claims to have read — your chance to actually read them.
- Check the staff picks shelf first. It's the fastest read of a shop's personality. If the picks excite you, the rest of the store will too.
- Check the cookbook section. Cookbooks are the most browsed and least bought section, which means the used shelf is full of barely-touched gems.
Good to know
We searched about 40 km around Montevideo — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new bookstore in Montevideo can take a while to appear. The 45 above are only as current as the community map. A bookstore that's shut, or a new one nobody's added yet, gets fixed with a single OpenStreetMap edit.
We don't list prices — they change constantly and vary by edition. What we list is the where: real shops, verified by real mappers, in alphabetical order with no favourites.
If you run one of the 45 listed here and something's wrong — a closure, a move, new hours — the fix is the same: update the shop on OpenStreetMap and the correction flows through to this page on the next daily refresh.
Bookstore listings for Montevideo: 45 mapped from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Photos from Wikimedia Commons contributors; individual photo credits appear in captions. Listing data was last refreshed automatically — verify hours before visiting.