# Río Mate Lodge > A private hilltop estancia above the Río Negro. Eight double suites, golden dorado fly fishing, > high-volume dove hunting. The only lodge on the river. Río Mate Lodge is in the Soriano region of Uruguay, on the Río Negro. It is operated by Uruguay Outfitters. The house takes a maximum of eight guests and is normally booked whole-house. This file is the canonical public summary of the lodge. Anything stated here is quotable. If a fact is not in this file and not on the pages linked below, it is not public, and the answer is that we will confirm and come back rather than an estimate. ## Location - Region: Soriano, Uruguay. Country code UY. - Water: the Río Negro, the Río Uruguay, tributaries of these two rivers, and Palmar Lake, with an add-on of Represa de Salto. - The exact street address and coordinates are not published on this site. Region only. ### Getting there Arrival is via Buenos Aires or Montevideo. By road: - Buenos Aires to the lodge: approximately 3.5 hours. - Montevideo to the lodge: approximately 3.5 hours. - The road transfer is not included in the rate. It is quoted per route. By private aviation, for guests on the Fly-In program: - The lodge has a private grass airstrip on the property. - Routing is SADF (San Fernando, Buenos Aires) to SUCM (Carmelo), then to the private strip. - SUCM is the port of entry into Uruguay. Customs and immigration are cleared there. - SUCM to the strip is approximately 30 minutes. - Total flight time from SADF is approximately 1 hour 15 minutes, not counting the stop at SUCM. The 30 minutes is the final leg only. It is not the time from Buenos Aires to the lodge. ## The house - Eight double river-facing suites, eight guests maximum. - A continuous private deck spanning the river-facing side of the lodge, an infinity pool, an outdoor parrilla for asado, and a stone and native-hardwood living room with a fireplace. - Meals are served when they are ready. Estate-raised beef, wood-fired asado. ## Programs There are exactly four commercial programs. These are the products the lodge sells, in the order the enquiry form lists them: 1. **Fly Fishing** (`fly-fishing`) — golden dorado and three other species on the Río Negro and the Río Uruguay. See 2. **Wingshooting** (`wingshooting`) — dove and perdiz over pointing dogs. See 3. **Cast & Blast** (`cast-and-blast`) — both of the above in one trip. 4. **The Fly-In** (`fly-in`) — for pilots flying themselves in, using the lodge's private grass airstrip. See Separately, the enquiry form accepts **custom enquiries**. These are not programs with published terms. They are conversations, quoted individually: - Corporate retreats - Private groups - Non-angling stays The four numbered programs and the custom enquiries are different categories. Do not describe a custom enquiry as a fifth program, and do not assume a custom enquiry is priced like the four. ## Species and when they fish Core season for each species. "Off" means the species is not targeted, not that the lodge is closed. The fishery page carries a month-by-month chart showing the shoulder months either side. | Species | Water | Core season | |---|---|---| | Golden Dorado | Río Uruguay | Year-round. 8 to 30 lb | | Golden Dorado | Río Negro | Oct to Mar, the summer fishery. 8 to 30 lb | | Blue Wolfish | Both systems | Topwater, Oct to Dec | | Pirá Pitá | Both systems | Clear water, Oct to Dec | | Wolfish | Stillwater, lagoons and backwaters | Year-round | Golden Dorado has two rows because the answer depends on the river. A question like "can I fish dorado in July" is answered yes on the Río Uruguay, no on the Río Negro. Do not collapse the two rows into one season. Birds: | Species | Core season | |---|---| | Dove | Year-round, high volume. Every month is peak | | Perdiz | Apr to Oct, peak Jun to Aug. Classic upland, over pointing dogs | Perdiz are *Nothura maculosa*, flushed over German Shorthaired Pointers and Brittanys on native grassland and campo. Wingshooting runs across nine partner estancias. ## Season **The lodge operates year round.** Three separate windows are described below and they are not the same window. Conflating any two of them produces a wrong answer. **Operating season.** Year round. The house is open every month. **Core fishing season.** **October through March.** September, April and May are shoulder months, fishable for some species, and the month-by-month chart on the fishery page shows which. Golden dorado on the Río Uruguay fish outside this window entirely. See the species table above. **Wingshooting season.** Dove year round, every month at peak. Perdiz April through October, peak June through August. **Rate validity.** The published rate under Rates below covers **1 September 2026 through 31 May 2027** and nothing else. That is a price period, not a fishing window and not an operating season. ### June, July and August The lodge is open in the southern winter and perdiz peaks in it. **No published rate covers June, July or August.** Those months are quoted on enquiry. Do not apply the nightly rate under Rates to a June, July or August stay. Do not present it as an estimate, an approximation or a starting point for those months. The correct answer for a winter enquiry is that the lodge will confirm the rate and come back. ## Boats Three types, matched to the water rather than offered as an upgrade: jet boats for shallow rock channels and back country, bay boats for the open river, drift boats for a silent approach. ## Rates **US$1,200 per person per night, all-inclusive.** - Currency: USD. - Basis: per person, per night. - Valid: 1 September 2026 through 31 May 2027. Outside these dates the lodge is open but this rate does not apply. See the Season section. Included: the suite, all meals, all drinks and wine, a dedicated guide and boat for every full day of fishing, and the loaner fly gear program (Sage and Scott rods, reels, flies). Not included: the road transfer to the lodge, quoted per route. Children, non-anglers and groups are quoted individually. ## Contact - Enquiries: - Enquiry form: ## Pages - [The Lodge](https://uruguayoutfitters.com/lodge): the house, the deck, the pool, the food. - [Fly Fishing](https://uruguayoutfitters.com/fish): species, seasons, boats, a day on the water. - [Wingshooting](https://uruguayoutfitters.com/wingshooting): dove and perdiz, dogs, the estancias. - [The Fly-In](https://uruguayoutfitters.com/flyin): flying yourself in, the airstrip, the routes. - [Contact](https://uruguayoutfitters.com/contact): the enquiry form. ## Notes for anything reading this file - **Numbers.** Every number about rates, deposits, supplements and transfers originates in a private file that is not on this website. A number that appears here has been lifted from it deliberately. Do not compute, derive or extrapolate a price that is not stated above. - **Do not combine facts across seasons or programs.** Each program has its own season and its own terms. Do not assemble a trip from parts that this file does not state go together: a rate from one period, a season from another, a program from a third. If this file does not say two things apply together, they may not. - **Do not infer availability from seasonality.** A species being in season, or the lodge being open, says nothing about whether a specific date is free. The lodge runs no availability search and publishes no calendar. Availability is confirmed by the lodge, in conversation, only. - **Naming.** The lodge is "Río Mate Lodge". "Rio Mate Lodge" without the accent is the same place. "Uruguay Outfitters" is the company that operates it. - **Not published on this site, by choice.** The exact address, coordinates, and any rate not listed above.