Upvote:1
As per a comment above, Rome2Rio offers several options:
It's up to you as to which of those is more suitable to your purpose/budget.
Upvote:1
I went to Montevideo a couple of months ago and found the buses from the airport quite pleasing and not at all as you have heard described - the bus I used to get downtown was not full at all, there were in fact lots of empty seats. I arrived in the afternoon.
It took about an hour to get close to my stop, which is past Tres Cruces - but you said you didn't mind the duration of the trip, so that shouldn't be a problem.
I'd recommend checking Google Maps's path from the airport to the neighborhood - this is how I found out which buses I could take; Tres Cruces is close to Centenario Stadium, and as I understood it, several buses from the airport tend to pass through the area (700, 701, 710, etc).