This contribution focuses on the structural and physical properties of U-based Laves phases. It starts with the structural description of the different type of Laves phases, followed by a brief description of the factors that affect their stability. The majority of the uranium Laves phases show a weakly paramagnetic behaviour. The reason is the compact structure of the phases that leads to small a U-U spacing as well as very high coordination numbers, regarding both the uranium and the ligands sublattices, which brings a strong hybridization with non-f states. However, there are some exceptions of uranium Laves phases that do order magnetically (UFe(2), UNi(2) and the recently discovered U(2)Fe(3)Ge compound). These exceptions are discussed in more detail in the present manuscript.