Ushuaia
The world's southernmost city — disputed, but this is the world's main departure port for Antarctic tours
- When to go
- October 5° · 22 rainy days
- Per day
- €€€€price 4 of 5
- How many days
- 2days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 4 km Ushuaia
- Right now
Ushuaia is the end of the road and that is its whole content: 3,100 kilometres south of Buenos Aires, with mountains dropping straight into the Beagle Channel. Two days cover the town and the park, and anything beyond that means a boat — either towards Antarctica or towards the penguins.
The town began as a penal colony. The 1902 prison was designed so the convicts would build the town around themselves, and it is now a museum where you see the cells and the narrow-gauge railway they hauled timber on. It is the best indoor attraction in town and the only one that works in bad weather, of which there is plenty.
Tierra del Fuego National Park is seventeen kilometres west, where National Route 3 ends — the sign says 17,848 kilometres to Alaska. The coastal path to Lapataia is three hours and the finest thing nearby; you get there by bus from town or on the tourist train, which is dearer and slower but runs on the old prison line.
The Beagle Channel is the other half of a visit. A three-hour boat goes out to the sea lion islands and the Les Éclaireurs lighthouse, the one on the postcards. Longer trips reach the Magellanic penguin colony on Martillo island, where you land on the beach in season from October to March. Anyone planning Antarctica leaves from here — the crossing to the peninsula is two days through the Drake Passage, the roughest sea on the planet.
Guides for Ushuaia
Shorter, practical pages for one concrete question each — how many days, how much money, where to sleep, where to escape the city.
Ushuaia in 2 days
→Two days at the end of the road — one in the park where Route 3 stops, one on the channel that points at Antarctica.
What to see in Ushuaia
Tierra del Fuego National Park
Seventeen kilometres west, with a coastal path to Lapataia bay and a sign saying it is 17,848 kilometres to Alaska. Three hours on foot and the best day nearby.
The Beagle Channel
A three-hour boat to the sea lion and cormorant islands and the Les Éclaireurs lighthouse. It leaves the town pier several times a day; cancelled in wind.
The prison museum
The 1902 penal colony whose inmates built the town. Five wings, one left unrestored. Two hours, and the one thing that works in the rain.
- P
Penguins at Martillo
A Magellanic penguin colony on an island in the channel. Season October–March; booked weeks ahead.
The Martial glacier
A chairlift above town and a path to the ice, with a view over the channel to Chile. Ninety minutes on foot; the glacier is retreating and smaller than in the old photographs.
The end of Route 3
The sign in the park marking the end of the Pan-American road system. Thoroughly touristy and worth five minutes — this is the last point on the road before the sea.
Two things you probably did not know
Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world and most ships to Antarctica leave from it. It was a penal colony until 1947, and the prison building is now a museum.
In December it gets dark here around eleven at night and light again at four in the morning. In winter it is the other way round: the day lasts seven hours, and snow falls in July.
Ready for Ushuaia?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Ushuaia — day trips or weekends.
Argentina
→A country 3,700 kilometres long, where the far south is seen in December and the whales and the snow in August
Chile
→A country 4,300 kilometres long and 180 wide — driest desert on earth to glacier, without a single turn
Brazil
→A country where the flight between two cities is often cheaper, and always faster, than the overnight coach
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
Within reach from here: Bariloche, Buenos Aires and Santiago
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Ushuaia if you have been.
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