Guide · Onward travel

Punta Arenas to Antarctica, and the road to Ushuaia

Punta Arenas is one of the gateways to the white continent and the start of the long road to Ushuaia. Here is how the flights, the cruises and the overland route work, and when each is possible.

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In short

01By air: About 2 hours to King George Island.¹
02Season: November to March from Chile.²
03Why fly: It skips the Drake Passage, about 48 hours each way by sea.³
04Gateway: INACH moved to Punta Arenas in 2003.⁴
05To Ushuaia: Ferry at Punta Delgada, then the San Sebastián border.⁵

Why Punta Arenas is an Antarctic gateway

Punta Arenas has a long link with the far south. The Chilean Antarctic Institute, INACH, was created in 1964 to support scientific research on Antarctica.⁶ In 2003 it was decentralized and moved to Punta Arenas to strengthen the city as the gateway to the continent.⁴ The institute's presence is one reason the city's name comes up so often in Antarctic travel.

The city is also one of the ports for Antarctic tourism. The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators says most cruises depart from gateway ports in southern South America, such as Ushuaia, Punta Arenas or Montevideo, heading for the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.⁷ Choosing the right gateway depends on whether you want to fly or sail across.

All of this happens under a shared set of rules. The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington on 1 December 1959 by the 12 countries whose scientists had worked in Antarctica during the International Geophysical Year, and it entered into force on 23 June 1961.⁸ Tour operators work within it, which shapes where and how visitors can land.

Overland

Punta Arenas to Ushuaia, leg by leg

Morning

Drive to Punta Delgada

Ferries run from morning until past midnight.⁹
The crossing

Ferry to Bahía Azul

Half an hour across the strait.⁵
Tierra del Fuego

On to the border

About 120 km to San Sebastián.⁵
The border

San Sebastián

Open from 08:00.¹⁰
Evening

Ushuaia

293 km beyond the border.⁵

Flight from Punta Arenas to Antarctica

The fastest way to the continent is a flight from Punta Arenas to Antarctica. Chile Travel explains that expedition flights land at the Teniente Marsh aerodrome at Base Frei Montalva on King George Island, that the flight takes about 2 hours, and that it is booked through a tour operator.¹

Flying has one big advantage. A fly-and-cruise program from Punta Arenas avoids the sea crossing of the Drake Passage, a leg that can take about 48 hours each way.³ Chile's navy describes that route as normally affected by bad weather, with winds over 60 knots and waves of 10 to 12 meters very common.¹¹

The trade-off is flexibility. Flights to King George Island depend on weather at both ends, so build spare days into your plan before and after. Tour operators sell these trips as packages, and they set the rules on what happens if the plane cannot leave on the scheduled day. Travel insurance that covers delays and medical evacuation is worth checking before you commit.

By air or by sea

Hours to cross to Antarctica

hrs

Flight time to King George Island and the Drake Passage crossing each way, as Chile Travel gives them.¹ ³

Options

Ways south from Punta Arenas

Option	How	Time	Season
Expedition flight	Plane to King George Island	About 2 hours	November to March
Fly and cruise	Plane, then a ship	Skips the Drake	November to March
Classic cruise	Ship from Ushuaia	10 to 12 days	October to March
Road to Ushuaia	Ferry, border, road	A full day	All year

Times and seasons from Chile Travel and Ushuaia's tourism office; the ferry runs every day of the year.¹ ² ³ ¹² ¹³

Three ways

How will you go south?

Short on time

Fly

King George Island

Flight: About 2 hours
Season: November to March
Drake: Skipped

Check the whale day

Best of both

Fly and cruise

Plane, then ship

Crossing: By air
Season: November to March
From: Punta Arenas

Check the whale day

Classic voyage

Cruise

From Ushuaia

Length: 10 to 12 days
Season: October to March
Drake: By sea

Check the whale day

Decision helper

Which way to Antarctica?

Choose by time, budget and stomach

Fly

The flight avoids the Drake Passage.³

Fly or fly and cruise

The flight takes about 2 hours.¹

Cruise from Ushuaia

It lasts 10 to 12 days.¹²

Travel by road

The ferry runs every day of the year.¹³

Book the strait first

Humpbacks peak from December to March.¹⁴

Most cruises depart from one of the gateway ports in southern South America, such as Ushuaia (Argentina), Punta Arenas (Chile) or Montevideo (Uruguay), to the scenic and wildlife rich northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

IAATO (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators)Source 7

Antarctica cruise from Punta Arenas

An Antarctica cruise from Punta Arenas usually means a fly-and-cruise trip: you fly to King George Island and join a ship there, skipping the open-sea crossing.³ It suits travelers who are short on time or worried about seasickness. It also leaves more of your holiday for landings and wildlife rather than open ocean.

Cruises that sail the whole way leave mostly from Ushuaia. The city's tourism office calls the classic voyage 10 to 12 days long, depending on the ship and the weather, and says 90% of Antarctic tourism calls at Ushuaia before heading south.¹² ¹⁵ It puts Ushuaia about 1,000 km from Antarctica.¹⁵

Whichever route you choose, the season is short. From Chile it is concentrated in the austral summer, between November and March.² From Ushuaia the season runs from October to March.¹² Those months overlap with the humpback peak in the Strait of Magellan, so a whale day fits neatly before or after an Antarctic trip.¹⁴ Book early, because places on the small expedition ships are limited.

Map

From Punta Arenas to the whales, the penguins and beyond

The strait south of the city to Cabo Froward and Isla Carlos III, the penguin islands and Tierra del Fuego, and the wider south from Torres del Paine to Ushuaia.

Map of the Strait of Magellan south of Punta Arenas with Fuerte Bulnes, the San Isidro lighthouse, Cabo Froward and Isla Carlos III in the western channels — South along the strait

Map of the eastern strait with Punta Arenas, Isla Magdalena and Isla Marta, Porvenir, Parque Pingüino Rey on Bahía Inútil and the Primera Angostura crossing — Penguin islands and Tierra del Fuego

Map of southern Patagonia with Punta Arenas airport, Puerto Natales, Torres del Paine and Ushuaia — Southern Patagonia

1
Punta Arenas
Capital of the Magallanes region, founded in 1848.¹⁶ ¹⁷
In Google Maps ↗
2
Fuerte Bulnes
Inaugurated in 1843; a national Historic Monument 58 km south of the city.¹⁸ ¹⁹
In Google Maps ↗
3
San Isidro lighthouse
70 km south of Punta Arenas and more than 100 years old.²⁰
In Google Maps ↗
4
Cabo Froward
Where the American continental landmass ends; the whale boat passes it for 30 minutes.²¹
In Google Maps ↗
5
Isla Carlos III
Humpback presence around the island peaks from December to March.¹⁴
In Google Maps ↗
6
Isla Magdalena
About 7,000 pairs of Magellanic penguins nest here, 35 km northeast of the city.²² ²³
In Google Maps ↗
7
Isla Marta
Sea lions and imperial cormorants; landing is prohibited.²⁴ ²⁵
In Google Maps ↗
8
Porvenir
About 2 hours by ferry from Punta Arenas.²⁶
In Google Maps ↗
9
Parque Pingüino Rey
King penguins at Bahía Inútil, 115 km from Porvenir.²⁷
In Google Maps ↗
10
Primera Angostura
The 20-minute ferry crossing to Tierra del Fuego.²⁸
In Google Maps ↗
11
Punta Arenas airport
20 km north of the city, with daily flights from Santiago.²⁹
In Google Maps ↗
12
Puerto Natales
About 250 km north of Punta Arenas by paved road.³⁰
In Google Maps ↗
13
Torres del Paine
National park since 1959, 112 km from Puerto Natales to the Sarmiento entrance.³¹ ³²
In Google Maps ↗
14
Ushuaia
293 km beyond the San Sebastián border.⁵
In Google Maps ↗

Open the map in Google Maps

Checklist

Heading south from Punta Arenas

Plan

Spare days around any Antarctic flight
Reach the border before it closes
Book through a tour operator

Bring

Passport for Argentina
Warm layers and waterproof trousers
Motion sickness tablets for the sea

Video

Extreme Flight to ANTARCTICA on an AVRO Jet!

The video stays switched off until you hit play.

Punta Arenas to Ushuaia by road

The trip from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia is a classic Patagonian journey. Ushuaia's tourism office explains that to reach the city by road you must cross the Strait of Magellan, on a ferry service that runs 365 days a year.¹³ It is a long day, but the landscapes change from steppe to forest and mountains as you go.

On that route the ferry from Punta Delgada crosses in half an hour to Bahía Azul, still in Chile; about 120 km later comes the San Sebastián border, and Ushuaia is 293 km beyond it.⁵ Chile Travel gives 20 minutes for the Primera Angostura crossing and says the ferry there runs from 8 am until past midnight.²⁸ ⁹

The border has hours too. The San Sebastián crossing opens at 08:00, exit from both countries closes at 21:40 and entry closes at 22:00.¹⁰ Time the day so that you reach it well before closing, with your passport and any vehicle papers ready. Fill the tank and carry snacks, since services along the way are limited.

Crossing the strait and the border

Whether you drive or take a bus, the ferry is part of the adventure. Transbordadora Austral Broom, the company that links Tierra del Fuego with the mainland, runs every day from 08:30 to 01:30, according to Ushuaia's tourism office.³³ At the narrows the currents are strong: Chile's navy records currents of up to 8 knots there at spring tides.³⁴

There is also the longer ferry from Punta Arenas to Porvenir, about 2 hours across the strait.²⁶ It has only two departures a day, so it suits a planned trip rather than a spur-of-the-moment one.⁹ Check the latest schedule before you travel, because departures can change with the weather.

Remember that Tierra del Fuego is shared by Chile and Argentina. You enter Argentina at San Sebastián, and the road on to Ushuaia crosses a very different landscape of forest and mountains as you head south. Allow a full day for the journey, and do not plan a flight from Ushuaia for the same evening.

Questions to ask before you book

Antarctic trips are expensive and weather-dependent, so read the operator's terms closely. Ask what happens if the flight to King George Island cannot leave on the planned day, how many days of delay the price covers, and whether hotel nights in Punta Arenas are included while you wait.

Ask about the landings too. A fly-and-cruise trip and a classic cruise visit different places in different ways, and the operator decides where the ship goes as the weather allows. Find out how many landings are planned, how passengers are divided between them and what clothing the operator lends you on board.

Finally, ask about health and insurance. Remote trips usually require medical forms and cover for evacuation, and seasickness tablets are worth packing even on a fly-and-cruise trip, because the ship still moves. The CDC advises taking them before the motion starts rather than after symptoms begin.³⁵

Fitting Antarctica around the whales

Antarctic trips from Chile run between November and March, the same summer as the whale season, so it is easy to combine them.² Humpback presence around Isla Carlos III peaks from December to March.¹⁴ Book the whale day before your Antarctic departure if you can; if wind cancels it, you still have time to rebook. Ending a southern trip with Antarctica and starting it with the humpbacks makes a memorable pairing.

The booked whale day lasts 12 hours and lists free cancellation up to 24 hours before. That makes it a safe choice for the days around an Antarctic flight, when plans may shift at short notice.

Pack once for both. The layers you need on the strait, warm base, insulating mid-layer and windproof shell, are the same ones you will want in Antarctica. Add waterproof trousers and good gloves, and you are ready for both trips. A warm hat and spare gloves weigh almost nothing and make the biggest difference on deck.

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