How to get to Tierra del Fuego

There are no direct international flights to Argentinian Tierra del Fuego, so travellers must fly via Buenos Aires to the gateway city of Ushuaia (airport code USH).

Ushuaia is a 3½ hour flight from Buenos Aires. There are multiple daily flights, primarily operated by the national airline, Aerolíneas Argentinas. Flights depart from the capital's domestic airport Aeroparque Internacional Jorge Newbery (AEP), close to the centre of Buenos Aires.

There are no direct international flights to Chilean Tierra del Fuego, All travellers must travel via Santiago to the region's main gateway airport in Punta Arenas (airport code PUQ). 

Punta Arenas is a 3½ hour flight from Santiago. There are multiple daily flights, operated by LATAM. 

From Punta Arenas there are onward to small plane flights connecting to Puerto Williams (WPU) on Navarino Island, operated by DAP Airlines. The flights take 45 minutes and operate daily excluding Sunday. DAP also operate flights to remote Pampa Guanaco (DPB) on a similar schedule.

The majority of visitors to Torres del Paine National Park arrive via Punta Arenas, which is also the gateway to Chilean Tierra del Fuego. From Punta Arenas, it’s a five hour transfer by road to the park (225 miles/365 km) via Puerto Natales.

There are no direct flight connections between Punta Arenas and Ushuaia, but there is a comfortable direct bus: see below for more details. 

It's easy to connect Tierra del Fuego with Los Glaciares National Park. 

There are daily flights between Ushuaia and El Calafate (FTW, 75 minutes), the gateway to Los Glaciares. 

It's possible but slow to travel overland: Buses take around 18 hours to travel between Ushuaia and El Calafate (545 miles/880 km). From El Calafate, it is around 3-4 hours by road to the hiking hub of El Chaltén in the Fitzroy mountain range. 

There are no direct flights between Argentinian and Chilean Tierra del Fuego, but Ushuaia and Punta Arenas are connected by road. There is an excellent and comfortable long-distance bus, with multiple services a day, taking around 12 hours to cover the 390 mile (628 km) distance. 

The bus is a great way of experiencing the different faces of Tierra del Fuego – making a ferry on the Magellan Strait from the mainland of South America, following the windswept Atlantic coast and the open pampa of the eastern island, before the Martial Mountains rise up on the approach to Ushuaia. 

With so few roads in Tierra del Fuego, many of the most spectacular places to visit are only accessible by boat. This includes locations like Cape Horn, Pia Glacier and the Tucker Islets and Martillo Island (both home to colonies of Magellanic penguins). To explore these, adventure cruises depart weekly from both Ushuaia and Punta Arenas. 

To travel between Ushuaia and Puerto Williams, there are several ferry departures every day that sail across the Beagle Channel.

To travel to Porvenir in Chilean Tierra del Fuego to see the king penguins, there is a ferry across the Magellan Strait to Punta Arenas.