Punta Arenas

The port of Punta Arenas is the ideal starting point for some of Patagonia’s most brilliant expedition-style adventure cruises around Tierra del Fuego.

Sail from here to Ushuaia in Argentina, taking in the dramatic Beagle Channel, brilliant blue glaciers only accessible by boat and even reaching Cape Horn, a windswept totem for sailors down through the centuries. Cruises involve exploring by zodiac boat, hiking in remote forests, visiting Magellanic penguin colonies of remote islands and even the chance of whale watching.

These adventure cruises also sail in the reverse direction from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas.

Punta Arenas offers the opportunity to see colonies of two quite different species of penguin.

Isla Magdelana, a short boat ride from Punta Arenas in the middle of the Magellan Strait, is home to a large colony of Magellanic penguins. These penguins are unusual in that they nest in burrows, and are often called jackass penguins for their loud braying call.

Accessible by a small plane ride or two day trip by ferry, is Tierra del Fuego’s only king penguin colony. The colony is located in the unfortunately named Useless Bay on the far side of the Magellan Strait. The king penguin’s unusual breeding cycle means there is usually a good chance of seeing fluffy chicks.

Punta Arenas is little talked about as a whale watching destination, but its location puts it in prime place to see humpback whales. Between December and March you can make a day trip to the rich waters of nearby Francisco Coloane Marine Park, Chile's largest marine reserve, where you can watch humpbacks feeding and breaching against a spectacular mountain backdrop.

For a truly unmatched experience, it’s also possible to extend your trip and spend two nights at an ecocamp research base run by local marine biologists. Here, you can spend time recording wildlife with scientists, exploring the fjords while you look for whales, dolphins, sea lions, Magellanic penguins and more.

Punta Arenas is somewhere that repays exploration on foot. The city’s central plaza is surrounded by lavish historic mansions more than a century old, dating from the town’s early years when it boomed on Patagonia’s sheep wealth.

From here, you can explore a selection of excellent museums before continuing on to walk the Costanera, the city’s main waterfront, which extends for several miles. Along the way, enjoy the monuments to the schooner Ancud, with which Chile claimed sovereignty over the Magellan Strait, and the bow of the Yelcho, the ship which rescued Sir Ernest Shackleton’s men from the disaster of their Endurance expedition to Antarctica.

Punta Arenas airport (code PUQ) is 14 miles (22 km) north of the city and has multiple daily direct flights to Santiago (3½ hours). There are further flight connections to Puerto Montt in the Chilean Lake District, Coyhaique in Aysen and Puerto Williams in Tierra del Fuego.  

By road, Punta Arenas is about 220 miles (362 km) from Torres del Paine National Park, via Puerto Natales (155 miles/250 km).

By sea, the Navimag ferry from Punta Arenas to Puerto Montt is a scenic four day crossing. A four day adventure cruise also sails to Ushuaia. 

Travel to Argentina There are direct buses to Ushuaia and via Puerto Natales (an overnight stop) to El Calafate for Los Glaciares National Park.