Ushuaia is a small town and almost every excursion leaves from the same three blocks, which makes it remarkably easy to book two that show you the same thing twice. This page exists so that does not happen. Below are the nine excursions we run, what each one actually gives you, and — for the three boat trips, which is where everybody gets stuck — a table that settles it in thirty seconds.
Every one of these leaves from the pier in the centre of town. The difference is how far east you go, and that is the whole decision. The table below settles it.
Sea lions, cormorants and the Les Éclaireurs lighthouse, plus the only landing on the whole list: fifteen to twenty minutes ashore on an island of the Bridges archipelago. Runs all year, including July and August.
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The same channel, carried on east to Isla Martillo and its colony of Magellanic and Gentoo penguins, watched from the boat. This is the one people mean when they say “the penguin trip”. November to early April only.
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Out along the channel by catamaran past the colony, ashore on the far side for lunch with drinks, the southernmost farm in the world, and home by road through the beaver country. The only one that does not come back the way it went.
More about this excursion ›Three excursions that never touch the water — useful if the forecast turns, if somebody in the party would rather not be on a boat, or simply because two of these are the best things in Ushuaia.
The southernmost railway on earth, built by the prisoners of the old Ushuaia jail, followed by the national park itself down to Bahía Lapataia, where Route 3 finally runs out of continent. Daily, all year. Train ticket included.
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Brand new. The founding quarter, the Ushuaia sign, and then the ride up the just-opened panoramic chairlift on Cerro Martial for the view over the town and the channel. Afternoons, daily. Snack included.
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Winter only, 21 June to 30 September. Snowshoes through the Fuegian forest, a husky sled, a snowmobile circuit, a ride in a tracked snow vehicle and lunch in a heated dome, out in the Tierra Mayor valley.
More about this excursion ›Older excursions that we still arrange and that still work. Ask us and we will tell you honestly whether they suit your dates.
A full day crossing the channel to the oldest ranch in Tierra del Fuego, founded by the Bridges family in 1886, with its marine mammal museum.
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An evening excursion out to a beaver colony in the forest, with dinner. The beavers were brought from Canada in 1946 for a fur trade that never happened; they are still here.
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Over the Garibaldi pass by four-wheel drive to the two great lakes on the north side of the mountains, off the tarmac and into the peat.
More about this excursion ›Three of the nine above are Beagle Channel navigations, and this is where every traveller gets stuck. The first two hours of all three are the same water — the same pier, the same sea lions, the same lighthouse. Everything in this table is what happens after that.
| 3 hours | 6 hours | 9 hours | |
|---|---|---|---|
| When it runs | All year, including winter | November to early April | Mon, Wed & Fri, Nov–Mar |
| Departures | 10:00 and 15:00 | 10:00 and 15:00 | 08:20 |
| Sea lions, cormorants & the lighthouse | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Penguins | No | Yes, from the boat | Yes, from the boat |
| Do you go ashore? | Yes — 15 to 20 min on Bridges Island | No | Yes — on the mainland, near Puerto Almanza |
| Food | No | No | Lunch with drinks |
| How you get back | By boat | By boat | By road, along the coast |
| Half your day left? | Yes | No | No |
| Best for | A free morning or afternoon, a winter trip, or travelling with children | The penguins, without giving up a whole day | One day in Ushuaia, done properly, with a meal in it |
| See the 3-hour | See the 6-hour | See the full day |
The mistake we watch people make, over and over, is booking two Beagle Channel navigations. It is an easy mistake: they have different names, different lengths and different photographs, and nobody tells you that the first two hours of all three are identical. You leave the same pier, you pass the same sea lion colony, you photograph the same lighthouse. The difference only begins after that.
So the first rule of an Ushuaia itinerary is: one navigation. Choose it from the table above and then spend your other days on land, because the land here is not a consolation prize. The national park is a temperate rainforest sitting at fifty-five degrees south with a hundred-year-old prison railway running through it, and Route 3 physically ends inside it at Bahía Lapataia, which is the sort of thing that turns out to matter more than you expected when you are standing there.
The second rule is to leave a day loose. Ushuaia weather does not negotiate, and the boats are the first thing to be cancelled for wind. A three-night stay with three excursions booked back to back is a stay where a single windy Tuesday costs you the penguins. A three-night stay with two excursions and a spare day is a stay where the same Tuesday costs you nothing, because we move you.
The third rule only applies in high summer, and it is the one nobody uses. In December and January the sun does not set here until after ten at night. The afternoon is enormous and almost entirely wasted by visitors, because the whole industry has trained everyone to book in the morning. Two of the excursions on this page — the Martial chairlift and the three-hour navigation — have afternoon departures, which means a single day can hold two of them without any rushing at all. Tell us what you want to see and we will build the days around that, rather than handing you a list.
Send us your dates, how many of you are travelling and which of these caught your eye. We will come back within 24 hours with a quotation and, if two of your choices overlap, we will say so before you pay for both.
The excursions above are arranged as part of one of these, with your flights, your hotel and your transfers already handled.
Flights, hotel, transfers and the excursions on this page, put together as one trip.
See the four-day tour
The classic Patagonian pairing: the end of the world and the Perito Moreno glacier, in one itinerary.
See the combined tour
Buenos Aires, Iguazú and Patagonia, north to south, with Ushuaia included.
See the full itinerary
