Ushuaia's newest attraction is a chairlift, and it climbs the one hill every local will tell you to go up. This afternoon puts the town's founding quarter, the Ushuaia sign and the ride to the top of Cerro Martial into a single half day — and leaves you back at your hotel in time for dinner.
Starting from the port and ending at your hotel door.
The afternoon starts in the Barrio de la Misión, the quarter where the town actually began — the site of the Anglican mission that gave Ushuaia its first permanent settlement. It is a short stop, and it is what makes the rest of the afternoon make sense.
You see where a city at the end of the world came from before you go up and look down on what it became: a port of ten thousand-odd houses squeezed between the Martial range and the Beagle Channel, with nothing beyond it but water and Antarctica.
The Ushuaia letters sit on the waterfront, with the bay, the boats and the mountains behind them. Yes, it is the obvious photograph. Take it — it is the one you will actually send home.
From here your guide points out Cerro Martial, the hill above the town. That is where you are going next, and from this angle you can see exactly how high the chairlift is about to take you.
Up the hill to the chairlift station, and then the ride itself. This is the attraction that has just opened in Ushuaia, and the reason to do this tour rather than a standard city circuit.
As you climb, the town, the bay and the Beagle Channel open out below you — and on a clear day you can see across the water to the mountains of Chile. At the top there is time to walk the viewpoints, take photographs and simply sit and look at it, which is what most people end up doing. The afternoon finishes with a snack at the café at the foot of the hill, and the drop-off at your hotel.
Where Ushuaia began
The tour starts in the quarter where the town actually began — the site of the Anglican mission that gave Ushuaia its first permanent settlement. It is a short stop, and it is the reason the rest of the afternoon makes sense: you see where a city at the end of the world came from before you look down on what it became.
The photograph everybody takes
The Ushuaia letters, with the Martial range behind them. Yes, it is the obvious photo. Take it anyway — it is the one you will actually send home. From here your guide points out Cerro Martial, which is where you are going next.
The part that is new
Up the hill to the chairlift station, and then the ride itself. This is the attraction that has just opened in Ushuaia, and the reason to do this tour rather than a standard city circuit. As you climb, the town, the bay and the Beagle Channel open out below you — and on a clear day you can see across to the mountains of Chile.
At your own pace
You are not marched around up there. There is time to walk the viewpoints, take photographs and simply sit and look at it, which is what most people end up doing.
Before heading back
The tour finishes with a snack at the café at the foot of the hill — included — and then the drop-off at your accommodation.
The chairlift has only just opened. Almost nothing about it is online yet, and very few agencies are selling it. If you want to do the thing in Ushuaia that your friends have not already done, this is it.
About four hours in the afternoon. It fits around a Beagle Channel morning, a late flight, or a day you had left unplanned — without costing you a full day of your trip.
People come to the end of the world and mostly see it from sea level. Cerro Martial is where you finally get the whole picture: the town, the bay and the Beagle Channel in one frame.
The chairlift does the climbing. There is no hike required to get the view, which makes this one of the few genuinely scenic outings in Ushuaia that grandparents and small children can both do.
The return drop-off is included. You are not left to find your own way back from a hillside at the end of the afternoon.
Legajo EVT 17869, ASTA member 900202085, an office in Buenos Aires and over twenty years arranging trips across Argentina. One person answers you, start to finish.
No, and the difference is the chairlift. There is a similar-sounding tour — a city tour with a stop at the Martial Glacier reserve — that does not include the chairlift ride. This one does, and the chairlift is the whole point of it.
If you are comparing options and are not sure which one you have been offered, send us what you have and we will tell you straight.
It leaves from the car park at the port, which is in the centre of Ushuaia and within walking distance of most hotels in town. The transfer to that point is not included; the drop-off at your accommodation at the end is.
Tell us where you are staying when you book and we will tell you exactly how long the walk is.
Departures are in the afternoon, daily. Times shift with the season — Ushuaia's daylight changes enormously between summer and winter — so we confirm the exact departure time for your dates when we send your quotation.
Yes. The chairlift does the climbing, so there is no hike involved to reach the viewpoint. It is one of the more accessible scenic outings in Ushuaia.
If anyone in your group has reduced mobility or is uneasy about a chairlift, tell us when you enquire and we will confirm what is workable rather than guess.
More layers than the forecast suggests. You gain height on the chairlift and the wind at the top is colder than in town, in every season. A windproof jacket, a hat and gloves outside high summer, and closed shoes with grip for the viewpoints.
Sunglasses are worth carrying too: the light off the channel is strong even on cool days.
Ushuaia weather changes fast and a grey morning often clears by mid-afternoon, so the tour usually runs. The chairlift itself can be suspended in high wind, which is an operator safety decision, not something an agency overrides.
If that happens on your date we tell you before you set out and sort out the alternative with you.
It pairs naturally with a Beagle Channel navigation in the morning — sea level first, then the view from above, in one day. It also works on an arrival or departure day when a full-day excursion would not fit.
Tell us the rest of your itinerary and we will fit it in where it makes sense.
This one runs as a group service, shared with other travellers. If you would rather have your own vehicle and guide, ask us and we will quote a private alternative that covers the same ground.
Ushuaia has a problem that most travellers only notice once they are there: almost everything happens at sea level. You sail the Beagle Channel, you walk the national park, you ride the train — and you leave without ever having seen the place whole.
Cerro Martial fixes that, and until now getting up it meant either a steep walk or a chairlift that was not running. The new chairlift changes the equation: forty minutes after leaving the centre of town you are looking down at Ushuaia, the bay, the channel and, on a clear day, Chile.
It is also the right shape of outing. Four hours in the afternoon is what people actually have spare in Ushuaia, and it is the slot that usually goes to waste. Tell us your dates and we will tell you whether it fits.
Free quotation within 24 hours, with no obligation. Tell us your dates and how many of you are travelling, and we will confirm availability, the exact departure time for your days, and how it fits with the rest of your time in Ushuaia.
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