In short
Ushuaia is wedged between the Beagle Channel and the cordillera, at fifty-five degrees south. Ninety per cent of expeditions to Antarctica leave from here.
Tierra del Fuego national park starts twelve kilometres away and is reached by the End of the World train or by road. It marks the end of the Pan-American Highway.
What it really costs
Everything arrives by boat or by plane, and it shows in food and fuel prices. Ushuaia is among the most expensive cities in Argentina.
The season is short: from November to March, accommodation prices double and places are booked months ahead. The rest of the year the town runs at half speed.
What nobody tells you
Antarctic crossings are sometimes sold at the last minute, heavily discounted, when a cabin goes unfilled. It is a gamble: you have to be here, available, and willing to sail within forty-eight hours.
In December and January the day lasts more than seventeen hours. In June it lasts seven, and that is the ski season.
The wind is constant and the temperature gap between sun and shade is brutal. It is not very cold in summer — ten degrees — but you kit yourself out for the wind, not for the thermometer.