Antarctica: ten days on the seventh continent

It’s 5:48 a.m. in the Lemaire Channel, off the Antarctic peninsula, and our small expedition vessel is creeping through a narrow ice-channel between two vertical glaciated cliffs. The water is glass-flat and reflects the cliffs perfectly. A pod of minke whales is moving alongside the boat. The temperature is around -2°C. A chinstrap penguin colony is visible on a rocky outcrop a kilometre away. The light is blue-white, the kind of light that exists only at high latitudes in summer. We have been at sea since Ushuaia six days ago. The Drake Passage was, for once, only moderately violent.

Why I keep coming back

I have been to Antarctica three times — first in 2012, then 2018, then most recently in late 2023, the latter on a 12-day cruise that included a crossing of the Antarctic Circle. Each trip has reinforced the same impression: Antarctica is the most genuinely empty large landmass on earth, and the trip is one of the few in modern travel that genuinely exceeds expectation.

The Antarctic Peninsula — the long finger of land extending north from the continent toward South America — is the most accessible part of the continent and where almost all tourism happens. The 10–12 day expedition cruise from Ushuaia is the standard format: two days across the Drake Passage to the South Shetland Islands, 5–6 days exploring the peninsula by ship and zodiac, two days returning across the Drake. Some operators include the Falkland Islands and South Georgia (with the king-penguin and elephant-seal colonies) on longer 18–22 day variants.

How to do it

All Antarctic peninsula trips operate from Ushuaia, Argentina (or, less commonly, from Punta Arenas, Chile). You fly to Ushuaia, board the vessel, and cross the Drake Passage.

Operators range from large 200-passenger ships (less zodiac access; fewer landings) to small 12-passenger sailing yachts (maximum landings, most expensive). Most travellers choose a mid-size 100–150 passenger expedition vessel (Lindblad/National Geographic, Quark, Oceanwide, Hurtigruten, Aurora Expeditions). Vessels with ice-strengthened hulls can travel further south.

The last-minute Ushuaia walk-on market — where ships seeking to fill empty berths sell at significant discounts — has largely disappeared since the pandemic; book ahead.

What you’ll see

Penguin colonies. Gentoo, chinstrap, Adélie. The colonies in November are at egg-laying; in January, with the chicks hatched. The smell, downwind, is real.

Whales. Humpback, minke, occasionally killer whales. The peninsula has one of the world’s most active humpback feeding grounds in the southern summer.

Seals. Crabeater (despite the name, eats krill), Weddell, leopard, and the elephant seal at South Georgia.

Seabirds. Albatross (wandering, grey-headed, light-mantled), giant petrels, snow petrels.

Ice. Glaciers, icebergs, brash ice, growlers (small icebergs at sea level), tabular bergs the size of small countries (rarely encountered close to the peninsula).

Whaling-era and research stations. Deception Island (a flooded volcanic caldera with a working entrance), the abandoned Whalers Bay station, the Argentine and British research stations.

Optional camping. Some operators offer single-night camping on the Antarctic continent itself; a particularly memorable add-on.

Practical notes

• Visa: Antarctica has no visa; the visa formalities are for Argentina (Ushuaia is the departure point). Argentina is visa-free for most Western passports.
• Money: USD widely accepted on cruises; Argentine pesos for the Ushuaia portion.
• Cost: One of the most expensive trips in this guide. Base cabin on a mid-tier cruise is US$8,000–15,000 per person; premium cabins on smaller vessels US$20,000–35,000+. Last-minute deals via specialist agents sometimes available.
• Drake Passage: The 800-km open-sea crossing between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands; some of the roughest seas on earth. Sea-sickness medication strongly recommended. Some operators offer ‘fly-the-Drake’ itineraries (charter flight to King George Island instead of the sea crossing) — significantly more expensive but eliminates the seasickness.
• Cold: Manageable. Most operators provide parkas. Bring waterproof trousers, warm base layers, good gloves, waterproof boots (often loaned).
• The IAATO regulations: International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators is the voluntary regulator. Reputable operators are IAATO members; non-IAATO operators should be avoided. Landings are restricted to no more than 100 passengers ashore at any one time; sites have strict biosecurity protocols (mandatory boot-washing, no food on shore, no objects taken).
• Climate context: Antarctic tourism has roughly doubled in volume in the past 15 years, with the corresponding carbon and biosecurity concerns. The choice of operator (smaller, IAATO-compliant, low-impact) genuinely matters.

A final thought

Antarctica is, in my view, one of the rare destinations that consistently exceeds its already-extraordinary reputation. The scale of the continent, the quality of the wildlife encounters, the strangeness of the landscape (vertical ice cliffs, glaciated bays, the small zodiac approaches to within metres of a leopard seal or a humpback whale), and the genuine remoteness produce a trip that is, by most measures, unlike any other available.

It is also one of the most expensive trips on earth, one of the highest-carbon, and one of the most subject to climate-change concerns. The visit has consequences. Choose operators with serious sustainability commitments. Pay attention to the conservation briefings on board. Accept that the trip is, in some sense, an act of witness as much as travel.

Go if you can afford it. Choose a small ship. Spend extra for the Antarctic Circle crossing if possible. Take more photographs of the ice than the penguins (the ice changes more); the penguins, on social media, are over-photographed already. Antarctica is, for now, still here in its current form. The opportunity to witness it personally is one of the genuine privileges of modern travel.