Ushuaia isn’t quite the world’s southernmost town. Its little neighbor just across the Beagle Channel, Puerto Williams (population a couple of thousand), takes that prize. But, with a population of well over 45,000, Ushuaia is the world’s southernmost city and well deserves to be called the Uttermost Part of the Earth, as did E. Lucas Bridges in his classic book about his family’s early settlement in this faraway place.

We begin in Buenos Aires, then fly more than 2,000 miles down to Ushuaia for some rambling in Tierra del Fuego National Park. Well acclimated to extreme southerliness, we board our ship and begin a gorgeous cruise down the Beagle Channel, wending our way for a couple of days through the wildlife-thronged Glacier Avenue (whales, condors, sea lions, and penguin colonies aplenty) past D’Agnostini Fjord, Condor Bay, and the Marinelli Glacier, up into Tucker Inlet and the Magdalena Channel, working our way through a wondrous maze of islands to Punta Arenas. Now we’re off for a couple of days of hiking and communing with the Torres del Paine, which words are ill equipped to describe (though we give it a shot under Into Patagonia). Bottom line: your writer, whose eyes have been fixed on the world’s mountains for 50 years, was overcome with joy by his visit to these symphonic peaks.

Day 1: arrive Buenos Aires, afternoon sightseeing • Day 2: fly to Ushuaia, tour Tierra del Fuego National Park • Day 3: board Australis for cruise to Punta Arenas • Days 4 - 5: on ship, exploring "the uttermost part of the earth" and visiting glaciers and wildlife • Day 6: disembark at Punta Arenas and drive to Torres del Paine • Days 7 & 8: exploring Torres del Paine • Day 9: fly to Santiago • Day 10: tour Santiago, depart.

Argentina & Chile Extensions is available for this trip

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