Travel to Ushuaia

a relatively modest port in a dramatic location

Set overlooking the Strait of Magellan in the far south of Argentina (in a greater area sometimes referred to as Tierra del Fuego), Ushuaia is one of the most southerly cities in the world.

Ushuaia is positioned on a wide bay on the southern coast of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, bounded on the north by the Martial Mountains and on the south by the Beagle Channel.

Initially settled by British missionaries, a penal settlement was established here by Argentina in 1881, in order to assert sovereignty over the hugely important shipping route through the Strait of Magellan. In the following decades Ushuaia grew in size and importance as the maritime traffic continued to increase.

The climate here is surprisingly mild for somewhere so far south, with the surrounding hillsides being cloaked in Magellanic subpolar forests and the prevailing conditions being overcast and foggy.

The modern city has a population of 47,000 people and has all the facilities that one might expect of a place that size. It’s not particularly attractive, but the remote location does add a certain sense of intrigue and romance.

The main reason to visit Ushuaia is to connect to a cruise ship, either south to Antarctica (which is only 1100 kilometres (680 miles) distant) or around Cape Horn to the port of Punta Arenas in Chile.

Occasionally it’s necessary to overnight in the town, where there’s a reasonable selection of accommodation options. The airport has regular connections to Buenos Aires, El Calafate (for Los Glaciares National Park) and Trelew (for Península Valdés).

There’s also a major ski resort close to town, with a surprisingly good range of slopes, with the main season running Jun-Oct.

History

The area of Ushuaia is thought to have been inhabited by native peoples since around 8000 BC, with the Selk’nam (Ona) and Yaghan (Yámana) being the dominant tribes at the time of the arrival of Europeans.

The area was first surveyed by several British ships, most notable amongst which was the HMS Beagle in 1833, whose crew included Charles Darwin.

British missionaries went on to establish the town of Ushuaia in 1870, with the first house being constructed for a Reverend Thomas Bridges, who went on to learn the local languages and document their way of life of the natives in some detail.

Following a treaty with Chile in 1881, Argentina established a penal colony in Ushuaia in order to bolster their claim on the territory and in 1904 the town was formally recognised as the capital of Tierra del Fuego.

Between 1870 and 1910 the town experienced several epidemics, including typhus and measles, which hit the native population hard and by the end of the period the Yámana had virtually been exterminated.

Since escape from the area was virtually impossible, the prisoners at the penal colony enjoyed a fair amount of freedom to act as enforced settlers, constructing much of the town and the railway line to the west.

The prison was closed down in 1947 and the old buildings now house the Museo Maritimo de Ushuaia.

During the Falklands War in 1982, the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano sailed from Ushuaia, before being sunk by the British. There’s a monument in the town to commemorate the dead.

The best time to visit Ushuaia is generally considered to be during the Oct-Mar southern spring-summer-autumn period (unless you are coming for skiing, in which case the opposite season is more suitable).
Ushuaia officially has a ‘mild tundra climate’, with two reasonably clearly defined seasons …

During the Oct-Mar summer season the weather is relatively cool and wet. Daytime temperatures usually struggle their way up to around 13C/55F, with nighttime lows holding up around 5C/41F. Rainfall during this period is around 50mm (2”) per month. The days are long this far south (with 16 hours of daylight in December) and sunshine averages out around 5-6 hours per day (around 40% of daylight hours). It can also often be quite windy.

During the Apr-Sep winter season the conditions are significantly colder, but very slightly drier. Daytime temperatures usually struggle up to around 4C/39F, with nighttime lows falling to around -1C/30F. The rainfall during this period remains around 50mm (2”) per month, much of which falls as snow. The days are short this far south (with just 8 hours of daylight in July) and sunshine drops to just 1-2 hours per day in Jun-Jul (about 25% of daylight hours).
The main ski season is Jun-Oct.

Getting there

Ushuaia is usually accessed by air from Buenos Aires, El Calafate (for Los Glaciares National Park) or Trelew (for Península Valdés).

It’s also possible to arrive by cruise ship from the port of Punta Arenas, which is further north on the peninsula, on the Chilean side of the border, usually a journey of 4 nights.

Where to stay

There are no real stand-out accommodation options in Ushuaia, so we usually turn to one of the two large resorts in the town if we need to include a night or two.

usually visited during the Nov-Mar Antarctic summer