Ushuaia: what to see, where to stay and how to get around

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Ushuaia, on the Beagle Channel in Argentine Tierra del Fuego, calls itself the southernmost city in the world. It began as an Anglican mission in 1869 and grew around a prison, and today it is the port from which most ships leave for Antarctica. Half a day on foot; the weather changes several times a day, in every season.

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A short history of Ushuaia

The Yámana people lived on the shores of the Beagle Channel for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. In 1869 Anglican missionaries set up a station here, and in 1884 Argentina raised its flag and proclaimed the settlement. In 1902 a prison for dangerous inmates began operating here, and the prisoners themselves built much of the town and the small railway to the forest. The prison closed in 1947. Within a few decades most of the Yámana had died from diseases brought by the Europeans. Today Ushuaia is regarded as the southernmost city in the world, and most voyages to Antarctica leave from here.

The ten best sights in Ushuaia

1
Maritime and Prison Museum
The old prison at the end of the world
2
Museo del Fin del Mundo
Birds, shipwrecks and early settlers
3
Museo Yámana
The canoe people of the channel
4
Plaza Islas Malvinas
The Falklands memorial on the bay
5
Martial Glacier
A hike up behind the town
6
Alakush visitor centre
Inside Tierra del Fuego National Park
7
Bahía Lapataia
Where Route 3 ends
8
Lago Roca
A lake running into Chile
9
Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse
Sea lions and cormorants on the islets
10
Cerro Castor
The southernmost ski resort

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What is an audio walk?

Tours in Ushuaia →

A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Ushuaia:

Free walking tours in Ushuaia

The town at the end of the world

Maritime and Prison Museum · From 1902 to 1947 Argentina sent its worst criminals and political prisoners here, to the edge of the world. The prisoners built the town’s roads and houses; the cells are now a museum, one wing left exactly as it was, cold and bare.
Museo Yámana · The museum of the Yámana, the canoe people who lived on this channel for thousands of years, almost naked in the cold, keeping fires burning in their canoes. Magellan saw those fires from the sea in 1520 and named the land Tierra del Fuego, the land of fire.
Museo del Fin del Mundo · In the house of an early governor, a museum of the birds of the island, the shipwrecks of Cape Horn and the first settlers, including the figurehead of a sailing ship wrecked on these coasts.
Avenida San Martín · The main street, one block above the water, where shops sell gear for Antarctica and restaurants keep live king crabs from the channel in tanks in the window.
Tourist pier · The pier from which expedition ships sail across the Drake Passage to Antarctica, about a thousand kilometres south — the great majority of Antarctic voyages leave from here.
Plaza Islas Malvinas · A memorial on the bay to the Argentine soldiers who died in the 1982 war over the Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas and still claims; an eternal flame burns beside the names.

The national park

West of town, Tierra del Fuego National Park runs along the channel to the Chilean border, a forest of southern beech, peat bogs and bays where the Andes end. A day; take the train in, walk the coastal path, and bring rain gear.

End of the World Train · A narrow-gauge steam train on the line once used to carry prisoners into the forest to cut timber for the town. The stumps they left are still visible along the track.
Alakush visitor centre · The visitor centre of the park, which explains its other problem: beavers. Twenty pairs were brought from Canada in 1946 for a fur trade that never took off; with no predators they now number many tens of thousands and have drowned whole valleys of forest.
Bahía Lapataia · The end of Argentina’s National Route 3, marked by a sign giving the distance to Buenos Aires, over three thousand kilometres north, and to Alaska, about seventeen thousand.
Lago Roca · A long lake among forested mountains whose far end lies in Chile; a trail along its shore leads to the border, marked only by a post in the woods.
Martial Glacier · Back above the town, a glacier reached by a steep walk of an hour or two, with a view down over Ushuaia and the channel; it has shrunk visibly in recent decades.
Ushuaia Airport · On a peninsula in the bay, with a runway between the mountains and the channel; on clear days the approach over the Beagle Channel is one of the most spectacular landings in the world.

The Beagle Channel and the penguins

East of town the channel, named after Darwin’s ship, leads past islands of sea lions to the oldest ranch on the island and a colony of penguins. A full day by boat or car; penguins are present roughly from October to March.

Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse · A red-and-white lighthouse of 1920 on a rock in the channel, often called the lighthouse at the end of the world — though Jules Verne’s novel of that name was about another, on Isla de los Estados to the east.
Cerro Castor · The southernmost ski resort in the world, open roughly from June to October, with views of the channel from the upper lifts.
Lago Escondido · A lake hidden in a valley on the road north over the Garibaldi pass, the only road off the island toward the rest of Argentina.
Lago Fagnano · A lake about a hundred kilometres long lying along the Magallanes–Fagnano fault, the boundary between the South American and Scotia tectonic plates; a strong earthquake struck along this fault in 1949.
Estancia Harberton · The oldest ranch in Tierra del Fuego, founded in 1886 by the missionary Thomas Bridges, who compiled a dictionary of the Yámana language of some thirty thousand words. His descendants still live here, beside a museum of whale and dolphin skeletons.
Isla Martillo · A small island where a colony of Magellanic penguins, with a few gentoos and kings among them, nests on the beach; one licensed operator may land a small group to walk among them.

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Getting to Ushuaia and getting around

Ushuaia Airport · On a peninsula in the bay
Tourist pier · Boats on the Beagle Channel; ships to Antarctica
End of the World Train · The old prisoners’ railway

Cheap eats in Ushuaia

Ushuaia eats from the channel: centolla, southern king crab, served whole or in a gratin; black hake and trout; and cordero fueguino, the island’s lamb, roasted on the cross. King crab is the splurge, at thirty to sixty dollars a plate.

Avenida San Martín · King crab in the windows
Tourist pier · Fish stalls by the port
Estancia Harberton · Tea and cake at the ranch

Museums in Ushuaia

Museums of the prison, the canoe people and the end of the world.

Maritime and Prison Museum · The prison
Museo Yámana · The Yámana
Museo del Fin del Mundo · Shipwrecks and birds

Nature and day trips near Ushuaia

The southern end of the Andes: beech forest, glaciers, lakes and a channel full of wildlife.

Bahía Lapataia · The end of the road
Martial Glacier · The glacier hike
Lago Fagnano · The great lake

Things to do in Ushuaia with kids

With children: penguins, sea lions, a steam train and snow.

Isla Martillo · The penguins
End of the World Train · The steam train
Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse · Sea lions

Nightlife in Ushuaia

Ushuaia’s nights are short in summer — light until after ten — and spent in pubs over craft beer brewed with glacier water.

Avenida San Martín · Pubs and brewpubs
Plaza Islas Malvinas · The bay at dusk

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Frequently asked questions about Ushuaia

What is there to see in Ushuaia?

The top sights in Ushuaia are Maritime and Prison Museum, Museo del Fin del Mundo and Museo Yámana. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.

How many days do you need in Ushuaia?

Three to four days are enough to see the best of Ushuaia without rushing, including at least one walking tour.

Is there a free walking tour in Ushuaia?

Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Ushuaia, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The town at the end of the world.

How do you get to Ushuaia and get around?

The main ways are Ushuaia Airport, Tourist pier and End of the World Train. Full details are in the transport section on this page.

Where to stay in Ushuaia, and for how much?

sleepntrip shows only rooms in Ushuaia that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.

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