Patagonia Things To Do

  The wide-open spaces, stark landscapes and up-close-and-personal views of glaciers and wildlife Chilean and Argentine Patagonia, whets cruise-lovers appetites. There are many kinds of cruises available, from backpacker specials to very luxurious trips on small boats, and trips lasting from 3 and 4 days to ones that hit both sides of Patagonia as well [...]

Puerto Natales, Chile, is a small city with a perfect central square, an enviable setting on the Seno de la Ultima Esperanza (Last Hope Sound), and some of the best access to the greatest adventures Patagonia has to offer. The high season in Puerto Natales is generally from December to March, with most Chileans taking vacation in January and February, so you can expect to see more people then, but it really never gets overrun. January and February are also alleged to be when the best weather is, but as always in Patagonia, you should prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.

The Maritime Museum in Ushuaia is unlike any museum you’ve ever been to, and makes a great day activity from land or sea-based trips to Ushuaia, Argentina. It’s a vast museum built using the preexisting prison building which many of its exhibits describe. There is also, to justify the name, a set of exhibits on Argentina’s presence in the Arctic and surrounding areas, as well as a replica of the lighthouse that Jules Verne writes about in his book “The Lighthouse at the End of the World.”

Puerto Varas, Chile‘s small, postcard-perfect town, on the shores of Lago Llanquihue (yan-KEY-way), with it’s milky pink sunsets and views of the Osorno volcano, is a great place to take a few days in Chile. It’s a great jumping-off point for the lakes crossing to Bariloche in Argentina, or to the big island of Chiloé, or just days of exploring along the lake sure and visiting towns like Ensanada, and of course, the unmissable Petrohue falls.

Cerro Castor is said to be the best skiing in Argentina, and it’s just 30 minutes’ drive on a paved road from Ushuaia, the undisputed capital of Tierra del Fuego, the large island at the tip of the South American continent, that is divided between Chile and Argentina.

Puerto Montt is the last city in continental Chile before a series of islands and fjords take over. It is the jumping-off point to Chiloé, with its iconic wooden churches and the starting point for several cruises, including one to Puerto Natales, to access Chile’s Torres del Paine national park.

Chiloé is the large island about two thirds of the way down skinny Chile. Chiloé is the largest of the islands that break off the continent at that point, and is often referred to in Spanish as the “large island of Chiloé” (la gran isla de Chiloé). Historically, many people living there work in the fishing industry or in maritime security, but tourism, the markets and restaurants are also growing.

As South America narrows to a slender cone, pointing the way toward icy Antarctica, the climate and landscape change dramatically. Rather than the lush tropical rainforest of the Amazon or arid Andean desertscapes of the Pacific Coast, this is a glacier carved wilderness more akin to Northern Europe or Alaska than the rest of this rich continent.

There are many reasons, believe it or not, to come to the “Southernmost City in the Americas,” Ushuaia, Argentina (with a nod to neighboring Puerto Williams, Chile, which shares that tourism tagline). Though most people are here en route to an Antarctic tour, or hike into Tierra del Fuego National Park, they may find themselves [...]

Where the southern cone of South America narrows to a point, fringed with chill islands and glacier-carved granite peaks, lies the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego. Though the latitude is seemingly inhospitable, this is a fertile place of lush forests and brilliant blue lakes; the Spanish named it the “Land of Fire” because of the many campsites seen glowing on the rugged shore every evening.