Ushuaia departure port

Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica

The Argentine port from which most Antarctic Peninsula expedition cruises depart.

Places in Ushuaia departure port

L'Austral onboard dining Exceptional culinary experiences aboard the Ponant expedition vessel sailing to the Antarctic Peninsula.

Best time to visit: November to February, the short Antarctic polar summer, the only window during which expedition camps and cruise itineraries operate.
Getting around: Access is either by fly-in camp, such as White Desert's five-hour flight from Cape Town to the Antarctic interior, or by expedition cruise ship departing from Ushuaia, Argentina; once on the continent or aboard ship, zodiacs and, for fly-in camps, ground vehicles are used to explore the ice.
Currency: US Dollar ($) on expedition ships
Language: English on most expeditions; crews are multilingual.
Timezone: Ships typically run on UTC-3 (Argentine time)
Current trends: The Antarctic Peninsula continues to see growing investment in genuinely luxurious access, with White Desert's 12-guest interior camps requiring a five-hour flight from Cape Town representing the extreme high end of fly-in access, while Ponant's Le Commandant Charcot brings Michelin-starred Alain Ducasse dining to an icebreaker capable of reaching deep into the Weddell Sea; both models reflect a broader shift toward positioning Antarctica as an ultra-luxury rather than purely expedition-style destination.

White Desert Whichaway Camp — A 12-guest interior camp accessible after a five-hour flight across the Southern Ocean from Cape Town.
Le Commandant Charcot icebreaker route — A luxury icebreaker sailing from Ushuaia into the Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea.