Ushuaia walking tour & city guide

The city

San Martín Street is the main street of shops and restaurants. The old prison, now the Maritime Museum, once held convicts who built the town.

Nature

Boat trips on the Beagle Channel pass sea lion colonies and the red-and-white Les Eclaireurs lighthouse. Tierra del Fuego National Park has forests, lakes and the End of the World Train.

A day in Ushuaia

Take a boat trip on the Beagle Channel to see sea lion colonies, cormorants and the red-and-white Les Eclaireurs lighthouse. Some boats stop at Martillo Island to see penguins.

In the afternoon, visit the Tierra del Fuego National Park, or ride the End of the World Train. The old prison is now a museum.

Good to know

Ushuaia is the main departure port for Antarctic cruises. The weather is cool year-round, even in summer, so bring warm clothes.

Try king crab, centolla, the local specialty.

The end of the world

Ushuaia calls itself the southernmost city in the world, squeezed between the snowy Martial Mountains and the Beagle Channel. It began as a penal colony, and the prisoners built much of the early town and the narrow-gauge railway that still runs into the forest as a tourist train. Today, the colorful houses on the hillside and the port full of expedition ships give it a frontier atmosphere. Hikes lead to the Martial Glacier above the town and to Laguna Esmeralda, a turquoise lake surrounded by peat bogs and mountains.