While doing my research for my own trip to Antarctica, one of the most common searches I saw was “Ushuaia to Antarctica day trip”. No one understands the average American PTO constraints better than I do, and I completely understood why people would search that. The short answer is no, it is impossible to do this. With tourism to the area growing, it made me realize how little people know about the white continent, and the journey it takes to get there. In this article, I will tell you all the ways you can get to Antarctica, and how much time you need to get there, so you can experience its natural beauty for yourself!
Day Trip from Ushuaia?
Social media has made Antarctica tourism way more popular in the past couple of years. You’ve probably seen videos of 30 foot waves hitting the sides of ships, and furniture falling over as passengers struggle to keep their balance onboard. The Antarctic continent gets a bad rep for being one of the most inhospitable environments in the world, and rightfully so. It’s the only place that humans haven’t technically managed to “claim”. There’s no indigenous human population, because we simply couldn’t survive the conditions. I can only assume that if you are looking for a Ushuaia to Antarctica day trip, then you want to spend as little time there as possible.
Because of its remoteness, another misconception that people have is that there’s nothing to do there. One of the most common questions people asked me was, “what will I do in Antarctica for 10 days?“. But the truth is there’s so many things to do: from onboard lectures, to many different outdoor activities. If you’ve brave enough, maybe even a polar plunge! Most days will involve an early morning, so that you have plenty of time for all the excursions, plus landings (if you choose one of the Antarctica cruises that make them).
Basically, Antarctica is an experience like no other. It’s not an afterthought of visiting the end of the world. Definitely not somewhere you visit in just one day. It’s not just sticking a flag on your 7th continent and walking away. You’ll definitely need time to get a meaningful experience. An Antarctic adventure can be a life-changing experience if you do it the right way!
Most Common Way to Get to Antarctica
Getting to Antarctica is a journey within itself and it takes a while. You literally need to travel down to the “end of the world” just to get to the start of your Antarctic expedition. Depending on where you are traveling from, this might involve taking two or three flights, just to get to the expedition starting point. Here’s what the journey usually looks like.
First you need to get down to Ushuaia, Argentina or Punta Arenas, Chile. But, there’s usually no direct flights if you’re heading there from the US. So you would need to get to either Buenos Aires, Argentina or Santiago, Chile first. Ushuaia is the world’s southernmost city, so you’re already doing a lot of traveling before you even get on the ship. It’s also possible to sail there from New Zealand, but this is way less common.
I started my expedition from Ushuaia, and it was the most beautiful town. I recommend staying a couple of days there beforehand, because there’s lots to see and do. You can read about them here!
The most common and popular way to get to Antarctica is by sea. After you board your ship, you’ll set sail across the Beagle Channel and head towards the infamous Drake Passage. It’s the gateway to Antarctica, notorious for its unpredictable weather conditions and rough seas. Those videos you see of giant waves hitting the sides of ships to ominous music? That’s the Drake Passage. While the journey across it can take two to three days, it’s your first encounter with the true Antarctic conditions. It offers a unique opportunity to witness your first sightings of icebergs, sea birds, and even humpback whales! Many consider crossing the Drake’s Passage a rite of passage. You truly feel a sense of accomplishment for making it through!
But you might also get lucky on your way over like I did. We had the “Drake Lake” on the way to the Antarctica, which meant smooth sailing the whole way down. No giant waves or rocking involved. This allowed us to get there in one day! This meant an extra day of landings, and more chances to do excursions! (We did get a 6/10 “Drake Shake” on the way back though).
Fastest Way to Get to Antarctica
If you’ve made up your mind on spending the least amount of time at sea, then fastest option to get there is by taking a “fly-sail” cruise. This is way less common, and from what I’ve researched, is also out of my tax bracket at this time. On a fly-sail cruise, you first take a charter flight (usually from Punta Arenas, Chile) directly to King George Island in the South Shetland Islands. This allows you to completely bypass the Drake Passage and start your expedition in calmer waters. After landing on King George Island, you’ll take a zodiac boat to your cruise ship to board. It basically goes in the opposite order than when you sail over the Drake Passage.
By taking a fly-sail cruise, you can technically shave four days off your Antarctic expedition. The Drake’s Passage takes up roughly 4 days of the expedition (2 days there, 2 days back). It could be more or less, depending on the weather. You’ll still be spending 5 or 6 days exploring the continent. So even if you fly there, it definitely would not be as a day trip! I’m sure if you had enough money, you could possibly pay a company to fly you from Punta Arenas and back in a day. But to me, this just doesn’t make sense. It takes time and patience to explore Antarctica. It’s not possible to experience all its diverse wildlife in their natural habitat in just one day.
If time is your main concern, the biggest potential disadvantage to taking a fly-sail cruise is that it’s more susceptible to weather delays than a traditional cruise ship. The flight from Punta Arenas to King George Island is roughly 2 hours, but could be more depending on the weather. If it’s really bad, it might get canceled altogether. And nothing is more stressful to a person pressed for time, than a flight being canceled. I would say that fly-sail cruises are probably better for those who are specifically trying to avoid the Drake Passage, rather than those who are trying to save time. You might get lucky, but it’s important to be aware how fast weather can change in Antarctica. On these kinds of trips nothing is promised, and you must be flexible every step of the way!
Important Factors to Consider When Choosing Antarctica Tours
There’s a few factors to consider when trying to choose the right Antarctica cruise for you. Here are some things to keep in mind.
Length of Expedition
Expeditions can range anywhere from 6 days to well over 20 days. I haven’t seen any Ushuaia to Antarctica day trips offered by any company, and I think this is for good reason.
Most visitors to Antarctica visit the Antarctic Peninsula via South America. It takes roughly 6-10 days, depending on whether you are sailing or doing a fly-sail. If you are looking for further exploration to the Antarctic Circle, your expedition will be longer.
Ship Size
The size of your expedition ship matters! Smaller ships offer more of a chance to do excursions, while larger ships might not do landings at all. I went on the Ocean Albatross, and on first impression, I was kind of shocked at how small it was. But the ship size allows the captain to maneuver it more easily, and get access to places that larger ships can’t go. Watching our captain navigate the narrow passages to get us to our Deception Island landing probably wouldn’t have been possible if we were on a bigger ship!
Smaller ships also mean less passengers, which equates to a more intimate experience for you! Less passengers allows for a smaller guest to expedition team ratio. Ships with 100 or less passengers can have all passengers land at the same time. This is a huge advantage, because that means if there’s a landing that day, you’ll definitely get to do it. Boats with more than 100 passengers have to land in groups. Since the weather can change so quickly, it’s common that the weather might start out great, and then quickly become unsafe. The expedition leader does alternate groups every day so that everyone will get a chance to do a landing.
When I went on the Ocean Albatross, there was 163 passengers on board (maximum is 190). We did landings in 4 separate groups, with 2 groups being able to land at a time. On my specific expedition, all groups were able to do the same landings each day, but some definitely had better weather than others!
Itinerary
Two people can do the exact Antarctic expedition, and have two completely different experiences. You might have the same tour, but do completely different landings due to weather conditions. For example, our continental landing was supposed to be at Portal Point. But it ended up getting switched to Neko Harbour last minute because of the weather.
Either way, it’s a good idea to look up which landings the tour plans to make when picking your itinerary. This way you can choose the tour that most aligns with what you want to experience most. For example, if you’re looking to experience wildlife, consider picking a tour that includes the South Georgia. It has the densest concentration of marine mammals and birds on the planet. I saw tons of penguin colonies on my trip, but was probably the only person on the entire ship that didn’t see any seals. If I’m ever lucky enough to go back to the white continent, South Georgia will definitely be on my itinerary!
Excursions
Common excursions done in Antarctica include snowshoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding, and even ice camping! All of these excursions would be at an extra cost, on top of the trip price you already pay. This is because they’re all weather-dependent. Most of the time, the expedition team doesn’t even know if they will happen until the morning of. Things can change so quickly that one group of kayakers was called to the mud room to get ready, only for the excursion to be canceled due to weather once they got down there.
If you want to do any of these excursions, also keep in mind that they are offered on a lottery basis. They can only take so many people out at a time. If a lot of people want to do them, then there’s a chance that many won’t actually get to do so. This would be another advantage to choosing a smaller ship– less competition in the lottery.
Some tour companies also get a certain number of guaranteed slots for certain excursions. I didn’t get an ice camping spot on my excursion (which was fine because it ended up getting canceled twice due to weather and no one got to go). But when I got on the ship, I noticed that some people were already pre-booked. There were 30 spots for camping: 20 were pre-booked and 10 were lottery. One of the expedition guides explained that some tours are given the spots for their guests, because they’re bringing a large number of guests (and therefore, more business). Knowing this now, I would definitely have asked about those spots, and tried to secure one for myself before I got on the ship! I suggest you do this if you really want to go ice camping, since there’s so much competition for a spot.
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Overall, there’s so much to experience on your journey to Antarctica, and there’s no way to meaningfully do it in just a day trip. From the pristine, untouched wilderness to the wildlife that you can’t see anywhere else, Antarctica is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If you’re ready to plan this, or some other bucket list adventures, make sure to check out my other blog posts.
