The only continent with no permanent population and no government, reached by two days across the roughest sea on earth, in a season four months long.
What it is
Fourteen million square kilometres, 98 per cent covered in ice averaging nearly two kilometres thick, containing about 70 per cent of the world’s fresh water. No indigenous population, no permanent residents, and no sovereign government — the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 suspended all territorial claims and reserved the continent for peaceful scientific use.
Almost all tourism goes to the Antarctic Peninsula, the arm reaching toward South America, which is the mildest and most accessible part and where the wildlife concentrates.
Getting there
By ship from Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina, across the Drake Passage — two days each way through the only latitude band where the Southern Ocean circles the globe uninterrupted. It can be the “Drake Lake” or the “Drake Shake”, and the second is genuinely severe. Modern expedition ships have stabilisers and most people cope; bring medication and start it before you sail.
By air, flying two hours from Punta Arenas to King George Island and boarding a ship there. It removes four days of sea and costs considerably more, and the flights are weather-dependent, so a cancellation can cost you the trip.
The season
November to March, and nothing outside it.
November: pack ice breaking up, pristine snow, penguins courting and building nests.
December–January: peak. Almost 24-hour daylight, warmest temperatures, chicks hatching, and the highest prices.
February–March: whales — humpback, minke, orca — at their most numerous, penguin chicks fledging, and slightly lower prices.
What you actually do
Two landings a day, weather permitting, in Zodiacs. You walk among penguin colonies, visit research stations and historic huts, cruise between icebergs, and if you have paid extra, kayak or camp on the ice for a night.
IAATO rules govern all of it: a maximum of 100 people ashore at once, five metres from wildlife, no food ashore, boots scrubbed between sites, and nothing left behind including urine on some sites.
The polar plunge — jumping into the Southern Ocean on a line — is a tradition on most ships.
Costs, plainly
This is the most expensive trip in this guide by a wide margin. A berth on an expedition ship starts in the thousands and rises steeply, and the price is per person, with a single supplement on most ships.
Ways it comes down: last-minute berths in Ushuaia, which still happen but are far less common than they were; shoulder-season November or March departures; and the largest cabins-shared options on the more basic vessels.
Choosing a ship
Size is everything. Ships carrying more than 500 passengers are not permitted to land anyone at all. Between 200 and 500, you land in rotation and wait a lot. Under 200, and ideally under 120, everybody lands at every site.
Look for a high ratio of expedition staff to passengers, and check whether the operator is an IAATO member — effectively all reputable ones are.
More Wildlife
The Serengeti
Thirty thousand square kilometres of grassland carrying the largest land mammal migration on earth, plus the highest lion density anywhere.
The Galápagos Islands
Nineteen volcanic islands on the equator where nothing has learned to be afraid of people. The animals do not move when you approach, and that is the entire experience.