My brother Rick and I finished our trip through Patagonia in Ushuaia, Argentina in January of 2026. Ushuaia was not what I expected. It is the southernmost city in the world and I had assumed it would be more of a backwater village. Ushuaia is a city of 80,000. Tourism is themain source of income. Tourists from all over the world come there to hike, eat, shop and recreate before boarding an expedition or cruise to Antarctica. As withPuerto Varas, Puerto Natales, El Chalten and El Calafate, Ushuaia has its share of gravel roads to endure but it also has plenty to offer travelers looking for adventure.

We arrived by plane from El Calafate to the Ushuaia. It’s the largest airport we’ve been in since Santiago. Tons of planes come into Ushuaia from all over the world to be the jumping off point to sail around Tierra del Fuego or to the great arctic continent. We were taken to our hotel which had splendid view of the Beagle Channel (named for the ship that Captain Fitz Roy and Charles Darwin arrived on in the early 1800’s). All of Tierra del Fuego is steeped in explorer history as early European explorers looked for ways to get past South America and onto the Spice Islands. Magellan was here, Cook was here and Fitz Roy was here.

On our first full day in Ushuaia, Rick and I went to Tierra del Fuego National Park and spotted Upland Geese and wild horses along the Lapatia river. The very end of the Andes mountains come through Chile and then take a left turn to head through Argentina and to the Atlantic at Staten Island (not the New York one). The Pan American Highway (from Alaska to Argentina) ends here after many thousands of miles and there were tons of motorcyclists and vans who take on the trip by starting at Fin del Mundo (end of the world) via the gravel road Route 3.

We ended our first full day in Ushuaia by taking a boat ride to the lighthouse and various islands that are home to wildlife. I have been really impressed by all the unusual birds we have seen including black necked swans, Andean condors and Upland geese.We saw two different islands that were covered in Imperial Cormorants which (when they swim) look just like penguins. In addition, we went by an island with a male sea lion and his harem of upwards of ten females sunning themselves on the rocks. We had a terrific guide named Juan Pablo who would explain everything we were seeing and escorted the group onto an island to have a better view of the Andean mountains that encircle the bay of Ushuaia. It was a lovely clear day and we could see the glaciers on top of the mountains. We ended our day by buying a sandwich from a food truck named Los Pollos Hermanos (from the show Breaking Bad). There aren’t any Starbucks or McDonalds but they have a food truck named after a show. Interesting.

We traveled to the Garibaldi Pass which is the first time I’ve traveled over the Andes by vehicle. I did not realize before this trip that the Andes mountains run the entire length of South America making the border between Chile and Argentina. At the very bottom, at Ushuaia, the mountain range then heads east towards the Atlantic Ocean and ends at an island named Staten Island. We drove to the 3rd largest lake in Argentina called Lago Fagnano. It was quite the crazy 4×4 ride as our guide, Martin, drove through several creeks until we drove along the lake’s shore, at times, completely surrounded by the lake. I had the impulse to pick up my feet as we traversed the water. It was a lovely lake. From there we went to a trailhead into the beech tree forest. The travel company has a private cabin in the woods and we hiked about a mile to get to the cabin. The forest here is full of beech trees, some of which are deciduous and others are evergreen. Martin pointed out that sometimes the ground we were walking on was spongy. This area has a lot of peat bogs which are a spongy layer on top of an aquifer. It’s a very unique environment and we were able to spot two Magellan Woodpeckers which are the largest woodpeckers in the world. I would guess they are at least a foot and a half tall. Once at the cabin, we went for a canoe trip on Lago Escondido. It was a brilliant day with clear blue skies (a rarity by all accounts). It was so peaceful and desolate on the lake as it is surrounded by wilderness. Martin cooked us an enormous lunch which was delicious.

On our last full day in Ushuaia, we drove eastward towards the Atlantic Ocean. We saw a few shacks along the way but it’s a gravel road to Puerto Almanza. There we saw mussel farms along the shore and fishing boats specializing in King Crab and Black Hake. There were several restaurants in the stretch of the shoreline that specialize in seafood and it’s a good hour and a half ride from Ushuaia. Their entire business is based on attracting the folks from the city and/or tourists to the eastern edge of Tierra del Fuego. Our lunch was at Alma Yagan which is the private home for a fisherwoman named Diana. She cooks whatever they caught that day and prepared an outstanding four course meal as we stared out at the Beagle Channel. It was windy (as usual) and clear outside; the food was fresh and delicious. She served Salmon Ceviche, King Crab poached in milk, and Black Hake on a carrot purée. It was outstanding.

On our last day before boarding our boat to Antarctica, we had a half day to spend in the town of Ushuaia. We went to the “End of the World” museum which is about the history of Ushuaia. We also went to their Maritime, Antarctica and Prison museum. The last three are all housed in the now defunct prison which was here until the 1940’s. There was lots of information on the first explorers to Tierra del Fuego, the natives that had been here since 8,500 years ago and all of the various explorations to Antarctica.

Ushuaia is a beautiful place surrounded by wilderness, lakes and unique flora and fauna like wild multicolored lupins, thousands of cormorants, and wild horses milling around the island. This end of Argentina is much more lush with the number of forests it has compared to some of the northern sections of Argentina which are much flatter and more arid. I hope I can come back again as there is so much more to see.