Ushuaia
November 2022
4 Days
To see the previous stop on this trip, go here to Mendoza
After our first few days eating steak and drinking wine, we flew to Ushuaia, known as the southernmost city in the world and located in the Tierra Del Fuego Province of Argentina.
Flights
Aerolíneas Argentinas Economy MDZ-AEP-USH: 17,500 AMEX points one-way transferred to Flying Blue (25% bonus) + $14 taxes & fees
Hotels
Arakur Ushuaia: Cash with 4th night free via Citi Prestige
▸ Luxury spa hotel located on the mountainside overlooking Ushuaia
Arakur Ushuaia - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
Food
La Cravia - Restaurant in the Arakur Ushuaia hotel. Many food options including a buffet.
El Viejo Marino - No frills restaurant known to have some of the best crab in Ushuaia. Popular with tourists so there's always a line and they don't take reservations.
La Cantina de Freddy - Cozy restaurant with good seafood dishes. Solid but not worth going out of your way.
Moustacchio - Another no frills restaurant with more land-based dishes including the popular cordero (lamb). Decent food but another not worth going out of your way.
Activities
See the penguins
Hiking in Tierra del Fuego National Park
Visit the "end of the world" and the southernmost post office
Hike to Laguna Esmeralda
Full Itinerary
Day 1
Travel to Ushuaia
Known as the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia is located in the Tierra Del Fuego province of Argentina. Without a lot of prior knowledge of the geography of South America, I didn't realize just how far South Ushuaia is. From Buenos Aires, it was still over a 3 hour long flight. If you can get a window seat, I'd highly recommend to do so as the approach over the mountains is spectacular. Once you've landed and step outside the airport you are greeted with views of the mountains surrounding the town.
Landing in Ushuaia - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
After a 20 minute drive from our hotel, part way up the mountain we arrived at our hotel, the Arakur Ushuaia. The hotel is known for it's views overlooking the town and the Beagle Channel with the mountains in the backdrop.
We arrived at the hotel and checked in just in time to see the sun set over the Beagle Channel - the fiery colors giving the name "Tierra del Fuego". The restaurant has both an a la carte menu which features Argentinian dishes from both land and sea as well as a buffet option which includes the parilla.
Dinner Views at La Cravia - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
Day 2
Ushuaia City Center
To start our first full day in Ushuaia we headed down to the town and walked around the main street Avenida San Martín which is filled with stores, bars, and restaurants. We also had to pick up our rental car in town which turned out to be an adventure as the office had moved, so I had to use the very little Spanish I know to call them.
Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
In the afternoon we had a tour planned at 2:30 to see Penguins and after finally figuring out where to get our rental car we didn't have time for a long lunch. Naturally, this meant we had more empanadas for lunch! We had booked the tour ahead of time through Piratour and we checked in with them at the port near the tourist office before getting onto the bus for the 1.5 hour ride to Estancia Harberton.
Penguin Tour
On arriving at the ranch, the group was split into two with half boarding the boat to visit the penguin rookery on Isla Martillo and the other half staying back to tour the ranch, learn the history, and visit the museum.
Our group was first up to board the boat for the quick 15 minute ride to Isla Martillo. Once on the island, there are penguins all over and although you are supposed to keep your distance, they don't seem too weary of visitors!
It was quite amusing to watch the king penguin strut around the nests. If you look closely, you can see the babies sticking their heads out.
Isla Martillo - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
After our hour on Isla Martillo, we headed back to the ranch where we then spent an hour walking the grounds, checking out the museum, and refueling with more empandas at the cafe.
Estancia Harberton - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
The 1.5 hour ride back to Ushuaia was mostly quiet with many people sleeping after the long day. We arrived back in Ushuaia around 8:30pm and headed back to our hotel to try the buffet option at the hotel restaurant.
Day 3
Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego
Patagonia is of course a top destination in the world for all things outdoors including hiking, so we headed to Parque Nacional Tierra Del Fuego to do just that. There is a bus that you can take from Ushuaia to the park, but even within the park it could be quite a hike depending on what you want to see. As we had a car, we just drove which was very easy. At the entrance we paid ARS 5500 (~$18) per person and then drove to the Alakush Visitor Center to figure out what we wanted to see.
Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
We started off on the Hito XXIV trail which takes you north along the water until the trail ends when you reach the border of Chile. The 4.5 mile out and back route was not too challenging with not much elevation change.
End of the World
After returning from our hike, we drove to Bahia Lapataia, the southernmost point in Western Hemisphere that you can drive to.
Our final stop was the End of the World post office, a small shack in the park. We mailed postcards from here and you can also get a novelty passport stamp inside.
Correo del Fin del Mundo - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
In our first couple days in Ushuaia many people recommended that we eat at El Viejo Marino, but there was always a long line outside. After our busy day hiking, we arrived right as the restaurant opened for dinner and were lucky to get seat right away. Of course seafood is on the menu and we went for the King Crab, a popular dish in Ushuaia with many restaurants keeping their crabs in a tank in the front window. The restaurant is certainly no frills and the crab was amazing.
The Line Outside El Viejo Marino - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
Day 4
Laguna Esmeralda
There seems to be a general consensus that if you are only going to do one hike, you should do the hike to Laguna Esmeralda. Just a 20 minute drive from Ushuaia, near Valle de Lobos, there is a small parking lot with signs indicating the start of the trail.
The first bit of the hike is through the forest where the path can be a bit muddy. After 30 minutes or so, you emerge from the forest to stunning views and the river running through the landscape.
After crossing the river, it's back into the forest for a decent uphill climb. There are some steep bits, but the views are worth it once you emerge from the top.
Hike to Laguna Esmeralda - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
The next part of the trail goes through the peat moss, which I had read is the most difficult part as there's not a clear trail and it's always quite muddy. However, they must have just installed these walkways not long before we came making this part of the hike quite easy.
Hike to Laguna Esmeralda - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
In the final stretch, you will walk across another open plain with a stream running through it. There's one more small hill for the final push before...
Laguna Esmeralda - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
You are greeted with this view of Laguna Esmeralda. As someone who doesn't do a lot of hiking, I would consider this a moderate hike as there is the one steep part through the forest. The round trip took us about 3 hours, so I would certainly recommend anyone visiting to make sure to fit this in.
After our hike, we headed back to Ushuaia for lunch at another popular seafood spot (obviously!). As we had crab the night before, we tried some other seafood dishes including an amazing seafood stew.
La Cantina de Freddy - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
Spa
On our final afternoon in Ushuaia, we relaxed in the hotel spa overlooking the Beagle Channel and mountains beyond.
Spa at Arakur Ushuaia - Ushuaia, Argentina 2022
In the evening, we switched from seafood to try the other popular local dish - lamb cooked on a spit over open coals. At many restaurants you can see the lamb cooking in the front window. We first tried to go to Parilla La Estancia, but there was a long wait so we went to a restaurant called Moustacchio instead. The restaurant was certainly not fancy, but the lamb served tableside was delicious!
Overall
As someone from the Northern Hemisphere, visiting Tierra del Fuego was truly an amazing experience. With only 4 days, we were able to get a bit of everything in, but certainly we could easily have spent weeks and not run out of things to do.
To see the next stop on this trip, go here to Buenos Aires
In Photos
