Ushuaia – places to visit

We were flying for nearly 3.5 hours from Buenos Aires. The flight started to descend and as the flight came out of the clouds, the snow clad mountains started appearing. The sight of those beautiful mountains made me feel that I was in the right place!! I was in Buenos Aires for 2 days. It was a nice city but I did not find it “South American”, instead it looked more like “copy and paste” of a European city. As the flight landed in Ushuaia, I really felt that I finally landed in South America!!

Ushuaia in southern tip of Argentina is popularly known as at the starting point of Antarctica trips but it also attracts lot of backpacker and adventurers due to the immense opportunities in hiking. Though my primary intention of visiting Ushuaia was for Antarctica but I decided to spend few days in Ushuaia to visit some nice spots. This post tries to bring in some information about the most visited places in Ushuaia.

1. Tierra del Fuego National Park

A very popular place for hiking. Well marked trails and beautiful vistas make it a memorable one. I was written my experience here.

2. Laguna Esmeralda

A beautiful lake near Ushuaia. My experience of this hike can be found here.

3. Martial Glacier

One of the popular hiking places in Ushuaia, it provides great views of the Beagle canal. The weather was not good on the day and I decided to reach the starting point of the hike by taxi. It is also possible to cover the distance by walk but it is going to be a steep hike. I did not complete the full trek as it was raining and walk became difficult but I reached the view point where I could see the beautiful Beagle canal. 

4. Maritime & Old Prison Museum

I had no intentions of visiting this museum. On the day of Antarctica travel, I had some time to kill and the weather forecast indicated rain. Instead of sitting in the reception lobby (I had to check out), I decided to visit the museum nearby. It was a good decision. Though the entry tickets for foreigners was expensive, the museum provided a glimpse of the Ushuaia’s history.

There are multiple sections in the museum relating to maritime, art and Antarctica. The information is available both in English and Spanish. The most important place is the jail, one section of which is not restored. Ushuaia was a penal colony and the jail took me back to those days!!

Other places

I have listed only few of them that are very popular. There are also boat tours to Beagle canal that many tourists go to. You can combine hiike to Laguna Turquesa with Laguna Esmeralda.

Few points

• Public transport is very limited in Ushuaia and it does not cover the tourist places. The town centre itself is small and easy walkable. Most of the hiking locations are outside the town and the cheapest option is to book mini buses from hotel. Taxis are expensive.
• It is better to book the hotel in the town centre even though it is slightly expensive. The money you save from hotel booking has to be spent on taxis to get to town centre. I had booked a cheap hostel which was outside the town. Later I realised about public transport and booked a hotel in the town. The liberal cancellation policy of booking.com helped a lot.
• It is always cold in Ushuaia. I was in summer and the temperature never crossed 10℃. It can rain any time.
• Ushuaia is a vibrant town filled with backpackers and tourists. It is just nice to walk in the town in the evenings.
• It is possible to reach Ushuaia by road but ensure that you have Chile visa and multiple entry Argentina visa as the road to Ushuaia crossed into Chile.
• There are few Vegetarian options in the town. “El Bambu” is a pure vegetarian restaurant but is opened only from 12PM to 5:30PM. There are few other restaurants that serve veg foods.