Come and stay in Buenos Aires. This is the city to start one of the most memorable holidays of your life. It is a wonderful launching point for touring the southern parts of South America. From this city there are tours to every part of Argentina. Some of the further away trips can take you a few days. Others are one day or half day trips. You can find a comfortable apartment in Buenos Aires where you can pamper yourself in between trips with luxury and exciting nightlife. When you are this far south in the Americas, you simply have to see the ‘end of the World’. Several countries in the Southern Hemisphere lay claim to the southernmost settlement. Probably the most southerly are research stations on Antarctica, and weather stations on islands way down south. However, none of these are settlements where people live and work and their children go to school. Just north of Cape Horn, at 55º05′ S, on the island of Navarino within the borders of Chile, there is a hamlet of 36 people.
They are mostly fishermen and their families. It is called ‘Puerto Toro’. It is the southernmost permanent settlement in the world. It is only 3,900 kilometers from the South Pole! If you take your passport with you, you may be lucky enough to pay it a visit. It is connected to Puerto Williams by a gravel road. Puerto Williams has an airport and there are daily flights (except Sundays) from Punta Arenas, Chile. Puerto Williams in Chile is the southernmost town in the world at 54°56′ S, with a population of 1,952 people. There is also a ferry to Navarino, crossing the Strait of Magellan, the Brecknock, Cockburn and Beagle Channels. This ferry crossing takes between 30 and 36 hours. A new addition, this year, is a commercial boat service between Ushuaia and Isla Navarino. There are two villages with populations of 200 or less at round about 54º50′ S. One in Chile, Puerto Navarino, and one in Argentina, Puerto Almanza.
Then you find the southernmost city in the world. Ushuaia is a proper city with 64,000 people and is situated in Argentina on the edge of the Beagle Channel at 54º48’S, which is really way down south! If you go from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, you should try to spend a few days in the area, as there is so much to see. Ushuaia is the capital of the province of Tierra del Fuego, Antartida and South Atlantic Islands. With the Andes Mountains forming the background, it also has the beauties of the sea, woods and glaciers. There is snow and winter sports in winter, but it is not as cold as one would expect at that latitude. In summer it is a paradise for adventures like boat tours, along the Beagle Channel, Cape Horn and see the islands of the archipelago, Tierra del Fuego. You will also find horses to ride, mountain bikes, lovely hikes, and plenty of fishing. As this is a very popular tourist venue, you will find good accommodation, places to dine and any other infrastructure you need to enjoy your stay.
