Things to Do in Ushuaia: The 25, Ranked and Mapped

October to April, the Open Season

Everything on this list runs. Penguins occupy Martillo from roughly September or October through April, with November to March the reliable window for visitors. The national park keeps long hours, 8:00-21:00 in December to February.

The train runs its summer timetable with departures at 9:30, 12:00 and 15:00. Daylight stretches to about 17 hours around the December solstice, so a park morning, a channel afternoon and a museum evening all fit in one day. Average January highs sit at 12.3°C (54°F) with the year's strongest wind, about 17.9 m/s daily max on average.

Wind, not cold, is what cancels plans here.

May to September, the Snow Season

The channel boats keep sailing on weather-proof days, both town museums stay on their hours and the park opens 9:00-18:00. What disappears is the wildlife. The penguins leave the colony, so no penguin tours run in winter, and the estancias east of town close.

What arrives is snow. Cerro Castor skis a regular season that in 2026 ran 4 July to 25 September, with a day pass at about $97.30 (ARS 146,700). Snow parks, husky sleds and snowmobiles take over the valleys. The train drops to its winter timetable, 9:45, 12:15 and 15:00, and Turista fares fall to $46.40 (ARS 70,000).

Daylight shrinks to about 7.5 hours around the June solstice, so plan one anchor per day, not three.

The Split, Table Form

This table compares what runs and what closes in each season so you can match your dates to the list. Figures from official operator and park pages.

The Three-Hour Classic

The Beagle Channel navigation is the default. A catamaran takes you past the sea lion rocks at Isla de los Lobos, the bird islands with their cormorant colonies, and the Les Éclaireurs lighthouse, about 5 nautical miles east of the city. The listing we rate highest runs 3 hours at $66.30, 4.6 stars from 526 reviews.

You do not land anywhere on the shortest versions, longer ones add a short island walk. Dress as if you will stand on deck in wind, because you will.

Adding the Penguins

The next step east adds Isla Martillo, the colony of thousands of Magellanic pairs with some Gentoo and the occasional King. From the boat this is a 5-hour day from $110. To walk among them you need the licensed landing version, the Martillo Island full-day walk at 10 hours and $530, which goes out via Estancia Harberton.

The rule is simple, walking is only permitted with licensed operators and never involves touching or feeding. The reliable visitor window is November to March.

What the Boats Cannot Promise

No operator page publishes a guarantee against wind. Channel crossings run subject to weather and sailings move or cancel in strong wind, which in Ushuaia is routine rather than exceptional. Book the earliest departure of your day so a cancelled sailing leaves room for a rebooking, and read the cancellation window, 24 hours on most listings, before you fix a plan around the boat.

Tierra del Fuego National Park

The park is the only Argentine national park with a seacoast on the Beagle Channel, and the southern terminus of National Route 3 sits inside it at Lapataia Bay. Entry costs $26.50 (ARS 40,000) for foreign visitors on a daily pass, with a 50% second-day discount within 72 hours if you buy on the web. Argentine residents pay less, children under 6, Argentine pensioners, people with disabilities, local residents and Malvinas veterans enter free.

Hours are 8:00-21:00 in December to February, 8:00-20:00 in March, October and November, and 9:00-18:00 from April to September. There is no city bus. Shuttle minibuses leave from Maipú and Juana Fadul, daily roughly 8:00-20:00, with recent visitor reports putting the round trip at $10.61-$18.57 (ARS 16,000-28,000) and a fare nobody posts.

Taxi and Uber also work.

The End of the World Train

The train departs from Estación del Fin del Mundo at Ruta Nacional 3 km 8, about 7-8 km west of town inside the park. Turista class costs $53.10 (ARS 80,000) for adults from 1 October to 31 March, dropping to $46.40 (ARS 70,000) in the winter window, with children 4-12 at half and under 4 free. Premium class runs $165.80 (ARS 250,000) in summer.

Departures are 9:30, 12:00 and 15:00 to 30 April, then 9:45, 12:15 and 15:00, with trains leaving about every 15 minutes inside your slot. Check in 45 minutes before or your seat is released 10 minutes out. The journey duration is not stated on the official site, and the park entry fee is not included and is mandatory.

If you want both in one booking, the park and train tour does the pairing for $49.50 over 5 hours with hotel pickup.

Two Walks Worth the Shoes

Laguna Esmeralda is the best-known walk out of town, a forest and peat-bog route to a green glacier lake above the Valle de Tierra Mayor. No official trail figure exists, so treat the commonly cited 4-5 hour round trip as our estimate. Guided versions run from $76 with lunch, or take the $45 transfer-only option and walk it yourself. Martial Glacier sits right above town, a chairlift and a short climb to a glacier cirque with the whole channel below.

It needs no booking and no fee, which makes it the first choice for a spare morning, provided the cloud has not eaten it.

The Prison Museum Complex

The Museo Marítimo occupies the former prison at Yaganes y Gobernador Deloqui by the port. One ticket, $29.20 (ARS 44,000) for adults in 2026, covers the maritime museum, the prison museum, the Antarctic museum, the marine art museum and a gallery, plus the Faro del Fin del Mundo replica. Entry is valid two days, which makes it the best value shelter in town.

It opens daily 10:00-20:00 with entry until 19:30, and a Spanish guided tour runs at 11:30. Students to 24 with ID pay $22.60 (ARS 34,000), and a family ticket for two adults and three minors is $72.90 (ARS 110,000).

The Provincial Museum

The Museo del Fin del Mundo is smaller and cheaper, about $5.97 (ARS 9,000) general admission, though the provincial service reprices often. It sits at Maipú 173 with an annex in the former Government House at Maipú 465. Hours are Monday to Friday 10:00-19:00, Saturday 13:00-19:00, Sundays and holidays variable, so check the day before you route it.

Between the two museums you get the full story of the Yámana people, the penal colony and the southern seas.

The Sign, the Promenade, the Cheap Rides

The Fin del Mundo sign stands free on Ruta 3 at the town entrance viewpoint, on the turnabout where the highway meets the city, with the channel behind it. It costs nothing and takes fifteen minutes. From there the costanera runs the length of the waterfront, the best free walk in Ushuaia and the place to watch ships work the pier.

If you want an overview without walking into the wind, a doubledecker circuit with audio guide in eight languages runs 75 minutes for $20, and a panoramic trackless train loops the coast in an hour for $16. Both are filler, not destination, but they fill a wet afternoon honestly.

The Free List

Four things are genuinely free and worth the time. The letter sign at the town entrance viewpoint on Ruta 3 is the postcard shot. The costanera promenade gives you the whole channel, the pier and the arriving catamarans.

The parish church in the centre is open to visitors and costs nothing. And the cemetery viewpoint above town looks back over the roofs to the Martial wall. Beyond these, no official page publishes free admission days or free entry categories for either town museum, so we state plainly that museum freebies are not stated and do not invent them.

One near-free hack does exist, children under 6 enter the national park free, and Argentine pensioners, people with disabilities, local residents and Malvinas veterans also enter free with the right documents.

Linking the Free Day

Route it like this. Sign at the entrance on your way in, church and museums street after coffee, costanera in the late light, cemetery viewpoint last. In summer you will still be standing in daylight at nine in the evening, since the December solstice delivers about 17 hours of it.

If rain wins, the fallback is the two-town-museum circuit for about $35.17 combined at the current figures, still a cheap day.

The One-Day Reality

Ships berth at the cruise port in the middle of the waterfront, which means the costanera, the prison museum and the tour departures are all within a short walk. Pick one big thing, not three. The channel navigation fits a port day best at 3 hours, the park and train combo fits at 5 hours with hotel pickup and drop-off, and the prison museum fits any weather and any leftover hour.

Penguins and Harberton do not fit a single port day and should not be attempted from a ship. For a fixed hour-by-hour version, follow Ushuaia in 1 day.

Booking Against the Sailing Time

Book nothing that returns within two hours of your departure, wind delays are normal. Choose tours with a 24-hour cancellation window, which every major listing on this page carries, and confirm the meeting point at booking since several operators do not publish it until then. If your afternoon is free after the big pick, the doubledecker overview or the panoramic train fills it without risk.