Patagonia Cities

Australis provides background info and attractions for some of the most famous cities in the Patagonian region. Here you can find all the details that you need to know about Ushuaia, Puerto Natales, and Punta Arenas. Feel free to check out the rest of our site to view our routes that include tours of glaciers, cruises through Cape Horn, the viewing of exotic wildlife, and more.

Considered the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia is located on the Argentine side of Tierra del Fuego, on the shore of Beagle Channel. It is rich in flora and has high peaks, making the scenery unique and unforgettable.It is one of the largest cities on the Large Island of Tierra del Fuego, with an approximate population of 65,000 inhabitants.Ushuaia, founded on October 12th, 1884, was one of the first points of encounter between the  Yamana and Anglican cultures. Its name comes from the Yamana word that means “Penetrating Bay”.

How to get to Ushuaia

  • Buenos Aires –Ushuaia On Argentinean Airlines with eight daily in season flights, some with a stop in Calafate. Also on LAN Argentina only one daily flight  (4:30 pm) from Tuesday to Sunday.
  • Punta Arenas – Calafate By air on private charters organized privately for small groups in the high season. The option most used is overland by busses that depart from Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales (Bus-Sur and Buses Pacheco).
  • Punta Arenas – Puerto Natales 
On Sky Airline in the summer season only. Flight times are Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:30 pm and Saturdays at 12:30 pm.

 

Tourist attractions in Ushuaia

  • Museo del Fin del Mundo- (End of the World Museum) Located in the city, with daily guided visits.
  • Tierra del Fuego National Park The southernmost Andean-Patagonian Forest covering an area of 63,000 hectares (25.500 acres).
  • Glaciar Martial High mountain chain with panoramic view of the Beagle Channel, 7 km from the city.

Flora and fauna in Ushuaia

  • The flora of Ushuaia consist in plant species such as lenga (southern beech), guindo (Magellan’s beech), ñirre (Antarctic beech), calafate (Magellan barberry), michay (barberry), mata negra, chaura, Magellanic strawberries, campanilla biflora, and drosera (sundews). The fauna include red foxes, rabbits, beavers, southern sea lions, chinstrap penguins, southern fulmars, imperial cormorants, ashy-headed geese, among others.

Climate

  • The climate in Ushuaia is unstable in any season of the year as it tends to change from one day to the next and may change even during the same day. In the summer the average temperature during the month of January is 9.6º C (49°F) and on the day with the most hours of light it may reach up to 18º C (65°F).

 

Where to shop in Ushuaia

  • Paseo de Artesanos: Ushuaia’s only crafts fair. Av. Maipú and 25 de Mayo.
  • La Última Bita
Store with typical products from the city. Av. San Martín 237.
  • Lirios de la Patagonia: Homemade chocolates and alfajores. Av. San Martín 788.

 

See location map

Puerto Natales is the provincial capital of Ultima Esperanza and is located in the Chilean Patagonia at sea level on the shore of Señoret Channel and across from the Patagonian Andes Mountain Range. It is found 256 kilometers (159 miles) northwest of Punta Arenas, near the Torres del Paine and Bernardo O’Higgins National Parks and the closest fiords. The southern city lies 1,373 km (851 miles) from Santiago.
History of Puerto Natales
The origin of the name Puerto Natales is the Latin word “natalis” which means bird. It was founded in 1911, being inhabited by European immigrants and by Chileans from the Island of Chiloé, who carried out the same activity as the German and British colonizers of Patagonia: sheep raising, making the region one of the principal exporters in the world in the 1970’s. This city also boasts economic activities such as tourism, fishing, and others.

How to get to Puerto Natales

  • By sea to Puerto Natales The Navimag ferries run from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, on a trip with lovely Patagonian scenery.
  • By air to Puerto Natales Puerto Natales has an airport, so you can consult flight schedules from Santiago de Chile, Puerto Montt, or Punta Arenas.
  • Overland to Puerto Natales By car you can drive from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales on Route 9 North, a 247 km(153 miles) trip. Another alternative is to go across the border from Argentina. By Bus, you can go from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales on four regular lines. From Santiago or other places in Chile, you must first reach Punta Arenas and make your connection there.

 

Tourist attractions in Puerto Natales

  • In Puerto Natales you can find a series of tourist attractions in the city and its surroundings. You can walk around the city and see the colorful houses that adorn the scenery. There are stores with typical products from the zone, a museum of the city’s history, and Chile’s southernmost casino. From Puerto Natales you can visit the Milodon Cave, where remains of this prehistoric animal were found or navigate the Patagonian channels towards the glaciers located in the Bernardo O´Higgins National Park. You can also visit the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, with South America’s largest glacier, the Pio XI or Ana María Glacier.
  • Pueblito Artesanal Ether Aike This Arts and Crafts Village was inaugurated on May 20, 2002, and is located on Phillipi street and Angamos. Locally made crafts are exhibited here.
  • Museo Salesiano Alberto de Agostini This museum is found at 1456 Padre Rossa Street and belongs to the Salesiano school of Puerto Natales. An interesting exhibit of Patagonian flora and fauna is shown here.
  • Avenida de los Cuatro Pueblos Along the median of this unique avenue, figures have been designed recalling Patagonia’s native peoples : Tehuelches (Aonikenk), Onas (Selk nam), Yaganes (Yamanas), and Alacalufes (Kawaskar). From here you can see a panoramic view of the city.

 

 

Flora and fauna of Puerto Natales

  • The flora of Puerto Natales includes coigue and lenga forests and other wild species such as the calafate, the coirón, the estepa, and the mata barrosa. Among its fauna you can find condors, Patagonian foxes, guanacos, ñandúes (small ostriches), pumas, and grey foxes.

Climate of Puerto Natales

  • In Puerto Natales the maximum temperature reaches 20° C (68°F) in the summer and drops below freezing in winter. The thermal sensation produced by the wind often makes the environmental temperature drop 6 to 7 degrees.

 

Lodging

  • CostAustralis Hotel
  • Pedro Montt 262, Puerto Natales, Magallanes and Antártica Chilena, 6160000, Chile
  • Phone: 56-61-412000 / Fax: 56-61-412020
  • reservas@hotelesaustralis.com

Activities in Puerto Natales

  • In the surroundings of Puerto Natales you can do various sporting and entertaining activities such as trekking, horseback riding, mountain climbing, photography, and observation of the flora and fauna.

Punta Arenas lies on the shore of the Strait of Magellan, located 3,090 km (1,916 miles) from Santiago.This beautiful city was founded on December December 18th, 1848. It is located at latitude 52 South, and is the capital of Region XII of Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctica. It has a population of approximately 133,000 inhabitants.Punta Arenas is the starting point for intense journeys full of adventures within this wild southern territory.

How to get to Punta Arenas

  • By air You can reach Punta Arenas by airplane on a four hour trip from Santiago de Chile.
  • By land If you are travelling by land, you must take Route 5 South to Osorno. Then you cross over the Cardenal Samoré Border pass to the Argentine Republic, to later return to Chile through Puerto Natales.
  • By sea Punta Arenas can be reached by sea from Puerto Montt through the lovely Patagonian channels.

 

Place to visit in Punta Arenas

  • The Bulnes Fort Historic reconstruction of a fort where the first Chilean colonies were established who arrived in the Ancud schooner in 1843.
  • Los Pingüinos Natural Monument Located on Magdalena Island, where nearly 60,000 pairs of Magellanic Penguins live.
  • Pali-Aike National Park Extensive park of volcanic origin, rich in flora and fauna. For many years prehistoric human remains found inside its caves.

 

Flora and fauna of Punta Arenas

  • Among the fauna found in Punta Arenas are species such as the puma, the condor, the ostrich, orcas, piche (dwarf armadillo), Magellanic penguins, caiquen (upland geese), huemul (southern Andean deer), among others.  Its flora is composed of Magallanes coigue, Nirre, cypress of the guaitecas, calafate, chilco, among other plant species.

 

Lodging

Where to shop in Punta Arenas

  • The Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Airport has small stores.
  • The craftspeople at the Plaza de Armas in Punta Arenas.
  • The Tax free Zone located at Av. Bulnes km 3.5 North.
  • The Espacio Urbano Pionero Mall located at Avenida Eduardo Frei sector Norte.
  • E-mail: reservas@hotelaustralis.com

 

See location map

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