Ushuaia & Tierra del Fuego
Argentina
The southernmost city in the world, where the Andes finally run into the sea
Photo by Mario Gogh on Unsplash
Photos by Mario Gogh, Florian Delée, Agus Buscaglia and Florian Delée on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Argentina
November to March (the Antarctic season, and the only months with real daylight)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 60mm in Apr
Where it is
54.80°S, 68.30°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Walk to the end of Ruta 3, which is where the Pan-American Highway stops
- Sail the Beagle Channel to the Les Éclaireurs lighthouse
- Hike to the Martial Glacier for the view over the channel
- Visit the prison that built the town
- Board a ship for Antarctica, which is why half the port is here
Ushuaia & Tierra del Fuego travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Argentina
ExpensiveArgentina's exchange situation changes constantly and any printed rate is out of date. Foreign cards now generally get a fair tourist rate automatically, which was not true a year ago — check what is current the week you travel rather than carrying a brick of dollars on old advice.
ATMs & cards
Machines in Ushuaia have low limits and high fees, and run out in high season when the cruise ships are in. Draw in Buenos Aires, or pay by card, which is now usually the better rate anyway.
Avoid these
- drawing here at all if you can pay by card
Use these instead
- Banco Nación
- Banco Santa Cruz
Low limits, high fees, and machines that empty when the cruise ships are in. Foreign cards now generally get a fair tourist rate automatically, which makes paying by card the better option as well as the easier one.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Argentina
Very safeA small, safe, orderly town with very little crime. The weather is the risk, and it changes hourly: four seasons in an afternoon is the local saying and it is meant literally. Trails above the town are exposed and the wind is constant. Never set out on the Martial or the park circuits without a windproof layer.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (7 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Ushuaia — the whole town
- Tierra del Fuego National Park
- Puerto de Ushuaia
Worth more attention
- The weather, which changes hourly — four seasons in an afternoon is meant literally
- Glaciar Martial — the trail above the town, which is exposed and where the wind does not stop
- Driving Ruta 3 in ice, and the Garibaldi pass in winter
- Beavers, which are an introduced species, have flooded whole valleys, and have made some trails impassable
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Argentina visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Other passports
Visa required in advance
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Argentina
Good and affordableRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
Getting treated
Public hospitals treat everyone free of charge, foreigners included, and the standard in Buenos Aires is decent. Private clinics are fast and inexpensive by European standards. Pharmacies are well stocked and pharmacists give real advice.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodCentolla — king crab — is what to eat here, and is landed in the channel rather than flown in. Fuegian lamb is roasted on a cross over an open fire and is the other thing. Both are expensive by Argentine standards and cheap by anybody else's.
Nightlife
A port town of bars full of people who have just come back from Antarctica or are about to leave for it, which is a specific and very good atmosphere.
- Avenida San Martín — the main street, and every bar on it
- Puerto de Ushuaia — the waterfront bars, and the ships
- Cerveceria Beagle — the local brewery, and the beer worth drinking here
Closing: 03:00 in season, much earlier in winter.
A beer in a bar: ARS varies weekly; a pint of Beagle is roughly a coffee and a half
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- CabifyWorks here
- DiDiWorks here
- BoltNot here
Uber operating in a legal argument that never ends
- Against a taxi
- The black-and-yellow taxis are cheap and everywhere, and in the cities they are a perfectly good option.
The exchange rate moves fast enough that a peso figure here is a guide only. Pay by card in the app and the bank rate applies.
Time zone and your working day
America/Argentina/Ushuaia — 1 hour ahead of you
7 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–16:00 your time, 10:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 08:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 08:00–16:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Argentina
Why these are Argentina's numbers and not Ushuaia & Tierra del Fuego's
Home broadband — Good. Comfortable for two people working, streaming in the evening, large downloads. Broadband here runs at about the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 62% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Ushuaia & Tierra del Fuego, so these are medians for all of Argentina. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Argentina, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Spanish (Latin American)
- HelloHolaOH-la
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youGraciasGRA-syas
- Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse meDisculpedees-KOOL-peh
- How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
- The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
- Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD
The c and z are said as an s here, not the Spanish "th" — gracias is GRA-syas.
Religion
Catholic
Catholic by tradition and increasingly secular in practice. Pope Francis was Argentine, which is still a source of national pride.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet with a single kiss on the right cheek, including between men
- Eat dinner at 21:30 or later; anything earlier marks you out
- Accept mate if it is passed to you, and pass it back without saying gracias unless you have finished
- Expect to be interrupted in conversation; it signals engagement rather than rudeness
Don't
- Do not stir the mate straw or wipe it — both are minor insults to the person who prepared it
- Do not bring up the Falklands, or use that name for them
- Do not confuse Argentine Spanish with the Spanish of Spain; the pronoun and pronunciation differ
- Do not ask for your steak well done without accepting the disappointment you will cause
Where to stay in Ushuaia & Tierra del Fuego
No Holistay rentals in Ushuaia & Tierra del Fuego yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Ushuaia & Tierra del Fuego on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Malvinas Argentinas USH
10 minfrom the airport· 5 km as the crow flies
10 min to the town.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
