Introduction
461km (286 miles) SW of Punta Arenas; 594km (368 miles) S of Río Gallegos
Pinned snugly in a U-shaped cove facing the Beagle Channel, Ushuaia is a substantial metropolis of 70,000 people. Colorful clapboard houses with rickety staircases and corrugated roofs at impossible angles are punctuated by the occasional bland block of brick or concrete. All rise steeply into a backdrop of beech trees and spirelike mountain summits. Not only is it the most southerly city in the world (Chile's Puerto Williams is actually farther south, but hardly qualifies as a city), but it also has the distinction of being the only Argentine city on the other side of the Andes. At its tail end, the mountain range is dragged eastward by restless tectonic plates that rattle frequently. To reach Ushuaia by car, you must cross briefly through Chile and then cross the Andes. What you find is a frontier town with lots of character, a rich outdoor life, and a surprisingly cosmopolitan feel. One hundred years...
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Acuario de Ushuaia
If the idea of jumping into the frigid waters of the channel is out of the question, visit this basic but highly interesting aquarium on the east...
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- Zoos/Aquariums
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Museo Marítimo y Presidio de Ushuaia
Ushuaia was populated primarily by the penal colony set up here in the late 1800s for hundreds of Argentina's most dangerous criminals. The rehabilitation...
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- Museums
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Museo del Fin de Mundo
The main room of this museum displays an assortment of Indian hunting tools and colonial maritime instruments. There's also a natural history display...
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- Museums
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