Want to enjoy traveling differently, different from others? It looks like traveling to Antarctica could be a challenging choice this time. Why is it interesting? Because Antarctica is reportedly an exotic place, a place where scientists often conduct research.

traveling-to-antarctica
(Photo: quarkexpeditions.com)

Are you interested in enjoying traveling to Antarctica? As a travel lover, of course, curiosity when you were a child, answered at this time, because enjoying and doing tours in Antarctica is permissible, but some conditions must be met, namely every tourist must obey very strict rules.

Travel To Antarctica Cheap

What do you think when you talk about Antarctica? Of course the beauty of glaciers, penguins, and cold wild atmosphere with full of challenges.

Even though based on the information of those who have explored the South Pole, several interesting tours must be on your list of tourist destinations.

Interested in taking a sightseeing trip to Antarctica?

The problem of the price of a trip to Antarctica certainly requires a large cost, based on information from trip.com, estimated costs incurred must be prepared, including:

  • Transportation costs between USD 500 to USD 15,000 per person.
  • Accommodation costs around USD 500 to USD 2,000 per night.
  • Meals are required around USD 50 to USD 100 per day.

For food, the price is indeed more expensive, this is because food choices in Antarctica are also very limited and the price is much higher than other regions.

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So, it is no longer surprising that visiting Antarctica is expensive. This is because there are indeed so many things that need to be prepared. This includes permits, boat rentals, food, equipment, expedition guides, and a variety of other things to ensure visitors enjoy a pleasant holiday and stay safe.

Trip To Antarctica From Argentina

One thing that must be a guideline in traveling is costs because those who want to enjoy traveling comfortably and safely are those who do not calculate the costs needed. Therefore, the problem of expensive is relative, as well as when choosing Antarctica as a traveling destination.

To go to Antarctica, you can choose Argentina as the starting point of departure, namely in Ushuaia, which is a city located at the southernmost point of the world. Ushuaia is currently the most popular departure point for the Antarctic Peninsula.

In addition to Ushuaia, some carriers have departure options from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay.

Another option is from Punta Arenas in Chile, but there are not so many options because of its more northern position than Ushuaia so the time spent on the trip will be longer.

Travel to Antarctica is only available during the southern hemisphere summer, from November to March. This is because the Antarcticaa Peninsula is easier for ships to pass because of less ice than in winter.

How To Travel To The Antarctic

There are 2 types of trips to Antarctica, namely:

  • Travel by continental landing.
  • Travel without continental landing.

Continental landing is landing on the continent of Antarctica. However, it turns out that there are operators that do not offer continental landing. So all that is done is sailing on the Antarctic Peninsula. Wildlife can also only be seen from ships.

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The price is quite cheap for this type of trip (without continental landing), starting from USD 4,000 for a 12-day trip. But this type of trip is not recommended because it has been to Antarctica but did not set foot on the continent and did not see wildlife more closely, of course, this is very unfortunate. It's better to prepare more money so that the experience can be much more enjoyable.

Broadly speaking, the duration of the trip to Antarctica is divided into 2, namely:

  • With a duration of 10 to 14 days This trip will only visit the Antarctic Peninsula
  • With a duration of 20 to 30 days. The 20 to 30-day trip will visit the Falkland Islands and South Georgia as well. Both of these places have landscapes and some wildlife that are different from Antarctica so the trip will be more complete if you visit these two places

Other trips, with a duration between two, of 15 to 19 days will usually focus only on the Antarctic Peninsula but will travel further south such as crossing the Antarctic Circle at 66 degrees south latitude and having more landings both on the continent and on islands on the Peninsula.

5 Unique Tours in Antarctica

According to NASA, Antarctica is the fifth largest continent on earth. The continent is covered in ice and covers the South Pole of the earth. Not only that, this continent is the coldest place on earth. "Temperatures in winter are cold enough to freeze water all the time."

Here are tourist destinations on the Antarctic continent that are the most different and interesting destinations for adventurers, including:

1. King George Island

The first place not to be missed when visiting the Antarctic Continent is King George Island, the largest island in the South Shetland Islands located 75 miles off the coast of Antarctica.

The island is an aerodrome for flights to Antarctica, and many research stations from various countries stand. King George Island discovered by William Smith is also a place for wildlife and marine mammals such as seals, elephants, penguins, and so on.

In this place, tourists can enjoy several buildings and historical sites in addition to natural scenery and penguin colonies that often stop by. To get to this location, travelers can take advantage of planes, considering that there is already an airstrip as the main access.

2. South Georgia Museum

Another place that must be included in the list of tourist destinations on the Antarctic Continent is the South Georgia Museum located in Grytviken, a former whaling station on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. In this place, travelers will see several collections belonging to the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI).

The famous main building of the museum is called Manager's Villa, and it was erected in 1914. At the time, the building was home to Grytviken, who was the manager of the whaling station, his family, and staff.

3. Fortuna Bay

The continent of Antarctica also has Fortuna Bay which is in the territory of the southern part of Georgia, Antarctica. This place is a fjord or a kind of bay of parallel glaciers that stretch from north to south with a length of 6 kilometers.

In addition to the fascinating nature, you can also see various types of penguins, such as flocks of king penguins and gentoo penguins. Then, there are also albatrosses (phoebetria palpebrate), procellaria aequinoctialis, chionis alba, and so on.

Tourists who want to visit this place cannot be careless, because there is a quota, which is no more than 100 visitors, not including guides and expedition leaders.

4. Deception Island

Deception Island is one of the most incredible islands on earth. Located in the South Shetland Islands, Deception Island is an active volcano.

The island off the Antarctic Peninsula has a unique landscape because it consists of barren volcanic slopes, beaches with billowing air steam, and glaciers layered with volcanic ash.

Deception Island is the only place that allows ships to sail directly to the center of the volcano. On this island, travelers will find little flora. However, the plants that exist are very extraordinary.

Its plants include 18 species of moss or lichen that have not been recorded anywhere other than on the continent of Antarctica. Not only that, two of them are endemic to this island. Then, nine species of seabirds breed. The largest colony of chinstrap penguins is in this place with 100,000 nesting pairs.

Those visiting Deception Island can get off at Whalers Bay, Pendulum Cove, Baily Head, and Phone Bay. In this place, in addition to enjoying hot water, you can also learn many things about volcanoes, geothermal activities, and so on.

5. Brown Bluff

As the name suggests, Brown Bluff has a rocky and ash beach topography of 1.5 kilometers long. It gets steeper towards the rising red-brown tuff cliffs, with volcanic volcanoes.

The cliffs are highly eroded, producing scree (accumulations of which are debris located at the foot of the mountain), rocks, and ice that fall on higher slopes. Not only that, large rocks eroded by the wind on the beach can also be witnessed.

In this place, there are several fauna such as the Adélie penguin, Cape petrel, Gentoo penguin, Kelp gull, Skua, and Snow petrel. Meanwhile, flora exists such as Xanthoria spp. and Caloplaca spp. mosses on large rocks that open from the coastline to a height of 185m. Some lichens are present at higher elevations near glacial drainages.

That's a little information about "traveling to Antarctica". Hopefully, a little bit of information is useful and a reference for those of you who want to have a pleasant trip to Antarctica.