Can You Travel to Antarctica? What My Expedition Was Really Like

Antarctica had been sitting at the edge of my travel plans for a long time. It was the one continent I had never visited, and getting there would finally complete a personal goal of traveling to all seven continents.

But Antarctica isn't a place where you simply book a flight, find a hotel and start exploring on your own. For most travelers, the practical answer to can you travel to Antarctica is yes—but getting there usually means joining an expedition.

I chose a 10-day G Adventures Antarctic Classic expedition, sailing aboard the MS Expedition from Ushuaia, Argentina. I don't take many organized tours, so I wasn't sure how I would feel about spending ten days on a ship with a scheduled itinerary. Going with their expedition (not a "cruise ship") and making every shore excursion available was fantastic!

How to Travel to Antarctica from Ushuaia

My trip began with two days in Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. Ushuaia deserves some time of its own rather than simply being treated as the place where you board the ship, and I'll cover that experience separately.

Eventually, though, it was time to board the MS Expedition.

We pulled away from the pier and sailed through the Beagle Channel, watching Ushuaia and the mountains gradually disappear behind us. It was one of those moments when the trip suddenly became real: there was nothing ahead except open water, the Drake Passage and Antarctica.

Crossing the Drake Passage to Antarctica

The Drake Passage has a reputation all its own, and it deserves a separate article as well. We spent roughly two days crossing it on the way south.

Those days weren't simply dead time waiting to arrive. There were presentations about Antarctica, wildlife and exploration, preparations for our first landings and plenty of time on deck. We saw albatrosses following the ship, then fin and humpback whales and even killer whales. Eventually the first enormous icebergs began appearing on the horizon.

That's when it really started to feel like Antarctica.

What Traveling in Antarctica Is Actually Like

Once we reached Antarctica, the trip settled into a rhythm that was completely different from almost any other travel I've done.

This truly was an expedition - there was a planned itinerary when we left Ushuaia, and each day the expedition team evaluated weather, ice and local conditions and altered where we would be on anchor to take us ashore in Zodiac boats. Some excursions involved hiking to viewpoints or walking among penguin colonies. Others were Zodiac explorations through icebergs and along the shoreline.

Rather than describing every landing individually, the experience is better understood as several days of moving through an almost unbelievable landscape. We explored areas around Neko Harbor and Paradise Bay, traveled through the narrow Lemaire Channel, visited islands filled with penguins, stopped at historic Port Lockroy and eventually reached the volcanic landscape of Deception Island.

The scenery was constantly changing with mountains rising almost vertically from the water, enormous glaciers, blue ice, quiet bays and icebergs in shapes that didn't look real. Antarctica is one of the few places I've traveled where the landscape itself consistently exceeded the photographs I had seen before arriving.

Hiking, Zodiac Excursions and Kayaking in Antarctica

This isn't a cruise where the primary experience happens aboard the ship.

The real experience happened when the Zodiacs went into the water.

We made daily excursions whenever conditions allowed, landing on beaches and islands, hiking up ridges and viewpoints and cruising among the ice. Some passengers also chose the kayaking option, which allowed them to experience the same landscapes almost at water level. I didn't kayak on this trip, but watching the kayakers moving through the enormous Antarctic scenery made it easy to understand why people choose it.

There was always something different waiting outside the ship.

Camping in Antarctica

One experience I absolutely wanted to do was camping in Antarctica.

After one of our days exploring Neko Harbor and Paradise Bay, those of us who signed up for camping left the comfort of the ship behind and spent the night outside on the snow.

There were no cabins or heated tents waiting for us. Each team of two was handed a tent and cold weather sleeping bag, ferried to shore and told "go find your camping spot". It an amazing (and cold) opportunity to sleep outside

in Antarctica surrounded by glaciers, mountains and an extraordinary amount of silence.

It wasn't the most comfortable night's sleep I've ever had, but comfort wasn't really the point. Of everything I did during the expedition, sleeping outside on the Antarctic continent is one of the experiences I will remember most.

Life Aboard the G Adventures MS Expedition

I didn't expect the ship itself to become such an important part of the trip.

The meals were fantastic every day, and the dining room became a place where everyone naturally came back together after being outside exploring. Because our expedition took place over Thanksgiving, we even had a Thanksgiving meal aboard the ship in Antarctica—certainly one of the more unusual places I've celebrated it.

There were presentations from the expedition staff, time in the lounge, wildlife sightings from the decks and plenty of opportunities to simply look outside and realize where you were.

More importantly, the ship created a small community.

One of the Unexpected Highlights: The People

I generally prefer independent travel. I like figuring out transportation, exploring cities on foot and deciding for myself what happens next. An organized expedition was therefore a little outside my normal style.

G Adventures changed my perspective on that.

Our passengers came from all over the world, and over ten days you naturally got to know people you probably never would have met otherwise. Meals, Zodiac rides, hikes and evenings aboard the ship created plenty of opportunities to talk about where everyone came from and where they had traveled.

The G Adventures expedition staff were also a huge part of the experience. They weren't simply moving us from one landing to another. Naturalists, guides and other specialists helped explain what we were seeing and adapted each day's activities to the conditions around us.

That combination of a great staff and an international group of travelers became an unexpectedly important part of the trip. All their efforts and care culminated in a crew band concert on the last night.

The Best Time to Travel to Antarctica

I traveled in late November, during the Antarctic spring. For my trip, that meant long daylight hours, nesting penguins, snow-covered landscapes, abundant ice and wildlife ranging from whales and seals to huge colonies of penguins.

There isn't one perfect time for everyone because conditions and wildlife change throughout the Antarctic travel season. But late November delivered exactly what I had hoped Antarctica would look like: enormous expanses of snow and ice and landscapes that still felt completely wild.

Is Traveling to Antarctica Worth It?

Absolutely. While it may be the most expensive continent to experience, the landscape and especially the animals we were fortunate to see are truly unique to this place.

Antarctica was my seventh continent, which made arriving there personally meaningful.

Standing on deck as the first icebergs appeared after crossing the Drake Passage. Taking a Zodiac through landscapes that seemed impossibly large. Hiking above Antarctic bays, sleeping outside on the snow, sharing Thanksgiving dinner aboard an expedition ship and meeting travelers from around the world. All of this made this a trip to not miss.

Antarctica isn't an easy destination, and that is part of what makes it special.

You don't simply arrive.

You make a journey to get there.