Arrive Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, and check in to the excellent Sofitel Buenos Aires Hotel before having a guided overview of the city, seeing its Beaux-Arts palaces and the famous balcony forever associated with Eva Perón.

Fly to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. Join a catamaran cruise of the Beagle Channel before embarking National Geographic Explorer.

Today visit Cape Horn, near the southernmost tip of the South American continent, named in 1616 for the Dutch town of Hoorn. These waters are famously difficult to navigate, and over the centuries have been the graveyard of many ships—which before the opening of the Panama Canal had to round the cape to sail between the Pacific and Atlantic. Of course, the ship will use the modern equipment and decades of experience to explore safely. Weather permitting, you’ll take Zodiacs ashore and walk to the top of a hill for panoramic views and to see the memorial placed there in 1992, showing an albatross in silhouette.

Sail the Beagle Channel, named after HMS Beagle. The ship, commanded by Captain FitzRoy, surveyed the region between 1826 and 1830 and returned in 1833 with Charles Darwin on board. On seeing the area, Darwin wrote: “It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful than the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially as contrasted with the dead white of the upper expanse of snow.” Continue to Yendegaia, a stunning wilderness that covers 95,000 acres on Tierra del Fuego. This newly established national park was formerly a private reserve. See and learn about its subantarctic beech forests, along with stunning mountains and wild rivers. There are walking trails for us to explore, amid some of the most sublime landscapes to be found anywhere.

Wild and beautiful Parry Fjord was “discovered” as a happy accident on our 2013 Patagonia voyage. It has towering Chilean peaks, beaches, a valley, streams with trout, and southern beech forest. You’ll have the chance to walk here if you wish—to ford a stream and stroll a moss-covered plateau or explore the rich forest, which has flowering shrubs that add a touch of color under the shaded canopy. Or examine the shoreline from your Zodiacs, looking for seabirds roosting on nearby cliffs and ledges and soaring over the fjord. You may find black-browed albatross and perhaps even leopard seals.

Tierra del Fuego is one of Patagonia’s crown jewels. Visit its newest and largest protected area: Karukinka Natural Park. Established in 2004 through a gift from Goldman Sachs, Karukinka is one of the largest donations ever made for conservation. You have special permission from the Wildlife Conservation Society to visit this private reserve, which spans 1,160 square miles and harbors endangered culpeo fox, Andean condors, and many other kinds of wildlife. Explore Jackson Bay, backed by a skyline of rugged mountains, and look for wildlife including black-browed albatross that nest on one of the nearby small islands. Walk a trail to a lovely waterfall, and look for elephant seals resting not only on the beach but also high in the grass meadows and even in the small river draining the valley inland. Look for the Andean condors, albatrosses, grebes, petrels, fulmars, shearwaters and many other birds that inhabit this otherworldly realm.

During these days you’ll be treated to the spectacular features of an active glaciated landscape with hanging valleys and tributary glaciers. This region was navigated by Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition, and it took most of November 1520 for his ships to find a way through the maze of channels that lie between the continental mainland and Tierra del Fuego to the south. Among our many possibilities are exploring Estero las Montañas, with a chance to go for an adventurous walk to a lake through beautiful muskeg and forest, with cypress trees coated with many species of lichens; and Bahía Ainsworth in Seno Almirantazgo, where you may go out by Zodiac and kayak and look for elephant seals. Be on deck to look for condors and other wildlife as your ship transits the breathtaking 200-foot-wide White Narrows, a dogleg between unforgiving rock bluffs, on your way into Puerto Natales.

Disembark in Puerto Natales and drive to Torres del Paine National Park, stopping at the Milodón Cave, where the remains of an extinct giant sloth were discovered. Illuminating displays show the history of human habitation and wildlife of the region. Continue to monumental Torres del Paine, a UNESCO Biosphere reserve and a place of superlatives. The landscape is big, wide and sprawling, with razor-backed ridges, Andean condors, guanacos, foxes, and rheas. Regardless of where you are, the Paine massif draws your eye with its jagged peaks, including the famous “Horns” and the three towers for which the park is named. These granite mountains are topped with a thick layer of dark slate. Chileans themselves dream of visiting this magnificent park, and it holds a special place in their hearts as a symbol of wildness.
During your days here, we’ll discover one of the most spectacular and wildlife-rich areas in the Americas, covering 450,000 acres of glaciers, forests and grasslands, rivers and colorful lakes and lagoons. You’ll be able to choose among a variety of excursions each day, ranging from a challenging hike to the base of the towers, to a shorter walk among guanaco herds to the edge of a lake, to a scenic drive to a waterfall and the “Blue Lagoon,” with views of the towers. You’ll leave here with the feeling you’ve really experienced an adventure.
The accommodations are at the outstanding Tierra Patagonia Hotel, built in harmony with the landscape, with great views of the mountains and Lake Sarmiento. There is also the opportunity for an optional horseback ride.

Today drive to the outpost of Puerto Natales, and check in to your fine hotel, the Remota, located on Última Esperanza (“Last Hope”) Sound. The sound got its name when 16th-century explorers tried and failed to find a route to the Pacific here. This afternoon, you’ll enjoy a short exploration of the town, including a visit to the small but excellent Municipal Historical Museum, with exhibits on the region’s Native Americans and on its settler past. Have dinner at our hotel.

Today drive to Punta Arenas and fly to Santiago, connecting to your overnight flight home.