Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas grew rich on wool and on the ships that rounded the continent through the Strait of Magellan before the Panama Canal opened. The mansions of the sheep barons still line its main square, and the city looks across the strait to Tierra del Fuego. It is the main town of the Chilean far south, with its airport, its ferries and the road north to Puerto Natales.

Most travellers pass through on a night or two, connecting Torres del Paine with Ushuaia by road, a journey that crosses the strait on a short ferry at Primera Angostura. With a little more time, the ferry to Porvenir leads to the king penguin colony of Bahía Inútil, the only one on the continent, and to estancias still at work on the island. Self-drive circuits around the strait, with the penguins and the old farms, are a good way to see a part of Patagonia few people stop in.

October to March is the season. The king penguins are there all year; the wind, almost always.