Sights

More than a dozen agencies offer excursions in and around Ushuaia [1], ranging from double-decker-bus city tours (US$7, 1 hour) to Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego [2] (US$17, 4–5 hours) and Estancia Harberton [3] (US$55–120, 8 hours). They also organize activities such as hiking, climbing, horseback riding, fishing, and mountain biking.

Operators include All Patagonia (Juana Fadul 60, tel. 02901/433622, fax 02901/430707, www.allpatagonia.com [4]), which is the AmEx representative; Canal Fun & Nature (Rivadavia 82, tel. 02901/437395, www.canalfun.com [5]); Rumbo Sur (San Martín 342, tel. 02901/422441, fax 02901/430699, www.rumbosur.com.ar [6]); Tolkar (Roca 157, Local 1, tel. 02901/431408, www.tolkarturismo.com.ar [7]); Tolkeyén (San Martín 1267, tel. 02901/437073, www.tolkeyenpatagonia.com [8]); and Yishka Turismo y Aventura (Gobernador Godoy 62, tel./fax 02901/437606, yishka [at] speedy [dot] com [dot] ar).

The Compañía de Guías de Patagonia (Gobernador Campos 795, tel. 02901/437753, www.companiadeguias.com.ar [9]) specializes in trekking.

Even if it’s leveled off, Ushuaia [1]’s economic boom provided the wherewithal to preserve and even restore some of the city’s historic buildings. Two are now museums: Dating from 1903, the waterfront Casa Fernández Valdés (Av. Maipú 175) houses the historical Museo del Fin del Mundo [10], while the 1896 Presidio de Ushuaia (Yaganes and Gobernador Paz) is now the Museo Marítimo [11] (though its maritime exhibits are less interesting than those on the city’s genesis as a penal colony).

Three blocks west of the Casa Fernández Valdés, dating from 1894, the classically Magellanic Poder Legislativo (Maipú 465) once housed the provincial legislature; it’s now open to the public 10 a.m.–8 p.m. weekdays, 3–8 p.m. weekends. Five blocks farther west, prisoners built the restored Capilla Antigua (Av. Maipú and Rosas), a chapel dating from 1898. The municipal tourist office now occupies the Biblioteca Sarmiento (1926), the city’s first public library, at San Martín 674.

At the west end of downtown, the waterfront Casa Beban (Av. Malvinas Argentinas and 12 de Octubre) is a reassembled pioneer residence dating from 1913; it now houses the municipal Casa de la Cultura, a cultural center.