It is a very frequent question how to get to Tierra del Fuego National Park from Ushuaia in Argentina.
The Tierra del Fuego National Park is located 12 kms away from Ushuaia. It takes 20 minutes approximately to get there by car via the national route nr 3 (RN3). This National Park is the southernmost in South America. Visitors are restricted to just a few thousand hectares of the park, in order to preserve the eco-systems of the rest of the reserve.
If you want to visit the Tierra del Fuego National Park on your own, you can rent a car in Ushuaia for one full day. You can leave early in the morning and return by the afternoon. A good suggestion is to take a lunch box with you. There are several rental car companies in Ushuaia. Another option is to take a taxi, if you don´t want to drive. You can arrange a pick-up time for return with the taxi driver. There are also several shuttle buses, that can be booked at your hotel. Just ask to the receptionist for: "bus ushuaia parque nacional tierra del fuego". "Parque nacional" means national park.
Once inside the National Park, you can take the End of the World Train, which will take you right to the center of the park. The train departs from Station End of the World and travels the last 7 Km from the original 25 Km path that carried the train of prisoners almost 100 years ago. The whole excursion lasts about 2 hours. You can get tickets directly at the train station.
There are a lot of things to do inside Tierra del Fuego National Park, such as trekking, camping, bird watching or kayaking. To really enjoy exploring the park, we recommend to walk along its many trails, which total around 40km. Some popular trails are:
- Pampa Alta Trail: takes you up the hill from Pampa Alta from where you can get great panoramic views.
- Pipo River Waterfalls: an easy short walk that guides you along the Pipo river to the waterfalls.
- Coastal Path: an 8km trail that borders Beagle Channel.
- Laguna Negra: a 1km trail crossing over the Ovando river.
- Paseo de la Isla: 1.5km trail crossing over the Lapataia River.
- Lengas Circuit: a 2km trail ideal for geting pictures of panoramic views of Lapataia Bay and Paseo del Turbal.
- Casoterera: Trail through the forest to watch beavers and how they work.
- Milestone XXIV: an easy hike to Hito XXIV (Milestone 24) – the border between Argentina and Chile.
- Guanaca Hill: 8km trail, medium difficulty, with ascend.
Don´t forget to get a map of the trails at the entrance of the park. All trails are very well sign-posted and are easy for self-guided trekking in Tierra del Fuego National Park.
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