Discover Antarctica: Seasons and Ways to Travel

In Antarctica, the region and way of traveling shape your plans. A boat trip, a possible landing, and a sightseeing flight offer different perspectives on the continent. For guidance, it is worth distinguishing information about the Antarctic Peninsula from information about the less accessible East Antarctica—and paying attention to the dates given in travel descriptions.

Distinguish between travel seasons and regions

A travel description last updated on January 20, 2006, identifies the period from mid-November to early March as the best time to visit the Antarctic Peninsula. For less accessible East Antarctica, it lists visits from late December to March. These seasonal periods are a historical guide; for specific plans, check the current travel dates.

An official account puts the share of tourist boat trips to the Antarctic Peninsula at around 98 percent. This figure refers to boat trips during the seven-month austral summer, from October to April, not to all ways of traveling. It therefore describes where these trips mainly go, while the seasonal information compares the different visiting periods for two regions.

Boat trips and landings

Tourism in Antarctica takes place predominantly by ship. A travel description last updated on January 20, 2006, gives the duration of boat trips as ranging from ten days to several weeks. The travel times listed there may differ from current routes, so check the stated duration when comparing a specific offer.

The same description says that most boat trips offer the possibility of going ashore. The exception is the largest cruise ships, with at least 500 passengers. The possibility of a landing and the length of the trip are two separate planning considerations: a longer duration alone does not indicate whether a particular trip offers a landing. So check this information in the itinerary for each trip.

Flights: Aerial views or departures from a base camp

Flights offer a different way to experience Antarctica. A description last updated on January 20, 2006, lists 12-hour sightseeing flights that show the continent from the air without landing. This is a bird’s-eye view, not a landing.

Separately, travel information dated the same day describes tourists flying to Antarctica and setting out from a base camp to go mountaineering or skiing. This is a different way to travel from a sightseeing flight: here, the flight takes you to the starting point for a stay that includes an activity, while a sightseeing flight offers an aerial view. The information is historically dated and is not a promise about current offers.

What to compare when planning your trip

When choosing a trip, region, season, duration, and way of traveling are separate points of comparison. The periods for the Antarctic Peninsula and East Antarctica answer the question of the seasonal window; information about landings concerns the possibility of setting foot on the continent. A 12-hour sightseeing flight and a boat trip lasting ten days to several weeks, by contrast, are not comparable as equivalent travel-time options: they differ both in duration and in whether the focus is on viewing the continent from the air or on the possibility of landing. Use the historical dates as a guide and check the current trip duration and stated way of traveling for your specific plans.

Discover more destinations: Hungary, Turkmenistan, Austria, Croatia, United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, France.