The best new experiences, places and sights in 2026

Apart from the scarcity of man-made distractions, it’s all about the wildlife in this magnificent icy kingdom. While global travel becomes increasingly crowded, this frozen continent remains the ultimate refuge for those seeking raw, transformative silence and the world’s toughest creatures.

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Antarctica stands out as the continent: no language to learn, no culture to understand, essentially no population. The only notable buildings are prefabricated huts built elsewhere. But it is the continent that most reveals our extraordinary planet. Against the magnificent icy backdrop, the wildlife is special, from ever-cute penguins to curious seals and playful whales.

Many come to Antarctica for the wildlife but return for the ice. Frozen water is everywhere, whether walking through the snow toward a penguin colony or observing the menacing shape of a leopard seal sleeping on a floe of ice.

Most visitors arrive and leave with their favorite species of penguin: the feisty little chinstraps, the always funny gentoo, or (my favorite) the Adelie penguins with their white eye rings that make them look distinctly crazy. East Antarctica adds emperor penguins to the list, while South Georgia is home to king penguins.

From the cutest birds to the largest mammals: In summer, Antarctica is where most of the world’s whales head for an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet. Showing is best in late summer, when they are fed and have time to play.

The best time to visit is now, as Antarctic tourism is growing rapidly. Think from the side; Instead of the Antarctic Peninsula, explore other options like South Georgia, the Weddell Sea, the Antarctic Circle, and even the Ross Sea beneath New Zealand.

WHAT’S HOT

Visitors are getting a richer experience as operators try to diversify their offerings. Better stabilized, faster next-generation ships are making the Drake Passage less daunting, and advances in engine technology can also reduce your environmental footprint.

Depending on the ship, canoeing, snowshoeing, and ice camping may be supported by helicopters and submarines. With the participation of renowned institutions and universities, travelers can also participate in the collection of scientific data that has real-world consequences.

WHAT’S NOT

Isolation is no longer possible on a continent once considered almost as inaccessible as the Moon. The encroachment of the rest of the world is everywhere. There is less flexibility today. Since Bird Flu is in Antarctica, you can no longer sit or put anything on the ground. More ships dictate stricter sailing plans, and site management plans determine how your visit unfolds.

REQUIREMENTS

South Pole

The holy grail of polar travel has always been reaching 90 degrees south. Travel around the world in a minute then sleep under the midnight sun. You can even extreme ski like an ancient polar explorer. To see antarctica-logistics.com

sail out to sea

Curious sailors can dream of sailing the Drake Passage and seeing the Antarctic Peninsula from the deck of a yacht. It can be done and many do it. For yacht operators, see iaato.org

run a marathon

It’s a harsh environment, but marathons are run every year on the continent or on an island beneath Antarctica. To see icemarathon.com; marathontours.com

Sail on a cruise ship

Atlas Ocean Voyages is building the Atlas Adventurer, a 400-passenger, ice-strengthened sailing yacht that enables zero-emission cruising when conditions permit. The first voyage will be in November 2028, but it has not yet been said when it will test its ice credentials. To see atlasoceanvoyages.com

icebreaker

The vast majority of ships operating in Antarctica are ice-fortified, but Ponant’s Le Commandant Charcot is the world’s first luxury icebreaker. It can carry up to 245 guests and cross thick sea ice, taking you to places other ships can’t reach. To see ponant.com.

VIEWS TO VISIT

Half Moon Island

This small submerged volcanic caldera really looks like an icy half-moon, as it is an arc of ice with peaks at both ends. There is a long-abandoned whaling boat on the beach, and on the rocks there is a noisy chinstrap and gentoo penguins and Antarctic terns.

Grytviken

The only “settlement” on South Georgia Island is an evocative representation of a former whaling station in a picturesque location. Here you’ll find the 1913 Whalers’ Church, the South Georgia museum with the adjoining post office, and the grave of Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Cape Royds

As you venture deeper into the Ross Sea beneath New Zealand, you will encounter many huts of great historical significance. Cape Royds was the base of Shackleton’s Nimrod Expedition in 1908, and protected by cold, dry air, it looks as if it had just left. This is a slice of Heroic Age history you’ll never forget.

West Point Island

The first port of call in the Falkland Islands for ships coming from Ushuaia, this beautiful island is a single 1,500-hectare sheep farm. While tea at the farmhouse may be tempting, the main attraction is Devil’s End, where black-browed albatrosses nest alongside rockhopper penguins.

Neko Port

Your cruise along Andvord Bay passes impressive glaciers to Neko Harbour, a gentoo penguin colony with a very active glacier face backdrop. When conditions allow, hiking on the glacier is spectacular.

Wilhelmina Bay

This large waterway, sometimes referred to as Whale-Amina Bay, appears to be a social center for humpback whales. It is not uncommon for each Zodiac couple to find themselves accompanied by one or more whales, sometimes the mother and calf, eager to interact.

MUST-DO EXPERIENCES

Understand a penguin’s day

With the help of guides along the journey, you’ll learn what’s going on in the colony, with parents changing care duties, hungry chicks, and lurking predatory skuas.

Ice

Antarctica is completely covered in ice, so be on the ship’s bridge as the captain navigates around giant icebergs and be on a Zodiac crashing into solid ice; scenes far removed from daily life.

Whales at eye level

Any whale encounter is special, but when you’re in a Zodiac and a humpback whale surfaces next to you, it’s a whole new level of intensity.

Sunset or sunrise?

Summer days are endless in Antarctica. Stay up late and you’ll see the magnificent mountain glow of an Antarctic sunset transform seamlessly into sunrise, with no darkness in between.

Drake pleasure

Look beyond the ship at the Drake Passage and see the albatross floating behind it. As you get closer, you’ll notice that the wingspan of a wandering albatross is up to three and a half metres.

MUST-DO TRIPS

Antarctic Peninsula

More than 80,000 people visited Antarctica last summer. Approximately 98 percent of these visits took place in the Antarctic Peninsula, the most accessible region. It’s relatively close to South America, it’s beautiful and there are a lot of places to land. To see scene.com.au, vikingcruises.com.au

Flight

For some, Antarctica will always remain a dream due to financial constraints. One way to see Antarctica is to fly there and back on a private Qantas charter non-stop flight over the course of a long day. Fees start at $1199. antarcticaflights.com

Falkland Islands and South Georgia

In some ways it’s a richer side of Antarctica, in other ways it’s just British. Stanley is all Union Jacks and Land Rovers with penguins in the farm pastures. South Georgia is a rugged, mountainous landscape teeming with wildlife. To see intrepidtravel.com​ chimuadventures.com

Antarctic Circle

Due to dense ice conditions, few trips on the west side of the Peninsula go far enough to reach the wild landscape south of 66°33′50″, where the sun remains above the horizon for 24 hours straight once a year. To see hl-cruises.com; quarkexpeditions.com

East Antarctica/semi-circumnavigation

The Ross Sea beneath Australia is where many of the exploits of the Heroic Age took place, including the Race to the Pole. Many companies now travel to or return from Australia or New Zealand to Ushuaia. To see auroraexpeditions.com.au; heritage-expeditions.com

FUN FACTS: ANTARCTICA

• Although Antarctica is the driest continent, it contains 70 percent of the world’s fresh water and 90 percent of the ice in its giant ice sheets.
• The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was minus 89.2 degrees, and this was at Antarctica’s Soviet Vostok Station on July 21, 1983.
• Only 11 people were born on the continent but no permanently settled people; only seasonal staff at research stations. There are millions of penguins.
• There is a 4800 square kilometer dry valley region in Antarctica that, due to its extremely cold and ice-free state, is used by NASA to test equipment and study how life could exist on Mars, where it is believed to be a very similar environment.
• Doctors working at certain remote research facilities, such as Australian Antarctic stations, sometimes have to have their appendix removed before deployment in case they contract appendicitis and seek medical attention.