Introduction: Tierra Del Fuego National Park
The Tierra Del Fuego National Park is under the responsibility of Ushuaia. It is an ecoregion of the Patagonic forest and Altos Andes (part of the subantartic forest).
The park covers an area of 630 km² and has been established in 1960.
Table of Contents
Treks in Tierra Del Fuego National Park
Pampa Alta trail:
- Level of difficulty: Moderate
- Distance: 3 miles (4.9 km)
- Estimated time: 1 hour to de lookout
- Trail description: A bird’s eye view of Beagle Channel and Pipo River Valley. The trail starts at Ensenada Zaratiegui campsite and goes up along Piloto creek. The trail is shorter – 2.3 miles (3.7 km)- if started at National Route No 3. The trail goes down and connects with the unpaved road leading to Pipo River.
Costera Trail:
- Level of difficulty: Moderate
- Distance: 5 miles (8 km)
- Estimated time: 4 hours
- Trail description: The trail follows the shoreline and travels through evergreen beech and winter’s bark forests. It can be done from Ensenada Zaratiegui or from de crossing of National Route Nº3 and the road that leads to Acigami Lake.
HITO XXIV Trail:
- Level of difficulty: Moderate
- Round trip distance: 4.3 miles (7 km)
- Estimated time: 3 hours
- Trail description: A walk along the norwest bank of Acigami Lake up to Argentina’s international border with Chile.
Cerro Guanaco trail:
- Level of difficulty: Strenuous
- Distance: 2.5 miles (4 km) one way.
- Estimated time: 4 hours (to the summit)
- Trail description: The summit of Cerro Guanaco offers an outstanding view of the Fuegian mountain range and its peatbogs. The trail starts al Acigami Lake parking lot. On the way to Hito XXIV trail, and after crossing Guanaco Creek, there is a detour properly marked on the right. The whole trail goes quite steeply up deep slopes.
Getting to Tierra Del Fuego National Park
The easiest way to get to Tierra Del Fuego National Park from is Ushuaia bus terminal. Opposite of where the buses stop, there is a shuttle desks and office. There many compagnies are running and any people telling you for a shuttle (either outside or in the office) is official.
There is a shuttle at 10am for the park with a return at 3pm (later return also available, 5pm and 7pm). We arrived there 10min prior to it and bought a ticket with one of the companies. There we realised that it is a bit messy and did not understand how they managed all those shuttles.
Anyway, we waited a bit and, in the end, someone told us to get on this shuttle, which left at 10:12am for the park.
We arrived around 10:33am in the entrance of the park and parked around 10:38am in the ticket office where we went off to buy a ticket (1120 pesos for 2 tickets, one day).
We were back at the can by 10:50am and left at 10:55am. The driver asked us at this time which trail we wanted to do.
Return
The weather was fine until 3pm, time at which it started to rain, but it was quite fine as the shuttle arrived at 3:10pm (later return also available, 5pm and 7pm).
If you do some longer trails, the 5 or 7pm shuttles will be needed, anyway you can take any of them.
We arrived around 3:45pm in Ushuaia.
“I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.” – Caskie Stinnett
Where to stay in Ushuaia
There are some unique places to stay in Ushuaia:
- Cozy Apartment: Amaneceres del Beagle
- Cute houses: Aves del Sur
- B&B: Mysten Kepen B&B
