Punta Arenas (Chile Antarctica)

Punta Arenas (aka Sandy Point) is a principal seaport and capital city of Chile's Magallanes and Chilean Antartica region (the country's southernmost). The city has population around 130,000, ranking it the world's largest located south of the 46th parallel south.

Strategically positioned almost midway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans,

Port Punta Arenas (locode CLPUQ) is on Brunswick Peninsula, at the southern end of mainland Chile and Chilean Fjords/Patagonia. Punta Arenas overlooks Magellan Straits, being on its western side.

The city is the center of one of the world's largest sheep farming areas.

Punta Arenas is a homeport for roundtrip voyages visiting the Antarctic Peninnsula and the British overseas territories Falkland Islands and the South Sandwich Islands/South Georgia.

On December 14, 2023, Antarctica21 Air-Cruises (Punta Arenas-based passenger shipping company/fleet) officially opened its private club "Explorers House". The facility (an exclusive venue for Antarctica21-served tourists) provides services and amenities to passengers before they embark on Antarctica21's expeditions. The Explorers House has a restaurant, a bar lounge, a theatre-type lecture room (hosting briefing sessions and destination/port talks), a library (100+ polar travel and nature-themed books), a shop, and a garden area. The 2-story heritage building (a former warehouse used for processing and exporting wool) can accommodate 200 guests.

As the biggest seaport for thousands of kilometers, it serves as a base for Antarctic research vessels and South Atlantic fishing boats. The downtown has impressive mansions of sheep barons of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Palacio Sara Braun, also several museums. Nearby is Fuerte Bulnes (a replica of a wooden fort from 1843) and Monumento Natural Los Pinguinos (Isla Magdalena, with its colony of over 60,000 penguins).

Established in 1848, Punta Arenas was previously a military garrison and penal settlement. During the Gold Rush era, it offered a convenient location for shipping en route to California USA.

In the early years, its economy depended on wild animal products. The successful introduction of purebred sheep from the Falklands changed the situation and by the turn of the century, there were around 2 million animals in the territory.

Punta Arenas cruise terminal