We arrive in Ushuaia on the only major north-south connecting road. One more bend, and then the entrance gate with the exotic-sounding sequence of letters “Ushuaia” stands before us. We are excited to see the southernmost city in Argentina. At the same time, however, we also feel something strange: we have reached the southernmost point of this journey. From now on, we can’t just say: yes, we’ll probably drive a little further south if we don’t know what our next destination should be. No, from here on we have to turn around. So, Ushuaia is our very personal “end of the road – Fin de Camino”.
Somehow the question arises: What now? Ushuaia has been our destination for so long. Sooner or later, every overlander we’ve met asks the question; are you going north or south – Canada or Ushuaia? Now we’ve reached our destination and somehow, we feel like we’ve reached the end of our journey, even though we still have a good three months of travel ahead of us.
But every long-term traveler knows this feeling and it’s part of it.

Ushuaia – The City

The city of Ushuaia itself thrives on expedition tourism to Antarctica. This is also reflected in the city center. Here you will find sophisticated cafés and expensive brand boutiques. Like nowhere else in Argentina. Otherwise, Ushuaia is an industrial city at the end of the world: bad roads, dusty, shabby and often really dirty. The climate does the rest. We are in Ushuaia in midsummer. But the temperatures rarely reach more than 15-16°C. We also caught a spell of bad weather and with drizzle, wind and 6-7°C, we definitely hadn’t imagined midsummer in Ushuaia.

We also try to book an Antarctic expedition, like so many others in Ushuaia. But at the time of our visit in February 2025, the situation is quite strained. The best offers are all fully booked in advance and we don’t necessarily want to go on a rickety boat at an inflated price, just to have done it. Therefore, we have to put the idea of the Antarctic expedition to the side for the time being.

So now we have arrived at our destination. More than 2.5 years after our departure from Switzerland, back home, we have arrived in Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego. It is also the southernmost point we will ever reach in our own car at 55°S. There are no roads further south in either South Africa or New Zealand. And we don’t ship our car to Puerto Williams, virtually opposite Ushuaia, just to get half a degree further south. From now on, we start our journey home northwards. There are certainly still one or two highlights for us to explore. But basically, we are now on our way back home from the southernmost point.