Antarctica

Antarctica, the southernmost continent, is likely the first place that comes to mind when considering polar travel, expeditions, and small-ship adventures. 

Often scribed by marketeers and copywriters as a vast, icy wilderness, the ultimate polar destination and the coldest, driest, and windiest continent on the planet. The Antarctica we see visualised in travel brochures is Earth's last true wilderness adventure. It is a place with icebergs the size of skyscrapers and wildlife that does not consider the ship visitors a threat; their innocent curiosity is all the more enchanting for imagery and storytelling. All true, of course, but there is so much more to this critical and vast destination than the adjective superlatives that tend to feed off it. 

Our Destination Guides explore Antarctica in greater detail, written by those who have recently visited, but in total, it covers around 14 million square kilometres (5.4 million square miles), making it the fifth-largest continent on earth. Encased by the Southern Ocean, with the highest average elevation of all the continents, Antarctica is renowned for its otherworldly landscapes, towering mountains and expansive ice shelves. Its unique and often endemic wildlife, such as penguins, seals, and whales, are also iconic and ubiquitous in its presentation as a destination.

The Antarctic region comprises the continent and the surrounding islands and waters of the Southern Ocean. The Antarctic Treaty System, established in 1959, governs the region, dedicating the continent to peaceful scientific research and protecting its environment and ecosystems.