South Pole & Antarctic Interior expeditions

As much a place of the imagination as a real spot on the map, reaching the South Pole is the ultimate achievement for any visitor to Antarctica. There is no sledging for lonely weeks like the earliest explorers to get here. Instead, it’s a five hour flight from your base camp in the interior, cruising over the endless white of the polar plateau until you finally reach 90° South.

Visitors stay overnight in a tent camp, giving you a chance to acclimatise to the 11,000ft (3300m) altitude of the plateau, and plenty of time to take celebratory photos at both the Geographic and Ceremonial Poles. As you traverse every line of longitude in a few steps, whichever way you look from here you’ll be pointing north.

The emperor penguin is one of the true icons of Antarctica, as well as its most elusive. Rarely seen on all on all but a tiny handful of cruises to the Weddell Sea, travellers must head south into the interior for a glimpse of their private world. The emperor penguin colonies you’ll find at Gould Bay and Akta Bay are breathtaking, leaving you unsure if you’re in a David Attenborough documentary or the March of the Penguins movie.

The penguins can only only be reached by specially adapted aircraft, with visitors staying in a field camp around a mile (1.6 km) away to avoid disturbing them. Getting to spend an extended period of time observing these beautiful birds and their fluffy chicks is an unforgettable privilege.

The Antarctic Interior is almost impossibly remote. Camps here are so deep in the polar wilderness that their nearest neighbours are the astronauts high orbiting above in the International Space Station.

Adventurers who make it here can hike to lonely mountain outcrops that gaze down over ice fields that stretch to the horizon, visit hidden glacial lakes that few people have ever seen, or just marvel at the silence that lingers when you know that even your footprints will soon be swept away by the wind, leaving no evidence that anyone ever stood here before.

Visitors should prepare to be humbled and inspired in equal measure by the immensity of the landscapes on offer. 

Antarctica offers the opportunity to climb some of the most extraordinary mountains on the planet.

The biggest prize of all is Mount Vinson in the Ellsworth Mountains: the highest peak in Antarctica at 16,050 ft (4892 m), and the most elusive peak in the Seven Summits Challenge. Ascents typically take 5–9 days depending on the weather conditions, starting from a remote field camp on the Branscomb Glacier.

The second most popular peak to climb is Mount Sidley, Antarctica’s highest volcano at 14,058 ft (4285 m), which has still only been climbed by a handful of mountaineers.

One need not experience the Antarctic Interior as a passive visitor: the luxury basecamps all offer a variety of different ways to explore the vast landscapes that surround the adventurous traveller.

Closer to camp, the hard snow is perfect for experiencing on a fat bike, while it’s possible to head further afield by cross-country skiiing, on a skidoo or hiking through the emptiness to natural features such as unusual glacial lakes, ice caves or just mountain viewpoints to look out over the unearthly vistas.

For more experienced travellers who want to , there is the option for rock climbing or ice climbing, allowing you to take on your own particular polar challenge by conquering your own private frozen peak. 

There are no regular scheduled flights to the South Pole or Antarctic Interior. Only specialist polar logistic companies can safely operate flights here.

There are two gateway cities for trips to the South Pole and Antarctic Interior. From Punta Arenas in Chile (airport code PUQ), it is a 4½ hour flight to Union Glacier Camp. From Cape Town in South Africa (airport code CPT) it is a five hour flight to Wolf’s Fang Runway, which serves Whichaway Camp.

Within Antarctica, the South Pole and other destinations are served by ski-equipped Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otters or DC-3 Basler BT-67 planes.

The South Pole and Antarctic Interior offer some of the most exclusive (and certainly the most remote) accommodation on the planet.

Guests stay in luxury camps, sleeping in tents or pods. It’s a far cry from the days of the earliest explorers: expect snug accommodation, chefs preparing fresh food and even hot showers.

All camps operate on a strict leave no trace principle to minimise any environmental impacts.

The Antarctic Interior is one of the most extreme environments on Earth, and the visitor season is much more truncated than the traditional Antarctic Peninsula cruising season.

Trips here operate from mid-November to late January, in order to take advantage of the 24 hours of daylight during the austral summer, as well as the most consistently calm weather. 

During these months, the average temperatures at the camps in the Antarctic Interior range from -12F to 30F (-24C -1C), although wind chill can cut into these temperatures dramatically. In the earlier part of the season, temperatures as low at -22F (-30C) aren’t unknown.