From Valparaíso to Buenos Aires · South America & Antarctica · 12 nights
Designed to provide an unrivalled level of luxury yet immersive global exploration, Scenic Eclipse has it all.
Scenic have gone all out to create the most luxurious, most
technologically advanced and most exciting expedition ship ever
built. We couldn’t have been more excited about the advances that
this ship represented when she launched in 2019, offering
enhancements to already thrilling itineraries.
Characterful, colourful and a little chaotic, the port city of Valparaíso enjoys a somewhat awkward setting, scattered across 45 vertiginous hills. Thanks to this difficult topography the city streets are punctuated by steep staircases and funicular elevators, and energetic explorers will be rewarded with wonderful views of the pastel hued buildings that hug the slopes. Valparaíso's most famous former resident was the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, and you can visit one of his former residences, La Sebastiana, which now houses a small museum.
Niebla is a charming little beach resort in southern Chile, on the banks of the Valdivia river. The bustling folk market is a popular tourist attraction, while history buffs will enjoy exploring the restored colonial fortress, built by the Spanish in the 17th century.
Puerto Montt is the capital of the Chilean Lake District, spread out around a wide bay against a backdrop of snow-capped volcanoes. This wild region offers a host of outdoor activities, including mountain hikes, kayaking, white water rafting, fishing, zip lining and cycling.
Rugged and unspoilt Chiloé, situated at the southern end of Chile’s Lake District, is a unique and culturally distinct island that stands apart from the rest of the country. The main town, Castro, is notable for its colourful waterfront homes on stilts (known as palafitos), and is the gateway to the dense forests and rolling hills of the island interior.
The weather-beaten city of Punta Arenas is a laid back and welcoming place, in spite of its inhospitable location on the shores of the Strait of Magellan. Nearby attractions include penguin colonies and the dramatic scenery of Torres del Paine National Park, while beyond the horizon lie the frozen wastes of Antarctica.
Chile’s third largest national park is named after an Italian priest and mountaineer who mapped this remote region in the 1930s, and it was declared a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve in 2005. Look out for fauna including elephant seals, Andean foxes, Chilean dolphins and humpback whales.
Surrounded by notoriously treacherous waters and battered by gale force winds known as the Furious Fifties, Cape Horn is the dramatic southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. This is the point where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet, watched over by a lonely lighthouse.
Perched on the ragged southern edge of Argentina, where the snow-capped Andes fall away into the churning sea, Ushuaia has a frontier town feel to it, and serves as the base for expeditions into the icy waters of Antarctica.
The streets of Buenos Aires are redolent of a grand old European capital, lined with elegant architecture that wouldn’t look out of place in Madrid or Paris. There is also plenty of Latin passion on display: Argentina is the home of tango, that most electrifying of dances, and has played host to countless revolutions over the years.
