What to see and do in the Beagle Channel, Chile and Argentina

Beagle Channel is a strait on the southern tip of South America between Chile and Argentina  

The channel's eastern area forms part of the border between Chile and Argentina and the western area is entirely within Chile. The Beagle Channel is about150 miles long and 3 miles wide at its narrowest point. It extends from Nueva Island in the South Atlantic Ocean to Darwin Sound and Cook Bay in the Pacific Ocean.  The channel was named after the ship HMS Beagle which surveyed the coast of the southern part of South America from 1826 to 1830. 

We passed through the Beagle Channel on 1/27/2024 traveling from the Pacific Ocean to the South Atlantic Ocean and into Drake Passage.  While passing through the channel, we stopped and spent the day in Ushuaia, Argentina.

The Beagle Channel, the Straits of Magellan to the north, and the open-ocean Drake Passage to the south are the three navigable passages around South America between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Most commercial shipping uses the open-ocean Drake Passage.

Viator offers numerous tours in the Ushuaia area. Click here for details.

The Beagle Channel at sunrise

Glacier on the mountainside near the Beagle Channel

Waterfalls down from a glacier on the shore of the Beagle Channel

Waterfall coming down from a glacier to the shore of the Beagle Channel

Glaciers in the mountains along the Beagle Channel

Glacier on the shore of the Beagle Channel

The city of Ushuaia on the Beagle Channel in Argentina

Seals and penguins on a small island in the Beagle Channel

The eastern end of the Beagle Channel at Nueva Island in the South Atlantic Ocean and the Drake Passage near Cape Horn