How to Get From Ushuaia to Tierra del Fuego National Park

The short answer

The easiest way from Ushuaia to Tierra del Fuego National Park is a half-day tour that picks you up at your accommodation, drives you between the park’s main stops with a guide and brings you back about five hours later. Our pick is the Tierra del Fuego National Park Tour, Train Optional (our breakdown →), from $52 per person and rated 4.8 from 448 reviews. You can also get there on your own by park minibus, taxi or rental car, or ride part of the way on the End of the World Train. Whichever way you go, everyone needs a park ticket: ARS 40,000 per foreign visitor.

Can you visit without a tour?

Yes. The park is open to independent visitors, the trails are signposted, and you can buy your entry ticket online from the national parks service or pay at the gate. Nothing about the park itself requires a guide.

The harder part is transport. The entrance is about 11 km west of central Ushuaia, and Lapataia Bay, where Route 3 ends, is about 20 km out. The usual stops (Ensenada Zaratiegui on the Beagle Channel, Lake Acigami and Lapataia Bay) are spread along that last stretch of road, so without a car you need a plan for getting between them and back to town. A tour solves that in one booking. On your own, you trade that convenience for your own pace.

The ways in compared

Guided tour with pickup

This is the option with the least to organize. On our pick, the operator tells you your pickup time the day before, so leave a WhatsApp number or email when you book. The van takes about 30 minutes to reach the End of the World Train station, then continues into the park for about three hours of guided stops: Ensenada Bay, a walk along the shore of Lake Acigami, and Lapataia Bay. The operator says Ensenada Zaratiegui is closed in winter. You are dropped back at your accommodation.

The train is a separate option on this tour. For one adult on 8 October 2026, the standard option cost $58 and the “With train included” option $124 (checked September 2026). The park fee is not included either way.

If you are a family or a small group and want the van to yourselves, the Private Tierra del Fuego National Park Tour (our breakdown →) is from $400 per group, with hotel pickup and a route set to your pace. It works much like hiring a driver-guide for the half day.

Park minibus

Park minibuses leave from the corner of Avenida Maipú and Juana Fadul in central Ushuaia. The national parks service names the departure point but does not publish fares or a timetable, so the price, whether you pay on board, and the time of the last bus back are best checked at the stop or in town the day before. Ask where the bus stops inside the park too, since the stops you want may be several kilometers apart.

Budget for the park fee on top of the fare. Buying the ticket online before you go saves handling pesos at the gate.

Taxi

Taxis can take you to the train station or into the park. There is no current published fare, so agree the price with the driver before you set off, and agree how you will get back. A taxi works well one way, for example to the train station for a morning departure, and less well for a day of hopping between stops unless you keep the car and driver with you.

Rental car

Driving gives you the most freedom. Follow Route 3 west out of Ushuaia. The End of the World Train station is at km 3065, 8 km from the center, with free parking, and the park entrance is about 3 km farther on. Inside the park the speed limit is 40 km/h, and there are six car parks: at the entrance, Río Pipo, Ensenada Zaratiegui, Alakush, Lake Acigami and Lapataia Bay.

Two things to check. The park keeps shorter hours from April to September (9:00 to 18:00) and opens 8:00 to 21:00 from December to February. And in winter, snow tires or chains are reported to be required on the park roads, so ask the rental company what the car comes with.

The End of the World Train as a way in

The train is a ride into the park, not transport from town. Its station sits on Route 3, 8 km from central Ushuaia and 1 km before the park gate, and the railway runs no shuttle of its own. You get to the station by taxi, car or tour and check in 45 minutes before departure. Trains leave at 9:30, 12:00 and 15:00 from September to April.

The ride takes about 1 hour 45 minutes round trip, including a 20-minute stop at La Macarena, and ends at Estación Parque Nacional inside the park. Every ticket covers the round trip. If you get off at the park station and stay, you need your own way onward, which is why most riders book a tour whose van meets them there. In spring and summer you can sometimes ride back on a later train, at 16:00, if there is space. Every rider needs a park ticket too. The End of the World Train page compares the tours that include it.

Arriving on a cruise ship

Several hotel-pickup tours do not take in-transit cruise passengers, and one operator explains that it cannot fix a pickup time with ship passengers the night before. Shore excursions meet you at the port instead and run about 4 to 5.5 hours. The National Park Tour for Cruise Passengers (our breakdown →) meets at the Tourist Port, from $120 per person. The shore excursions page compares meeting points and return times.

Which way suits you

If you have no car and one morning or afternoon, a tour with pickup is the simplest choice, with the return trip already arranged. If you are driving anyway, the park is straightforward by car. If you want the train, a tour with the train option handles the station, the ride and the onward van.

For what the park fee covers, see the park tickets page. How a tour from town is structured is on park tours from Ushuaia, and if you are traveling between May and September, read the park in winter first. When you have picked your day, check availability.