Punta Arenas is the southernmost city of over 100,000 people in the world (125,000 population) on the Strait of Magellan in Chilean Patagonia — a city built on the geographic extremity that was, before the 1914 Panama Canal, one of the most important maritime chokepoints on earth. The Strait of Magellan (discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1520, the first European to circumnavigate the globe, who named it the Strait of All Saints) was the only navigable route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for 394 years — before the Panama Canal opened, every ship from Europe to California and Asia passed through this strait, and Punta Arenas grew rich as the gateway city. The city's great cemetery (Cementerio Municipal, 1894) with its magnificent cypress trees, elaborate family mausoleums of Patagonian immigrant families (Croatian, British, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese) and the famous sleeping bronze angel (touching the angel's toe is said to guarantee a return to Punta Arenas) is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in South America. From Punta Arenas, the gateway experiences include: Torres del Paine National Park (340 km north, the defining Patagonian hiking destination), Tierra del Fuego (the island across the Strait, shared with Argentina), the Otway Sound penguin colony (60 km north, October-March, 5,000+ Magellanic penguins), and the day trip to the Isla Magdalena penguin colony (accessible by ferry across the strait, 150,000+ Magellanic penguins, the largest in the southern cone of South America). The city has a remarkably intact architectural legacy from its golden age (1880s-1920s) — the Victorian mansions of the wool and livestock barons, the Sara Braun Palace and the Montes Braun family compound on the Plaza Muñoz Gamero.
The central square (Plaza Muñoz Gamero) has the bronze statue of Ferdinand Magellan on a plinth surrounded by the indigenous Mapuche and Tehuelche people he encountered — the tradition of touching the toe of one of the Tehuelche figures at the base to guarantee a return to Punta Arenas; the square is surrounded by the finest architecture in the city: the Sara Braun Palace, the former Club de la Unión, the cathedral and the Montes Braun house.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Sara Braun Palace (1895, French neoclassical, now the Regional Museum) was built by the widow of José Nogueira, the wool baron who made the first fortune of Patagonia from the enormous sheep estancias — the palace interiors (marble floors, French wallpapers, the original furniture) and the Regional Museum of Magallanes (covering Patagonian history from the Yahgan and Selknam peoples through the maritime age to the present) is the finest museum in Chilean Patagonia.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Municipal Cemetery (1894, 5 km north of the centre) is a journey through Patagonian immigrant history — the massive cypress trees, the Croatian fishing family chapels, the British sheep baron family mausoleums, the Spanish immigrant pantheons and the famous bronze sleeping angel (touching the toe guarantees your return); the cemetery covers 2 km and takes 90 minutes to walk; bring a jacket as the Patagonian wind is constant.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Punta Arenas waterfront (Avenida Costanera) overlooks the Strait of Magellan — the 3-4 km wide strait with the Tierra del Fuego coast visible across the water; the Nao Victoria Museum has a full-scale replica of Magellan's ship Victoria (the only vessel of his 5-ship fleet to complete the circumnavigation, 1522) and replicas of Drake's Golden Hind and Darwin's Beagle.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe definitive Punta Arenas dinner is asado de cordero patagónico — whole lamb slow-roasted on iron crosses over wood embers for 4-6 hours, the Patagonian tradition that uses the sheep that made these estancias rich; Centro Español, La Marmita and Los Ganaderos restaurants serve the finest Cordero; paired with the Chilean Carménère from the Maule or Colchagua valley and the Patagonian cold weather outside.
Isla Magdalena (35 km northeast of Punta Arenas, 2 hrs by ferry, October-March only) has the largest Magellanic penguin colony in South America — 150,000+ breeding pairs; visitors walk a 500 m marked path through the colony with penguins nesting in burrows on both sides at arm's reach; the penguins are completely unafraid and walk between visitors' legs; the lighthouse (1902) on the island is painted red and white.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe King Penguin Park (80 km north of Punta Arenas) has the only mainland King Penguin colony in the southern hemisphere outside Antarctica and sub-Antarctic islands — a small colony of 60-100 King Penguins (the second-largest penguin species, with their brilliant orange ear patches and golden breast) was discovered in 2011 and visitors can approach within 3 m; the surrounding estancia has guanacos and condors.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Otway Sound Penguin Colony (60 km north, the closer and smaller alternative to Magdalena) has 5,000+ Magellanic penguin pairs in a more intimate setting than the ferry trip — the penguins walk the path between visitors and the burrows at sunset; the Otway Sound itself (an inland sea connected to the Strait) has the possibility of flamingo sightings in the shallow water.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCentolla (the Patagonian king crab — Lithodes santolla, enormous red spiny crabs from the cold Magellanic waters) is the finest seafood in Chilean Patagonia — grilled, as chupe de centolla (crab bisque baked with bread crumbs and cheese), in empanadas or cold with mayonnaise; El Mercado and Damiana Elena restaurants serve the freshest centolla; the crab season is year-round in these cold waters.
The Milodon Cave (Cueva del Milodón, 25 km north of Puerto Natales, 250 km from Punta Arenas, or 25 km north from the direct road) is where the remains of the mylodon (a giant sloth the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, extinct 10,000 years ago) were found in 1895 — the full-scale fibreglass replica in the cave, the cave geology and the view from the cave entrance over the Patagonian steppe are worth the detour on the way to or from Torres del Paine.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Patagonian steppe (the treeless grassland between Punta Arenas and Torres del Paine) has the most extraordinary wildlife viewing in South America outside the Galápagos — guanacos (the wild camelid relative of the llama, enormous herds of 100+), Andean condors riding the thermals (wingspan 3 m, the largest flying bird in the world by wingspan), Darwin's rhea (the grey nandú ostrich), southern caracara, Patagonian foxes and armadillos.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTorres del Paine (340 km from Punta Arenas, 4 hrs drive) — the iconic granite towers (Paine Towers, 2,500 m) and the Cuernos (Horns) are visible from the park entrance on the arrival drive; even a day visit from Punta Arenas gives time for the Lago Pehoé viewpoint (the towers reflected in the lake) and the Salto Grande waterfall (the river connecting Lago Nordenskjöld and Lago Pehoé roars through a narrow channel).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe return drive to Punta Arenas at sunset when the Patagonian steppe light turns golden and the Andes mountains to the west glow purple — a final pisco sour (the Chilean national cocktail: pisco grape spirit, lemon juice, sugar and egg white) at the Santino Bar or the Shackleton Bar (named for the explorer who crossed the Beagle Channel after the Endurance shipwreck) in the centre.