Chilean expedition cruise company Australis Cruises marks its 35th anniversary season of cruises in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego from this month till April 2026.
The 35th season will run from 22nd September 2025 to 6th April 2026, featuring weekly five-day, four-night voyages sailing the spectacular waterways between Punta Arenas and Ushuaia and vice-versa.
These voyages enable explorers to experience one of the world’s most remote and awe-inspiring destinations at the very heart of Patagonia.
To mark the new season, Australis Cruises is holding a special Sale to Sail offer on all departures for the 2025/2026 season with a discount of US$479 per person based on two sharing and a discount of US$479 for solo travellers.
The offer is valid for new bookings made before 31st October 2025, subject to availability.
Into the heart of South America
The South American cruise line has built an enviable reputation for its fully immersive journeys through the majestic fjords, towering glaciers, and windswept landscapes of this pristine region, and operates two specially designed vessels: the Stella Australis and Ventus Australis, both purpose-built to navigate the waters of Southern Patagonia.
These nimble, Chilean-owned vessels can drop anchor and disembark in areas where other ships cannot sail.
As such, they afford their passengers access to narrow channels, including the historical and evocative Wulaia Bay, where the Yamana Indians once lived and thrived.
Today, visitors can explore a former radio station built by later settlers, now transformed into an archaeological museum that offers a vivid insight into life on the edge of Patagonia.
At the same time, Australis remains the only cruise line to land each week at Cape Horn, giving passengers the rare chance to stand at the edge of the continent.
January 2026 will likewise mark 410 years since Dutch explorers Jacob Le Maire and Willem Schouten first landed on Cape Horn, opening the gateway to the newly charted Drake Passage.
For Australis passengers on the 2025/26 itineraries, a landing at Cape Horn offers the chance to tour the remote lighthouse and meet its only inhabitants, the lighthouse keeper and his family.
They will also encounter the striking Cape Horn Monument, a seven-metre-high memorial erected in 1992 by sculptor José Balcells Eyquem.
Dedicated to the countless sailors who perished in these unforgiving waters, it serves as both a moving tribute and a sobering testament to the dangers of maritime explorations around this part of Patagonia.
