Getting Oriented

Getting Oriented

Punta Arenas, almost 2,000 mi south of Santiago, is the provincial capital. The only other settlement of any size in Magallanes province is Puerto Natales, 240 km (150 mi) to the northwest, a well-positioned gateway to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. A broad expanse of frigid pampas grassland runs between the two cities.

At the bottom end of the continent, separated by the Magellan Strait and split between Chile and Argentina, is Tierra del Fuego. Though comprising a number of islands, it's more or less equivalent to Isla Grande. The resort town of Ushuaia ("westward-looking bay" in local Yamana dialect), Argentina, base camp for explorations of the Beagle Channel and the Cordillera Darwin mountain range, is by a long stretch the region's leading tourist attraction.