We will be spending a day in Punta Arenas in December while on a cruise. What's the best thing to do there? Do we need a guide? Any recommendations? We will also be stopping for a day in Puerto Madryn and would love to not go on any of the tours offered by the cruise line. However, are not opposed to an independent guide if anyone knows of a good guide.
Thanks

We had just a few hours in Punta Arenas and had an outstanding meal at La Luna - pics on our blog - highly recommend it

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/l...ke_distri.html

Address here

http://www.interpatagonia.com/paseos...o/index_i.html

Take a trip to Isla Magdalena to see the penguinos! There is a zodiac boat that goes out twice a day to the island.

4holdings, You are probably on the cruise right after us on royal carribean's Radiance of the seas. We are going to be in Punta Arenas on November 29 and end up in BA Dec 7. You must be going the other way and ending up in Santiago. Either that or you're on the Norweigian Ship. Anyway, I looked into all of the ports and all of the excursions and found this to be a great place to see penguins in their own habitat for a very reasonable price. The Island tour listed above (Isla Magdalena) sounds like a GREAT excursion, but a little spendy. Do that one if you've got extra dough. I'm going on the other penguin excursion inland to the Ottoway Sound. I've seen other tourists blogs with pics and they get pretty close and it's a great price for the day.

Todd - Thanks for the idea of Ottoway Sound. Hope you let us know how your trip went and any ideas you have after seeing everything. Our cruise leaves from Santiago on Dec. 22nd, Crystal Cruises. It's 18 days which to me feels a little long but we liked the idea that the ship was on the bigger side so didn't have too many other choices at the time we could go. Have fun!!

We spent a few days in Puerto Madryn last week. The main options are:

a boat trip from Puerto Pyamides - an hour away by taxi - excellent. The boatrips cost around 100 pesos (not sure about the taxi) and can be arranged when you get there.

A tour of the peninsua Valdez, including said boat trip and a drive to see the penguins and elephant seals (probably not enough time for you to do this and not worth it anyway IMO.

Get a taxi to the beach outside of town at high tide for 3 hours or so to see the whales from the beach (60 pesos per person) The whales came in to withing 100m of the beach.

The best sighting of the whales we got was from the pier in the town again at high tide (20m) - amazing and free!

There are lots of tour operators on the main street by the beach who will book these trips but I am not sure if you will have the time to sort this out when you are only there for a day, unless you simply grab a cab and get out to PP for the boat trip - we saw possibly 30-40 whales and their young.

I hope this helps a little.

PS The guide we had for the day long peninsula trip was absolutely hopeless so there is an element of luck as to what you get by booking yourself. Presumably the cruise line only use tried and tested operators.