Day trip to see the King Penguins in Porvenir, from Punta Arenas

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
3
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
1
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
1
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
3
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
2
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
3
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
25 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
448th/457
Bottom 10%
continent
South America
country
Chile
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$110 (typically $80 - $130)
Time of year visited
January
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Ferry Wildlife - Penguins
All Tags
Wow Factor
Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100.
Gash

Summary

I look back at this and do laugh to myself quite a lot.  My girlfriend was super keen to see the penguins and we had some spare time in Patagonia before one of our big hikes, so decided to head from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas and arrange one of the day trips to see the King Penguins in Porvenir.  Yes the penguins are cute, yes the Fernando Cordero Rusque Museum in Porvenir is worth a quick look, and yes getting a couple of ferries can give a chance to look at the landscape from the water.  Unfortunately though, my recommendation would be don’t do it mainly because:

Reason#1 You’ll be spending the full day travelling from Punta Arenas to Porvenir for roughly an hour looking at the penguins.

Reason #2 The penguins, cute as they are, are roughly 80m (250 feet) away so you have to look at them through the telescopes provided / just squint a lot.

Reasons #3 Both the penguin colony at Useless Bay, the museum and the ferry stops can feel quite crowded, which is a bit of a sharp change after having vast areas to yourself in the areas around.

Reason #4 The scenery is quite nice, but nothing compared to the sights to the north in Patagonia around Torres del Paine (see 3 very civilised days in Torres del Paine National Park for some inspiration), nor to the south around Ushuaia in the remainder of the Tierra del Fuego (see A trip to the end of the earth, 4 days in the Tierra del Fuego for further tips).

Reason #5 Even with the penguins, you could get far closer and see more, albeit smaller, penguins in the Beagle Channel next to Ushuaia.

Reason #6 Punta Arenas felt far more industrial and quite frankly less to do that the more quaint Puerto Natales or the more bustling Ushuaia.

Reason #7 The trip from Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas and back takes up the best part of a day either side of the day trip to see the penguins.  But, that is our own silly fault for planning that.

Not a fan!

“Highlight”

IMG_1835-aspect-ratio-900-675

Seeing the King Penguins . . . from afar

Itinerary

  • Get picked up around 8am to take the ferry from Punta Arenas to Porvenir
  • Visit the Fernando Cordero Rusque Museum in Porvenir
  • Observe the King Penguins at Useless Bay
  • Head up to the north point of the Tierra del Fuego to get the ferry back to the mainland and return to Punta Arenas

Experiences nearby

Wow Factor Score Two scores: first is the wow factor which ranges from ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️, and a separate category for the truly "gash". The second is the more analytical travel experience score, which considers 6 varied criteria to give an overall score out of 100. LowHigh
  • Elite, unmissable
  • World-class, downsides
  • Meets the Wow Factor
  • Worth it
  • Meh
  • Gash

Significantly better animal experiences around the world

Safari in the Okavango Delta and Kaziinkini Game Reserve

Sailing the Komodo Islands in November

Swimming with Humpback Whales and relaxing in paradise in Vava’u

Diving with Thresher Sharks at Malapascua Island

Safari in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater

Self-drive Etosha National Park

Diving with bull and tiger sharks by Beqa Island

Western Madagascar Adventure – Tsingy, Baobabs and Lemurs

Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences - from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get the Wow Before Everyone Else

Join the newsletter for new travel experiences, fresh rankings, personal notes, and stories from the archive — sent only when there’s something worth sharing.