Cape Horn

The Cape Horn Monument is the island’s most iconic sight, and it sits on a low hill, a short walk from the sheltered bay where zodiacs land on the island. The monument is a memorial to the mariners from every nation who perished in the Southern Ocean.

The abstract shapes of the monument evoking stormy seas, which resolve themselves into the life-sized silhouette of a wandering albatross. They are the largest flying bird in the world with a wingspan of nearly 12 feet (3.6m), and navigate the ocean here with effortless beauty. 

Touching the monument automatically makes you an honorary member of the International Association of Cape Horniers, who erected it in 1991. 

Cape Horn’s lighthouse has helped guide sailors to safety for generations. Today, it's open to visitors, where you can get a souvenir stamp in your passport. 

Tthe lighthouse is home to the island’s only residents: a Chilean navy officer and his wife, who is the ranger for the national park. Their two children also live here, though during term time they go to school on the mainland.

Next to the lighthouse is the tiny Stella Maris chapel (‘Star of the Seas’), which is South America’s southernmost church. It is filled with poignant tributes to the sailors who died in the seas here over the centuries.

An adventure cruise to Cape Horn offers plenty of opportunities for wildlife watching. The Beagle Channel is a great place to see Commerson’s and dusky dolphins, along with South American sea lions hauled on rocky islets. Black-browed albatrosses are a common sight, along with southern giant petrels and imperial cormorants.

These cruises also visit the Tucker Islets and Magdalena Island, where large colonies of Magellanic penguins nest from mid-October until early April.

On Cape Horn island itself, keep your eyes open for the rayadito, a tiny endemic song bird. This is normally a forest bird, but a subspecies here has chosen to abandon the mainland to nest in the grass here – one of the toughest birds in South America!

Adventure cruises to Cape Horn between Ushuaia and Punta Arenas, visit some of the most spectacular landscape in South America, touring remote glaciers that are only accessible fromt the sea. 

A cruise through Glacier Alley is a highlight, with a procession of frozen blue glaciers poking their tongues into the sea from the Darwin mountain range. Pia Glacier, Águila Glacier and Condor Glacier, are all particularly dramatic, and the cruise gives the opportunity for landings in zodiacs so that you can hike up moraines to explore them at close quarters. 

There is no accommodation on the island at Cape Horn, so it is not possible to overnight there. Instead, you’ll stay in the comfort of your cabin on your adventure cruise ship – a far nicer prospect than that endured by earlier generations of mariners who navigated these waters in the days of sail.

There is only one way to get to Cape Horn: by sea. Visitors call in on the island as part of a five day adventure cruise sailing exploring Tierra del Fuego between Ushuaia and Punta Arenas.

Depending on the weather, it is an overnight trip to sail from Ushuaia through the Beagle Channel to Cape Horn. Ships typically time this voyage to arrive at Cape Horn at dawn to give the maximum opportunity to explore the island.

It is sometimes possible to do a scenic overflight of Cape Horn in a small plane from Navarino Island, flying over the Dientes de Navarino mountain range and Nassau Bay before flying over Cape Horn.