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The Grand Expedition · 23 Days
The Falkland Islands, the king penguin beaches of South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula in one great loop of the Southern Ocean, aboard the 200 guest MS Fram. Six departures a season from Santiago de Chile, from 2026/27 through to 2028/29.
The Voyage
Ask anyone who has done both, and most will tell you that South Georgia is the place that stays with them longest. Mountains and glaciers rise straight out of the sea, the beaches are crowded with king penguins in their hundreds of thousands, elephant seals lie in heaps on the sand and fur seals guard every patch of tussock grass. Add the Falkland Islands before it and the Antarctic Peninsula after it, and you have what many seasoned polar travellers consider the finest Antarctic voyage there is.
The trip starts in Santiago de Chile, with a night in a hotel and a flight south to Punta Arenas on the Strait of Magellan. From there MS Fram sails east to the Falklands for three days of albatrosses, rockhopper penguins and the small capital of Stanley. Then comes the crossing to South Georgia, with four days for landings at sites such as Salisbury Plain, St Andrews Bay and Fortuna Bay, and a visit to the old whaling station at Grytviken, where Sir Ernest Shackleton is buried. The final leg heads south west to Antarctica for up to four days among the ice before the ship returns across the Drake Passage to Punta Arenas.
MS Fram is the smallest ship HX sail to Antarctica, with space for just 200 guests. That means smaller landing groups and more time ashore at each site, a real advantage at South Georgia where wildlife and visitors share narrow beaches. She was built for polar waters, named after the famous ship that carried Nansen to the Arctic and Amundsen to Antarctica, and fully upgraded in recent years. It is a long trip, but the sea days are part of the experience, filled with lectures from naturalists, historians and geologists and long hours on deck watching for whales and wandering albatrosses.
If you watched Julia Bradbury's television series Wonders of the Frozen South, a lot of this will look familiar, and HX now feature the voyage as seen on the programme. It runs six times in each of the 2026/27, 2027/28 and 2028/29 seasons. One sailing is a little different: the 16 November 2028 departure (tour code FRANT04B) begins and ends in Stanley, also known as Port Stanley, in the Falkland Islands, with flights between Santiago and Stanley instead of Punta Arenas. We can talk you through how the route works on that date.
Day by Day
Your voyage begins in the Chilean capital with an included hotel night and breakfast. Santiago is surrounded by the Andes and is easy to explore on foot: the Plaza de Armas and the cathedral, the busy fish stalls and restaurants of the Mercado Central, and La Moneda, the presidential palace. For the best view of the city and the mountains, go up the Sky Costanera, the tallest building in South America. Our gateway cities page has more.
After breakfast you transfer to the airport for the included flight to Punta Arenas, the main town of Chilean Patagonia, looking out over the Strait of Magellan. MS Fram is waiting in port. You settle into your cabin, meet the Expedition Team and head out to sea in the evening.
A day sailing through and out of the Strait of Magellan, the channel Ferdinand Magellan found in 1520 when he became the first European to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Commerson's dolphins are sometimes seen here, and the Expedition Team begin their lecture programme as the ship heads out into the South Atlantic.
Three days among the Falklands, with landings chosen by the wind and weather. Sites the team often choose include Saunders Island, where gentoo, rockhopper and Magellanic penguins and black browed albatrosses nest close together, Carcass Island with its striated caracaras and small settlement, and West Point Island, whose cliffs are lined with albatrosses and rockhoppers. In Stanley, the included Stanley Community Walk takes you past the Jubilee Villas, Christ Church Cathedral and the Historic Dockyard Museum, with optional excursions available too.
Two days at sea crossing the Antarctic Convergence, where the water cools sharply and the birdlife changes. The lecture programme covers the wildlife, history and geology of South Georgia, its glaciers, and the Norwegian whalers who worked here for sixty years. There are briefings on the IAATO guidelines and the island's strict biosecurity rules, which include cleaning your boots and vacuuming your outer clothing before each landing. South Georgia was declared free of rats in 2018 after a huge eradication programme, and nobody wants to bring anything back.
Four days around one of the richest wildlife islands on Earth, recognised as an Important Bird Area. The Expedition Team plan each landing around the weather, and the sites they often aim for include Salisbury Plain in the Bay of Isles and St Andrews Bay, home to some of the largest king penguin colonies in the world, where the noise and the smell reach you long before the beach does. Fortuna Bay is another favourite, the bay Shackleton, Worsley and Crean descended towards in 1916 on their crossing of the island to raise help for the men left on Elephant Island.
The ship will attempt a landing at Grytviken, the old whaling station founded in 1904. Here you can visit the South Georgia Museum, the little Norwegian church and the cemetery, where it is a tradition to raise a toast at Shackleton's grave. Everywhere you go, look out for Antarctic fur seals, which breed here in vast numbers, huge elephant seals and, offshore, wandering albatrosses.
Three days sailing south west through the Scotia Sea, with the first icebergs often appearing long before land. If conditions allow, the ship may pass close to Elephant Island, where Shackleton's men waited four months for rescue. The lectures turn to Antarctica and the Antarctic Treaty, which has kept the continent for peace and science since 1959.
Up to four days in the South Shetland Islands and on the Antarctic Peninsula, with gentoo, chinstrap and Adélie penguins to see. You may sail into the flooded volcanic caldera of Deception Island and land at Whalers Bay among the remains of an old whaling station, or visit the chinstrap colony on Half Moon Island. On the Peninsula, sites the team often choose include Cuverville Island, Neko Harbour and Paradise Bay. Kayaking and snowshoeing may also be on offer.
The ship crosses the Drake Passage back to South America and approaches Punta Arenas through the channels of Tierra del Fuego. Time for final lectures, sorting your photographs and a farewell evening.
You disembark in Punta Arenas and take the included flight back to Santiago, ready for your flight home. We can arrange extra nights in Santiago if you would like more time in Chile.
All itineraries are subject to weather, sea and ice conditions. On an expedition the route is a plan rather than a promise, and the Captain will always put your safety and the protection of the environment first.
2026/27 to 2028/29 Seasons
The In-Depth voyage runs six times in each of the next three seasons, all on MS Fram. Choose a season to see the dates and brochure fares.
Six departures on MS Fram, all starting in Santiago de Chile.
| Cabin Category | From, per person |
|---|---|
| Polar InsideInside cabin with no window, double bed or twins | £15,758 |
| Polar OutsideOutside cabin with window | £18,611 |
| Arctic SuperiorLarger outside cabins with window | £19,610 |
| Expedition SuiteSuites and mini suites, Lindstrøm dining and suite extras included | £24,745 |
Tour code FRANT2609.
Six departures on MS Fram, all starting in Santiago de Chile.
| Cabin Category | From, per person |
|---|---|
| Polar InsideInside cabin with no window, double bed or twins | £15,898 |
| Polar OutsideOutside cabin with window | £18,722 |
| Arctic SuperiorLarger outside cabins with window | £19,711 |
| Expedition SuiteSuites and mini suites, Lindstrøm dining and suite extras included | £24,794 |
Tour code FRANT04.
Six departures on MS Fram. The 16 Nov 2028 sailing starts and ends in Stanley in the Falkland Islands, with flights between Santiago and Stanley; the others start in Santiago de Chile and sail from Punta Arenas.
| Cabin Category | From, per person |
|---|---|
| Polar InsideInside cabin with no window, double bed or twins | £17,131 |
| Polar OutsideOutside cabin with window | £20,348 |
| Arctic SuperiorLarger outside cabins with window | £21,474 |
| Expedition SuiteSuites and mini suites, Lindstrøm dining and suite extras included | £27,265 |
Tour codes FRANT04B (16 Nov 2028, from Stanley) and FRANT04 (all other dates).
Brochure prices from, per person, two sharing, taken from the HX 2026/27, 2027/28 and 2028/29 brochures. HX use flexible pricing, so fares can move up or down with demand and are often reduced by special offers. Call us on 0333 405 0194 for today's price on your chosen date. Solo travellers, ask about cabins with no single supplement.
Your Fare
International flights to Santiago, travel insurance and optional excursions are not included. Our what's included page explains the differences between cabin and suite fares in more detail.
Make More of It
In Stanley you can choose from a range of optional excursions, priced per person:
In Antarctica, small group activities such as kayaking may be offered on board, depending on the conditions. On the Ushuaia voyages a Discovery Kayak outing costs around £112 and a Guided Sea Kayaking Adventure around £173; we can confirm what will be available on your sailing.
Before or after the voyage we can add extra nights in Santiago, which makes a good base for a day trip to the colourful port of Valparaíso or the wine valleys nearby.
Other Voyages
The Life Returns, Springtime Expedition to Antarctica visits the same three regions earlier in the season, starting in Buenos Aires, with a departure in October 2027. If you would rather have more time in Antarctica and can do without South Georgia, look at Antarctica & Falklands, From Punta Arenas, also on MS Fram. The new Antarctica & South Georgia, Kingdoms of Ice & Wildlife also reaches South Georgia and the Peninsula, on a 19 day round trip from Ushuaia aboard MS Roald Amundsen in November and December 2028. Every voyage is compared on our Antarctica cruises page.