How much does an Antarctica trip cost?

The cheapest 2026-27 fares on the eight expedition lines we priced run from $7,050 to about $20,000 per person for a 10 to 13 day Antarctic Peninsula cruise, and the grandest suites cost more than $40,000.³⁸¹⁵ By our estimate, flights from the US, a hotel night and tips add about $1,500 to $3,500 more, plus insurance.¹² The cheapest fare of all was $7,050 for one berth in a shared four-berth cabin on Oceanwide's Plancius in late March 2027, where twin cabins start at $8,700.³

All prices below are per person in US dollars, as listed on October 14, 2026, for two sharing unless we say otherwise. Many of the cheapest cabins were already sold out, so treat the lowest fares as the floor, not what you will be offered. Per-day figures are our arithmetic.

How much does an Antarctica cruise cost with each line?

For one classic Peninsula trip per line, the gap between the cheapest cabin and the top suite is bigger than the gap between lines. Each row is a single departure, so the cabins compare on the same dates.

Two cautions before you compare rows. First, the cheapest cabins were often gone. On these dates Lindblad's category 01 and Aurora's triple and Balcony B were sold out, Oceanwide had one quad berth left, for a woman, and Ponant had one window stateroom.⁷⁸³⁶ The cheapest cabin you could book was $27,252 on Lindblad's December 2 trip and $27,595, a Balcony Superior, on Aurora's December 29 trip; Aurora's cheapest open 2026-27 cabin on any date was a $17,096 triple on February 27, 2027.⁷⁸ Second, the fare types differ. HX shows a regular fare and a lower 130th-anniversary promotion.⁴ Viking's sale price ends October 31, 2026.¹ Quark's are brochure fares, before the promo codes its site shows for 5% to 15% off.² Ponant's fares already include its 10% Ponant Bonus.⁶ Seabourn's are full fares with taxes included; its current offer adds shipboard credit, $500 per Veranda Suite and $2,000 for a Penthouse Suite or above, on bookings by November 16, 2026, and does not lower the fare.⁵

Season moves these numbers as much as the line does. On the same Quark ship, the Explorer Triple costs $20,690 on January 6 and $15,590 on March 10.² Oceanwide's twin window cabin on Hondius is $12,350 over New Year and $10,100 in late March.³ Lindblad's 2026-27 fares are high: the "from $13,500" on its Journey to Antarctica page belongs to an October 2027 departure, and every 2026-27 departure of that trip starts at $19,000 or more.⁷ The best month to travel is covered in when to visit Antarctica.

The fares also buy different things. Viking, Seabourn, Ponant, HX and Quark's Buenos Aires departures include a hotel night in Buenos Aires and the flight to and from Ushuaia.⁹¹⁰⁶⁴ Quark values that package at $1,295.² Oceanwide and Aurora start in Ushuaia and leave the flights to you.¹¹⁸ Lindblad starts with a hotel night in Buenos Aires or Santiago but includes no flights, so the flight to Ushuaia is extra.¹²

What does an Antarctica trip cost by travel style?

The style of trip sets the budget before the cabin does. These examples are real 2026-27 departures.

Holland America is the only fare in the table under $7,000, and it buys a view of Antarctica from the deck, not a landing (more on that below).¹³ The fly-cruise has the highest starting price per day: you pay for two charter flights and skip the four days a sailing spends crossing the Drake.¹⁷

What costs are not included in an Antarctica cruise?

Five costs sit around the fare: flights, hotel nights, insurance, tips and gear. Our estimate of $1,500 to $3,500 for flights, a hotel night and tips runs from Viking's standard $1,499 air price alone, on a line whose fare covers the Buenos Aires night, the flight south and tips, to its $1,999 January air plus Quark's $1,295 hotel and flight package and about $240 of tips at $20 a day.¹²⁸ Here is what each line says about these costs.

Flights from the US. We could not find an airline fare we could cite, so the best published benchmark is Viking's air add-on. It prices economy air from US gateways for its Buenos Aires departures at $1,499 in December and February and $1,999 in January, including taxes and transfers; its Fall Sale cuts February to $999 and December to free until October 31.¹ Fares you book yourself will move with the date and your home airport.

Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. If your line does not include it, Quark's $1,295 charter flight and hotel package is the clearest price for the leg: one Buenos Aires hotel night with breakfast and a group flight to Ushuaia and back.² Lindblad adds "recommended group flights" at checkout at an extra cost, and its Resolution departures route through Santiago, Chile, through the 2027-28 season.¹² Fly-cruises start in Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales in Chile instead.¹⁵¹⁸

Hotel nights. Quark's Ocean Explorer trips and Aurora include a night in Ushuaia before boarding,¹⁷⁸ and Lindblad's Journey to Antarctica starts with a night in Buenos Aires or Santiago.¹² An extra night in Buenos Aires costs $300 with Ponant and from $199 after a Viking cruise.⁶⁹ Add a spare night before any Ushuaia departure if your flights are tight.

Evacuation and medical insurance. Quark, Oceanwide, Aurora and HX require it, and each sets a different floor:

• Quark requires medical cover of at least $50,000 per traveler.¹⁹
• Oceanwide makes medical, accident and evacuation insurance mandatory, with at least 100,000 euros or dollars for Antarctica.²⁰²¹
• Aurora requires evacuation cover worth at least $250,000.²²
• HX makes insurance covering medical evacuation and repatriation mandatory and recommends at least US $200,000.³⁹
• Viking strongly recommends medical evacuation cover of at least $250,000 and warns that "medical evacuation, if available, is expensive."²³

We found no premium published on any of these lines' sites, so get quotes once you know your fare.

Tips. The range runs from nothing to about $20 a day:⁸

• Included: HX includes gratuities,⁴ and Lindblad includes crew gratuities on Endurance, Resolution, Explorer and Orion.²⁴ Seabourn says tipping "is neither required nor expected."²⁵
• Oceanwide suggests 10 to 15 euros or dollars per guest per day.²⁶ Ponant gives an average of €10 to €12 per day.²⁷
• Aurora adds $20 per person per day to your bill, which you can adjust, and includes it for suite guests.⁸ Viking's standard rate is $20 per person per night.²³ Quark lists a "voluntary gratuity" with no amount.¹⁷

Gear. You rarely need to buy a parka. Quark gives you one to keep and lends boots, but lists waterproof pants as mandatory and not included.¹⁷ Viking gives you a jacket to keep and provides boots and waterproof pants.²³ Aurora gives you a 3-in-1 jacket and lends Muck Boots,⁸ Seabourn gives you a parka and a waterproof pack,²⁸ and Ponant provides a parka and lends boots.²⁷ Oceanwide lends boots and snowshoes but lists no jacket.¹¹

Optional activities. Kayaking costs $1,995 on Quark, $1,330 on Aurora, from $325 on Seabourn and $229 for HX's guided outing,²⁸²⁹⁴ and is included on Viking and Lindblad.⁹²⁴ To spend a night ashore, Quark sells camping at $495, and Oceanwide's Basecamp voyages include it at no charge.²³

Worked example: what a couple from the US really pays

Here is one couple, three trips, all in the second half of the 2027 season. We used Viking's standard $1,499 air price as the flight cost for all three, because it is the only published fare from the US,¹ and left out insurance because no line prices it.

The lowest sticker fare did not give the lowest total. Once the Buenos Aires night, the flight south and the tips are added, Oceanwide's cheaper fare lands about $900 to $1,000 above HX's regular fare, and HX's promotional $9,274 would cut its total by another $2,650.⁴ Viking costs about $10,000 to $11,000 more for two than either. That buys a 215 sq ft (20 m²) stateroom with a glass wall whose top half lowers, against 143 to 172 sq ft (13.3 to 16 m²) for a Hondius twin porthole.¹²³³⁰ Booked during Viking's Fall Sale, the same couple would pay $32,436.

Can you go to Antarctica for under 5,000 dollars?

Not on any trip we priced for 2026-27. The cheapest landing trip we found was $7,050 for a shared berth on Plancius, and only two berths for women were left.³ The cheapest fare we found that reaches Antarctic waters at all was Holland America's 22-day South America cruise on Oosterdam, from $5,569 with taxes and fees included, though Holland America was the only big-ship line we priced; its 2027-28 trips on Nieuw Amsterdam start at $5,119.¹³ Oosterdam carries 2,388 passengers,³¹ and ships with more than 500 passengers make no landings under Antarctic Treaty and IAATO rules,³²³³ so you see Antarctica from the deck. Every way to cut the bill is in the cheapest way to Antarctica.

Can a US citizen go to Antarctica?

Yes, and you need no visa for Antarctica itself, though you may need one for the country you leave from, usually Argentina or Chile, depending on your passport.³³ The permits are the operator's job: tour operators must notify their national authority in advance (in the US, the Department of State) and file an environmental impact assessment (in the US, with the Environmental Protection Agency).³³ HX asks that your passport stay valid for at least six months after you leave the ship.³⁹

Why are Antarctica cruises so expensive?

Rules cap how many people a ship can put ashore, so landing ships stay small. The Antarctic Treaty measure on ship-based tourism bars landings from ships carrying more than 500 passengers, allows one ship at a landing site at a time, caps people ashore at a site at 100 at once and sets one guide for every 20 passengers.³² The measure is not yet in force; the limits work through IAATO's bylaws and the Treaty's site guidelines,⁴¹ and IAATO applies the same split: ships of 13 to 200 or 201 to 500 passengers make landings, and larger ships are cruise only.³³ The expedition ships in this guide range from Plancius, with 108 passengers, to Viking Octantis with 378 and Fridtjof Nansen, which IAATO lists in its 201 to 500 passenger category.⁴⁰³¹³⁷

Other costs follow from the place. Ships must apply for a Polar Ship Certificate under the IMO Polar Code, in force since January 1, 2017,³⁴ and must burn lighter-grade fuels south of 60°S.³³ The season is short: the departures we checked run from late October to early April.⁴³ And the fare covers a lot. An 11-day Aurora trip includes the Ushuaia hotel night, all meals and drinks, every landing and Zodiac cruise, a jacket and Wi-Fi.⁸

Is it cheaper to fly or cruise to Antarctica?

Sailing the Drake Passage is cheaper per day, and usually cheaper in total too. On Quark's World Voyager, the cheapest suite costs $19,695 on the 8-day trip that flies both ways from December 1 and $17,290 on the 11-day sailing from November 15, which also includes the charter from Buenos Aires but was sold out. That is $2,462 against $1,572 a day.² Aurora's twin cabin on Douglas Mawson costs $25,395 for 8 days flying on January 13 and $19,695, sold out, for 11 days sailing on February 17.³⁵⁸ Lindblad adds $3,000 per person for the required flights on its 8-day fly-cruise.⁷ The trade-offs beyond price are in fly or sail the Drake Passage.

Is an Antarctica trip worth the money?

It is worth it if you will go ashore, and the honest test is the cost of each day at the Peninsula, not of the whole trip. Oceanwide's 11-day Hondius trip spends days 4 to 8 in Antarctica, so a $9,650 twin porthole berth costs about $1,930 per Antarctic day.³⁰³ Quark's 11-day Ocean Explorer trip has four Peninsula days with daily Zodiac outings and four days crossing the Drake.¹⁷

Landing trips dominate. In 2025-26, IAATO counted 85,195 landed visits and 27,217 cruise-only visitors.³⁶ If seeing penguins at close range matters, the extra cost of an expedition ship over a cruise-only liner is the part that makes the trip worth taking. If a distant view of ice is enough, it is not.

Which Antarctica budget should you pick?

• Lowest price, flexible on cabin and date: a shared berth on Oceanwide in late March, from $7,050 on Plancius or $7,800 on Hondius, if a berth for your gender is left.³ Not for couples who want privacy, or for anyone set on newly hatched chicks, which HX dates to December and January.⁴
• Lowest all-in cost for a couple in our worked example: HX's Highlights of Antarctica, which includes the Buenos Aires hotel, the flights to Ushuaia and tips.⁴ Not for travelers who want a ship of under 200 passengers: Fridtjof Nansen is in IAATO's 201 to 500 passenger category.³⁷
• Balcony without a luxury fare: Viking, where every stateroom has a Nordic Balcony, from $15,999 standard fare.¹ Not for anyone set on stepping out onto a real balcony: the glass wall lowers, but only the Explorer Suite adds a private veranda.³⁸
• Short on time: a fly-cruise from Chile, such as Quark's 8-day World Voyager trip from $19,695.² Not for tight budgets.
• Luxury with no tipping: Seabourn, from $15,998 on Seabourn Pursuit in March, with the Buenos Aires hotel and charter flights included.⁵¹⁰ Not for anyone who would rather spend the money on a longer trip.

For help choosing between ships and lines, see how to choose an Antarctica cruise.