Polar Tours with Flights Included

The classic Antarctica trip is an 11-day ship expedition from Ushuaia, Argentina. Day 1-2 board in Ushuaia and sail south. Day 3-4 cross the Drake Passage, 600 nautical miles of open water between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. Day 5-8 zodiac landings on the Peninsula and surrounding islands, weather dictating exactly where. Day 9-10 cross the Drake northbound. Day 11 disembark in Ushuaia.

The window is tight. Antarctic cruise season runs early November to late March, but the sweet spot is mid-December to mid-February, when daylight is effectively 24 hours and the peninsula is most accessible. November gets you pristine ice and courting penguins. January and February get you penguin chicks hatching and whale activity ramping up. March gets you the cheapest fares and the most whales, but sea ice is breaking up and landings can be harder.

Price range per person in a shared twin cabin is €6,500 to €15,000 for the land-and-ship portion of an 11-day itinerary. Suites with balconies on luxury ships push €20,000 plus. Longer itineraries that add South Georgia and the Falkland Islands run 18-23 days and €12,000 to €25,000. Flights from Europe to Ushuaia via Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) add €900 to €1,600 economy, more in peak season.

The Arctic season is the mirror image of Antarctica. Ship expeditions run May to September, land-based aurora trips run late September to early April. Three regions dominate.

Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago at 78 degrees north, is the strongest polar bear ship destination in the world. 7-10 day round-trip expeditions depart from Longyearbyen and circumnavigate Spitsbergen, with zodiac landings for walrus colonies, bird cliffs and glacier fronts. Expect €5,000 to €9,000 per person for the ship portion. Peak season is June to August, when the sea ice is retreating and polar bears are hunting at the ice edge.

Greenland trips split in two. West Greenland around Disko Bay runs small-ship expeditions from Kangerlussuaq or Ilulissat, focused on icebergs and Inuit villages, 7-10 days, €4,000 to €7,500. East Greenland trips leave from Iceland and reach Scoresby Sound, the largest fjord system on earth, 8-12 days, €5,000 to €9,000.

Norway above the Arctic Circle is the cheapest entry point. Tromso, Alta and Kirkenes run 4-7 day winter aurora trips with dog-sledding, reindeer sledges and king-crab safaris, €1,500 to €4,000 land. Finnish Lapland glass-igloo trips from Rovaniemi run 5-7 days, €2,000 to €4,500. These are not expedition cruises but they are the accessible entry to the polar category.

There are three broad ship categories in Antarctica and the Arctic, and the differences matter more than cabin grade does.

Small expedition ships carry 80 to 200 passengers. Examples include Aurora Expeditions Greg Mortimer and Sylvia Earle, Quark Ultramarine, Lindblad National Geographic Endurance, Oceanwide Ortelius and Plancius. Two zodiac rotations per day, small landing groups, typical rate €7,000 to €12,000 for an 11-day Antarctica trip. This is the category to book if wildlife and landings are the point of the trip.

Mid-size cruise ships carry 400 to 1,000 passengers. These ships sail the Drake and cruise the Peninsula but do not land — IAATO rules cap shore visits at 100 passengers at a time, which is impossible to rotate across a 500-pax ship. You see Antarctica from the deck and the zodiac cruise. Cheaper, €4,500 to €8,000, but a fundamentally different trip.

Luxury expedition ships like Scenic Eclipse, Silversea Silver Endeavour and Seabourn Venture carry 200-270 passengers in all-suite configurations with butlers and helicopters. Landings still happen, zodiacs still run, but the on-ship experience is closer to a yacht than a research vessel. Typical rate €12,000 to €25,000 for 11 days. Worth it if the ship time matters to you as much as the ice does.

The specialist operators you see most often on polar itineraries are Aurora Expeditions (Australian, small expedition focus, strong on Antarctica and Svalbard), Hurtigruten Expeditions (Norwegian, hybrid-powered ships, Svalbard and Antarctica), Quark Expeditions (North American, the strongest North Pole and high-Arctic operator), Lindblad-National Geographic (premium expedition with scientist-led talks), G Adventures Expedition (the most affordable small-ship Antarctica option via the Expedition and Xplorer ships), and Oceanwide Expeditions (Dutch, the classic no-frills expedition ship operator with the best value-per-landing ratio).

Book 10 to 18 months ahead for Antarctica peak season cabins, especially for category 3-4 twin shares which sell out first. Svalbard mid-summer fills 8 to 12 months ahead. Greenland has more flexibility, 6 to 9 months. Aurora chasing in Lapland can often be booked 3 to 6 months out.

Last-minute Ushuaia deals do exist and are genuine. Operators sell unsold cabins at 20 to 40 percent off in the week before departure, either through specialist agents in Ushuaia or through platforms like Freestyle Adventure Travel. You need to be physically in Argentina with a week of flexibility, proper polar kit already packed, and insurance in hand. Not a route for a first polar trip, but it is the cheapest way onto a small expedition ship.

Four airports cover almost every polar trip on our pack.

For Antarctica, Ushuaia (USH) is the gateway. From Europe the only sensible routing is via Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE), usually with an overnight in Buenos Aires before a 3.5-hour Aerolineas Argentinas hop to Ushuaia. Round-trip fares from Dublin, London and Amsterdam run €900 to €1,600 economy, €2,800 to €4,500 premium economy. Build in a 2-night Buenos Aires buffer — missing the ship is catastrophic, because it sails on a tide and does not wait.

For Svalbard, fly to Longyearbyen (LYR) via Oslo (OSL) on SAS or Norwegian. Round-trip from Europe runs €250 to €600 economy. Longyearbyen is a 3-hour flight from Oslo and there is no rail or ferry alternative — the only way in is by plane.

For Greenland, Reykjavik Keflavik (KEF) is the European hub. Air Iceland Connect flies Reykjavik to Nuuk, Ilulissat and Kulusuk. Round-trip Europe to Reykjavik runs €200 to €500, onward Greenland legs €350 to €700.

For Lapland, Rovaniemi (RVN), Tromso (TOS) and Kiruna (KRN) are the three winter aurora hubs, each with €150 to €450 round-trip connections from most of Europe. Pre-and-post stays in Buenos Aires, Oslo, Reykjavik or Helsinki are easy to build in and often improve the overall trip cost.