Polar Tours with Flights Included

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

The window is tight. The Antarctic cruise season runs early November to late March, but the sweet spot is mid-December to mid-February, when daylight is effectively round the clock and the peninsula is at its most accessible. November brings pristine ice and courting penguins. January and February bring hatching chicks and whales building up. March brings the cheapest fares and the most whales, but the sea ice is breaking up and landings can get harder.

Reckon on from around €6,500 per person in a shared twin cabin for the ship portion of an 11-day itinerary. Balconied suites on luxury ships push past €20,000. Longer itineraries that fold in South Georgia and the Falkland Islands run 18-23 days from around €12,000. Flights from Europe to Ushuaia via Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) add from around €900 in 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 lead the way.

Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago at 78 degrees north, is the finest polar bear ship destination on earth. 7-10 day round-trip expeditions sail from Longyearbyen and circumnavigate Spitsbergen, with zodiac landings for walrus colonies, bird cliffs and glacier fronts. Expect from around €5,000 per person for the ship portion. Peak season is June to August, when the sea ice retreats and polar bears hunt at the ice edge.

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

Norway above the Arctic Circle is the most affordable way in. Tromso, Alta and Kirkenes run 4-7 day winter aurora trips with dog-sledding, reindeer sledges and king-crab safaris, from around €1,500 for the trip. Finnish Lapland glass-igloo stays from Rovaniemi run 5-7 days, from around €2,000. These are not expedition cruises, but they are the gentlest doorway into the polar world.

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

Small expedition ships carry 80 to 200 passengers. The likes of Aurora Expeditions' Greg Mortimer and Sylvia Earle, Quark's Ultramarine, Lindblad's National Geographic Endurance, and Oceanwide's Ortelius and Plancius. Two zodiac rotations a day, small landing groups, typically from around €7,000 for an 11-day Antarctica trip. This is the category to book if the wildlife and the landings are the whole reason you are going.

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

Luxury expedition ships like Scenic Eclipse, Silversea's Silver Endeavour and Seabourn Venture carry 200-270 passengers in all-suite layouts with butlers and helicopters. The landings still happen and the zodiacs still run, but the time aboard feels closer to a private yacht than a research vessel. Typically from around €12,000 for 11 days. Worth it if the ship matters to you as much as the ice does.

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

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

Last-minute Ushuaia deals are real and genuinely good. Operators sell off unsold cabins at 20 to 40 percent off in the week before departure, either through specialist agents in Ushuaia or platforms like Freestyle Adventure Travel. The catch: you need to be in Argentina already, with a week of flexibility, your polar kit packed, and insurance in hand. Not one for a first polar trip, but it is the cheapest way onto a small expedition ship there is.

Four airports cover almost every polar trip we list.

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 from around €900 in economy, from around €2,800 in premium economy. Build in a 2-night Buenos Aires buffer, because missing the ship is a disaster: it sails on the tide and waits for no one.

For Svalbard, fly to Longyearbyen (LYR) via Oslo (OSL) on SAS or Norwegian. Round-trip from Europe runs from around €250 in 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 from around €200, with onward Greenland legs from around €350.

For Lapland, Rovaniemi (RVN), Tromso (TOS) and Kiruna (KRN) are the three winter aurora hubs, each with round-trip connections from around €150 from most of Europe. A night or two either side in Buenos Aires, Oslo, Reykjavik or Helsinki is easy to build in and often improves the trip overall.