Pira Tour
4WD, ATV & Off-Road ToursHiking & Camping ToursNature & Wildlife ToursKayaking & CanoeingDay Trips
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
About
With Piratour Travel you can make your dream trip in Ushuaia! You can navigate along the Beagle Channel, walk among penguins, enjoy breathtaking trekkings around the area, live 4x4 experience and much more... Explore Patagonia with us!.
Ushuaia, Province of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
Meets animal welfare guidelines

Awards
Travellers' Choice
2023

Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listing
Travellers talk about
(15 reviews)

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles657 reviews
Excellent
521
Very good
86
Average
18
Poor
8
Terrible
24

Madeleine M
London, UK32 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2024 • Couples
PiraTour is the only tour company where you can walk on Martillo Island, where the Gentoo and Magellanic penguins, hence the much higher price tag. All the other tours go by with a boat, but don't get off the boat. With this tour, you actually walk right up close with the penguins.

Our tour started at 9.30am and your have to be at the PiraTour office by the tourist port/tourist information half an hour before yo sign in. You'll need your passport number (but don't need to bring your actual passport).

Groups of 18 travel by minibus for 1h40 to Estancia Harberton, where the small boat then takes you 10 minutes to Martillo Island. At Harberton there was the opportunity to use the toilet and then it was straight on to the boat.

You spend one hour on the island, walking around different parts with the guide. You're told to remain three metres away from the penguins, and a few people taking photos had to be told often to step back. It was amazing being able to get up so close to so many penguins, and we saw lots sitting down in their nests, and lots of juveniles shedding their down. In one of the central areas there is a roped off central walkway up some stairs, surrounded by hundreds of penguins. It really is an unbelievable and surreal experience!

You then get back on the little boat and back to the ranch, and get taken to the Acatushun Museum, which is a museum full of skeletons of whales, dolphins, sea lions, etc. The scientists and curators bring any dead creatures here and have student helpers, and they clean and display the skeletons. There's a guided talk (different groups in English and Spanish) which is short but quite interesting. You then get back on the bus for the journey back to Ushuaia. Our tour started at 9.30am and we were back in Ushuaia by 3.30pm.

We paid $160 per person, which included the entry to Estancia Harberton (ARS 20,000). The ranch is closed on Tuesdays but the price is the same even if it's closed. Speaking to somebody who went on a Tuesday, they said the toilet block was closed so people just had to go in the bushes. Something to bear in mind! I would have liked to have seen the proper Harberton museum, had a tour of the ranch and perhaps seen the tea house. In that way, I don't feel like I really experienced the ranch as all we got to see were the Acatushun museum and the toilet block. However, the main reason for the tour is of course the amazing penguins! If you wanted to properly look round Estancia Harberton, you'd need to visit again, not on this tour.

There's no food, and no opportunity to buy food, so being your own lunch/snacks to eat on the bus home. Eating is not allowed on Martillo Island, and you go straight to the museum from the little boat, so you can't eat anything then.

The tour is available in two options - just the penguins/ranch ('land') or with a second part in the evening, to navigate the Beagle channel ('navigation with Beagle'). The latter costs $40 more and includes the port fees. The second part can also be booked separately; we couldn't get on the Beagle part the same day as our penguin trip as others had booked it up, so went the next day.

The Beagle navigation lasts 2.5 hours, setting sail at 6pm and back by 8.30pm. It is on a catamaran holding 53 people, so much smaller than the big boats. You sail past two different types of sea lions, two types of cormorants, and the Les Eclaireurs lighthouse. The captain is excellent at piloting the boat so that it gets close to the little islands and rocks so that you get a really close look. The guide gave lots of helpful and interesting information along the way. Make sure to bring a hat as it gets windy!
Written 17 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jeff L
3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Couples
This was one of the best experiences of my life. Being present with the penguins was amazing. Fabricio was an amazing guide, and explained a lot about the area and history. Definitely recommend.
Written 29 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Elizabeth S
Baltimore, MD3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2024 • Family
If you want to see penguins, this tour is well worth it! We had a fabulous time- the driver was great and our tour guide Fabricio was outstanding- very knowledgeable, super friendly and absolutely impeccable English. The tour was run very efficiently and safely.
Written 23 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Edward Blake
St. Thomas7 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Fabricio was our guide and we couldn’t ask for more. Great English as a native Spanish speaker. Very funny, very informative, after doing 2 weeks in Patagonia and going on 8 tours, he was the best of a great bunch of tour guides. The trip of walking next to penguins and being immersed in the experience was unbelievable. Got to go to a museum after that was small but amazing animal skeleton. Unforgettable, I would’ve paid 3x as much for the same experience. Fabricio made it even more worth it.
Written 11 February 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Bass957
Beverly, MA20 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2023 • Family
We did the penguin rookery tour on Isla Martillo with Piratour: it was fantastic, a memory for life! The guide was very knowledgeable, the trip (bus + boat) was very well organized and of course the penguins were an unforgettable sight.
Written 24 January 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

nohassle1956
gulf shores315 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Couples
My wife and I did the combo tour Martillo Island and the beagle channel. The cost for 2 is $600.00. pricey to say the least. The representatives of the company are friendly and efficient. The tour is filled with filler. The ride from town and back is 3 hours. When you get there they split the group into 2 groups. One group goes to the island. Each group has a hour on the island. They do not have anything for the other group to do so they take to a small museum to bore you to death about whale bones. 4 hours total filler. You spend a 1/2 hour on the island and see very few penguins. This whole tour was a snooze fest. On the beagle channel in afternoon there is really nothing to see. Also a snooze fest. Wouldn't do this tour again at any price.
Written 5 December 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Neale1810
Kingston-upon-Hull, UK2,732 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Family
Penguins are so special and living in the northern hemisphere we rarely get the opportunity to see them in the wild so it seemed a no-brainer to sign up to a tour to see them during our recent visit to Ushuaia. Despite many companies advertising you can see penguins on their tours it’s only the Piratour company that is allowed to land on the island and allow people to walk with the penguins.

We booked almost 3 months ahead of time to make sure we were able to do the tour. A few emails about availability later and we were paying the 300 USD via PayPal. It wasn’t until we had paid and received 2 tickets that we realised we had actually signed up for a walk with penguins in the morning and a boat tour on the Beagle channel in the late afternoon. Another couple on our Patagonian tour just did the penguin walk so just check that you are paying for what you want to do.

You start off with a 1hr 45min bus ride to the nearest land area to the penguin island. As they are only allowed to have 20 people on the island at once and there were 40 of us we split into 2 groups. Our group had a tour of the research centre first where we were told about the marine life in the area via the media of the skeletons of dolphins, whales, sea lions etc. This was OK rather than great but then the groups swapped over.

You transfer to the penguins island with a speedboat which takes 10 mins max. You then spend an hour walking past the 2 types of penguins and seeing them sitting on their eggs. The guide does a good job in enforcing the rules so you don’t venture too close but equally have the opportunity to take some nice photos.

We arrived back in Ushuaia at 1:30 pm and then we waited until 6pm for the second part of the tour to start. Not sure this gap between the 2 enhances the experience and maybe people chose to not do the second part.

The catamaran trip takes 2.5hrs and it takes you along the Beagle Channel to the small islands where various birds and sea-lions were living. The captain does a good job in getting the boat close enough for everyone to see and get some good photos. The trip ends with a circumnavigation of the 100 year old lighthouse before taking a route along the coast back to Ushuaia.
Written 1 December 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Ruslan N
New York City, NY16 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Couples
We booked a two-part tour with AM departure to Isla Martillo & PM departure to Canal Beagle.
The first part of the tour was enjoyable, although the Acatushun museum which we visited on our way to Isla Martillo was underwhelming.
The second part of the tour was more disappointing. The checkin process at the pira tour office and waiting for boarding took more than 1 hour which could have been avoided. We were unpleasantly surprised when we had to board a huge catamaran. That’s different from what we had signed up for. We were reassured by pira tour via email that we would be joining the tour on a yacht with limited number of people - not a catamaran with more than 150 individuals.
This lack of transparency is disappointing and reflects poorly on the company. We paid US$600 for 2 persons - which is a triple charge due to the exchange rate that was applied. Therefore our expectations were not quite met, at least for the second part of the tour.
Written 27 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

dull2shinetoo
Harrisonburg, VA33 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Solo
Small group tour for a unique experience. The communication prior to the tour was exceptional, no e-mail went unanswered. Friendly, knowledgeable guide, driver, and boat operator, the love for nature that these folks embue was refreshing.
Written 26 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jennifer W
4 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2023 • Friends
Amazing tour in Ushuaia. Tomas showed us the best view in Ushuaia, thank you for your amazing tour and for giving us so much to look at.
Written 26 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Showing results 1-10 of 311

PIRA TOUR (Ushuaia) - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go