31 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in Antarctica - Atlas Obscura

Unusual Attractions in Antarctica

Blood Falls

Natural time capsule containing an alien ecosystem.

Deception Island

An abandoned whaling station on an active volcano offers hot springs in Antarctica, surrounded by ruined giants of industry.

Mt. Erebus

Fire meets ice at the southernmost volcano on Earth.

The Bar at Vernadsky Research Base

The world's southernmost bar.

Antarctic Exploration Museum & Post Office

The best place to send your postcards home from Antarctica.

The Ceremonial South Pole

Naked scientists race around the pole in the frigid cold to try to join Antarctica's exclusive 300 Club.

IceCube Research Station

The world's largest neutrino telescope searches for secrets of the universe at the South Pole.

Trinity Church on King George Island

Russian Orthodox church built on an Antarctic island.

See All 31 Things to Do in Antarctica See All 31 Places

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Cool Places to Eat & Drink in Antarctica

The Bar at Vernadsky Research Base

The world's southernmost bar.

Explore Antarctica

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Antarctica Leaderboard

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niamhmurphy1993 wants to go to Blood Falls

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janepeytonjohnson wants to go to Mt. Erebus

Vaquero updated Allan Hills

Stories About Antarctica

A carved post, or <em>pouwhenua</em>, erected at New Zealand's Scott Base in 2013, overlooks the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

Can the Māori Connection to Antarctica Help Safeguard the Continent’s Future?

Indigenous ties to the bottom of the world go back more than a millennium, and could point the way forward.

by Gemma Tarlach

Ernest Shackleton, Captain Robert Falcon Scott, and Edward Wilson (right to left) as they were preparing to explore the Ross Ice Shelf as part of the British National Antarctic Expedition in November 1902.

Why Did Antarctic Explorer Ernest Shackleton Keep 'Conking Out'?

A vitamin deficiency may have changed the course of a continent's history.

by Gemma Tarlach

An iceberg floats in the Atlantic Ocean, April 26, 2017 off the coast of Port Kirwan, Newfoundland, Canada. Icebergs break off from Baffin Island and Greenland every spring and drift down the stretch of water along the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador known as Iceberg Alley. According to media reports, the higher number of icebergs this season can be attributed to uncommonly strong counter-clockwise winds that draw the icebergs south and possibly global warming, which could be making Greenland's ice sheet melt faster.

The Iceberg Trackers Keeping an Eye on the Ocean's Behemoths

As well as smaller bergs that can be more dangerous to ships.

The camera descended beneath the ice, and found something researchers didn't expect: life.

Scientists Accidentally Discovered Strange Creatures Under Half a Mile of Ice

Researchers drilled through an Antarctic ice shelf to sample sediment. But they found animals that weren't supposed to be there.

Members of Ernest Shackleton's crew grooved to a gramophone.

Lessons on Enduring a Lonely Winter From Antarctic Voyagers

They whiled away the dark months with poetry, banjos, and Russian grammar—and you can, too.

by Daniella McCahey

January 6, 2021

A crew tackling the massive of task of dissecting a whale in Antarctica circa 1935.

Over 200 Years, Humans Have Hunted Some of Antarctica's Animals Almost to Extinction

"We left the dead things, raw and meaty, lying on the beach," one sealer recalled.

by Daniella McCahey and Alessandro Antonello

December 8, 2020

A South Pole portrait of Robert Schwarz in June 2018.

The Power of a South Pole Sunrise After Six Months of Darkness

Astrophysicist Robert Schwarz has spent more winters at the southern tip of the world than any human in history.

by Marissa Grunes

November 16, 2020

Robert Falcon Scott’s 1902 Discovery Hut, at Hut Point, with Observation Hill in the background.

Preserved Antarctic Huts Reveal the Isolated Existence of Early Explorers

They "were essentially stuck in their bunks for the whole winter."

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