Antarctic Peninsula Holidays & Tailor-made Tours

The most easily navigable region of Antarctica for expedition cruises with stunning ice and glacial landscapes, research stations, incredible wildlife and birds.

Antarctica was discovered relatively late, most likely by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen in 1820. The first explorers to recognise it as a large mass of land were Edward Bransfield and William Smith on January 30th, 1820 (just 3 days after Bellingshausen); they proceeded to chart part of the Antarctic Peninsula. With subsequent exploration and mapping, the northeastern part of the peninsula was named Trinity Peninsula. 

John Biscoe, a British explorer, choose the name Graham Land for the northern Antarctic Peninsula in 1832. With the northern tip of the peninsula being only about 1,000 km (620 miles) from South America, this region attracted commercial whaling and seal hunting expeditions. 

The first aerial surveys by the British Graham Land Expedition (1934-1937) finally confirmed this area to be a peninsula and not just an island connected to the Antarctic Continent by an ice sheet. The term “Antarctic Peninsula” has only been around since 1964, when a long dispute between the United States (wanting to name this territory Palmer Peninsula) and Britain (who insisted on Graham Land) was finally solved.

Reaching out like a tail toward the southern tip of South America, the Antarctic Peninsula features the Bellingshausen Sea on its west coast and the Weddell Sea on its eastern side. It features five of the 15 major ice shelves on the continent (Prince Gustav Ice, Larsen, Wordie, Wilkins and George VI ice shelves). The Antarctic Circle runs through the northern tip of the peninsula and there are no people permanently living on the White Continent anywhere (although it’s home to many research bases). 

East of the tip of the peninsula are the subantarctic islands (such as South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands). Next to the eastern tip of the peninsula is James Ross Island, where you can still discover the expedition huts of explorers Scott and Shackleton. Sailing south from the South American Continent, the first land you will see is King George Island (part of the South Shetland Islands.