There's a new hotel at the bottom of the world, and unless you're sailing to Antarctica with Silversea, you can't book a room. Cormorant at 55 South has just opened in Puerto Williams, Chile — the southernmost city on the planet — and it exists for one purpose: to house guests before and after the cruise line's Antarctica fly cruises.
The property has 150 rooms looking out over either the Beagle Channel or the subantarctic forest, plus three spots to eat and drink: Bar Sur, pouring Chilean wine; Latitude 55, serving local dishes; and the Fireplace Lounge for colder evenings. It's purpose-built rather than a conversion, which matters in a town that previously had limited capacity for the influx of polar travellers.
The logistics are the real story here. Silversea's fly cruises have always started with a commercial flight to Santiago, followed by a charter to southern Chile, but guests used to overnight in Punta Arenas, further north. Now they'll spend a night at Cormorant at 55 South, then fly straight to King George Island in Antarctica to board the ship — skipping the Drake Passage entirely, which is the whole appeal for anyone dreading two days of the roughest seas in the world. The pattern repeats at the end: one more hotel night before flying home.
Silversea is running 29 of these fly cruises through March 2027, using three ships: Silver Endeavour, Silver Wind and Silver Cloud. Fares start from £9,300 per person, with the hotel nights built in. Beyond the fly option, the line has 40 Antarctica voyages in total, from six to 21 nights, taking in the Antarctic Peninsula plus South Georgia and the Falkland Islands on longer itineraries.
One nice touch: the same expedition experts who guide the Antarctic voyages will be on hand at the hotel, so if you arrive a day early or want to stretch your legs, they can organise kayaking on the Beagle Channel, guided hikes on Navarino Island or horse riding. Puerto Williams sits on the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego across from Ushuaia in Argentina, so the surroundings are genuinely wild — this isn't a layover you'll want to spend entirely indoors.
Why it matters: until now, flying to Antarctica meant accepting fairly basic accommodation at the gateway towns. A dedicated 150-room hotel changes the comfort calculus for the fly-cruise option, which already carries a premium but saves travellers the Drake Passage crossing. If you've got the budget and limited time, this makes the shortest Antarctica trips smoother at both ends. For everyone else, it's a signal that Antarctic tourism infrastructure keeps expanding — and that Puerto Williams may start appearing on more Patagonian itineraries in its own right.
