Once a backwater penal colony in the wilds of southern Chile, Punta Arenas boomed with Patagonia—becoming a haven for gold prospectors and migrant sheep breeders eager to draw wealth from its rugged and verdant surroundings. Today, it still bears all of the lingering relics you’d expect of a 19^th century industry town, and not least of all that sprawling port district. However, Punta has also met the new millennium with tricks up its sleeve, and its once more rising under the patronage of oil conglomerates and mass tourism, both—perhaps a little ironically—drawn by the untouched wilds that dominate the greater Magallanes and Antarctica province all around.

So, once you’re done sipping your southernmost beer at the Austral Brewery, checking out the viewing spots on La Cruz Hill, and exploring the exhibitions of the Museo del Recuerdo, be sure to quiz your Punta Arenas tour guide about breaking out into the Patagonian wilderness. Here, the legendary ski fields of Cerro Mirador and the craggy summits of the Torres del Paine National Park await in earnest.