End of the World Train

The End of the World Train, the Tren del Fin del Mundo, is a narrow-gauge heritage railway that runs 7 km from a station on Route 3, west of Ushuaia, into Tierra del Fuego National Park. It is a short ride on a line with a long story, and most of the confusion around booking it comes from what the ticket does and does not cover.

A railway built for a prison

Ushuaia began as a naval base and penal settlement. Work on the national penitentiary started in 1902, and around 1909–1910 a steam railway was laid to supply the prison and to take inmates into the forests on the slopes of Monte Susana, where they cut lenga timber for fuel and building. The line ran until the prison closed in 1947, was badly damaged by the 1949 earthquake and shut in 1952.

It reopened as a tourist train in 1994, rebuilt to a narrow 500 mm gauge along the valley of the Río Pipo. The fleet’s steam engines include the Ing. L. D. Porta, first named Nora, and Camila, built in England in the mid-1990s. The audio guide on board tells the prison story in ten languages while the train passes the tree cemetery, wide fields of low stumps left by decades of convict logging.

What the ticket covers, and what it leaves to you

Every ticket is a round trip of about 1 hour 45 minutes, including a 20-minute stop at La Macarena, where you can walk to the waterfall and the viewpoint. The train then waits 10 to 15 minutes at Estación Parque Nacional, inside the park, before heading back. Carriages are heated and seats are not numbered; staff seat each party together.

Three things are not in the fare. The first is the national park entry, which every rider needs because the line runs into the park: ARS 40,000 for foreign visitors since 1 June 2026, with children up to six free. The second is transport, since the station sits 8 km from central Ushuaia and the railway runs no shuttle. The third is the rest of the park. Lapataia Bay, Lago Acigami and the end of Route 3 are several kilometres beyond the end of the line, and the train does not go there.

That is why most visitors ride as part of a park tour. The guide collects you in town, drops you at the station, meets you at the park end of the line and drives on to Lapataia. The tour price usually covers transport and guiding only; the train is often a separate option, and the park fee is paid on top. Our getting-there guide covers the park ticket and the drive in detail.

The ticket or a tour?

If you have a car, or are happy to take a taxi and see the park another day, the operator’s own Turista ticket is the simplest way to ride, from $50 per person on GetYourGuide. If you want the whole day handled, a park tour with the train option costs roughly $100 to $125 per person for an October 2026 departure, before the park fee.

The catch is in the headline prices. A park tour advertised from about $50 is usually the tour without the train, so compare the “with train” option rather than the “from” figure. The two best-reviewed park tours here are the national park tour with the train as an option, rated 4.8 from 448 reviews (our breakdown), and the National Park & End of the World Train Tour, the most-reviewed tour on this site with 1,131 reviews (our breakdown). For every option side by side, including private, all-inclusive and Beagle Channel combinations, see which End of the World Train tour is right for you.

Turista or Premium

Both classes ride the same train on the same route. Turista is ARS 70,000 for anyone 13 or older until the end of September 2026 and ARS 80,000 from October 2026 to March 2027. Premium costs ARS 217,000, rising to ARS 250,000, and adds priority boarding, a premium carriage, souvenirs, a workshop visit when operations allow and a meal: breakfast on the first departure, lunch on the two later ones. Foreign visitors and Argentines pay the same fare. First class no longer appears on the operator’s site. The tickets and prices guide has children’s fares and the cancellation terms.

When to go

The train runs every day of the year, in snow as well as summer, and cancels only in extreme weather. From September to April it leaves at 9:30, 12:00 and 15:00; from May to August at 9:45, 12:15 and 15:00, and you check in 45 minutes before departure. The schedule guide has the full season-by-season detail.

Each season changes the ride. Midsummer brings more than 17 hours of daylight and green lenga forest, and average highs around 13 °C. Autumn turns the valley red and gold. From June to September snow is likely, days are short and the steam hangs in the cold air, which is when the heated carriages earn their keep. December to February is the busy season, when most cruise ships call and departures sell out, so book those dates well ahead.

Making the day work

A morning departure leaves the afternoon for the rest of the park, and the park’s opening hours are longest in summer, 8:00 to 21:00 from December to February. If you are arriving by ship, a shore excursion timed to your sailing is the safer choice; the Ushuaia shore excursions page compares the options that fit a port day. For the park itself, the lakes, the coastal trail and the famous sign at Lapataia, start with the Tierra del Fuego National Park tour page. If you want the Beagle Channel and its lighthouse in the same day, the national park, train and Beagle Channel combination is the full-day version.

Not sure it is worth the money? The honest verdict weighs it against simply touring the park. Ready to pick a date? Check availability for the train.