A tour to Antarctica is at the top of a lot of people’s bucket lists—including mine. But the combination of the time and the expense it takes to go there is a real hurdle for a lot of travelers. But in late 2024, the Lindblad Expeditions – National Geographic partnership will solve one of those two issues.
In Winter 2024, Linblad will kick off two new tours of Antarctica that trim time off the traditional 12- to 22-day itineraries by shortening how long it takes to get to Antarctica. “We wanted to make Antarctica accessible to people with a limited time frame,” says Linblad founder Sven Linblad, whose father led the first citizen-science trips to Antarctica in the mid 1960s.
The eight-day Fly In – Fly Out tour (starting at $9,975 per person) significantly cuts the number of days needed for a tour by reducing the time it takes to cross the Drake Passage. On a ship, the Drake Passage takes about two days; on a flight, it’s two hours. Travelers who have a shorter travel window but want the Drake Passage experience can opt for the 10-day Sail In – Fly Out (starting at $11,950 pp) option.
TourScoop Takeaway
It’s not mentioned in the marketing materials or in the video (worth a watch for the gorgeous scenery alone), but another reason people (me) dread the Drake Passage is that the waters can be pretty rough—a challenge for travelers who are prone to seasickness. This is another big selling point of these shorter tours.
