A penguin tour to Magdalena Island, or a longer road to king penguins?

For Punta Arenas penguins on Magdalena Island are the obvious first choice. CONAF guards it as half of Los Pinguinos Natural Monument, a pair of islands 35 km up the strait to the northeast of the city.⁸ The park agency puts the breeders at roughly 7,000 pairs, while the tourism board writes of upwards of 120,000 Magellanic penguins in residence.^9,10

What makes Magdalena special is that you walk among the birds rather than watch them through a scope. A marked trail of 1.4 km crosses the colony, and the rule is to stay at least 2 metres away from every bird.^11,12 In practice penguins cross the path in front of you, stand at the mouths of their burrows and call to each other a few steps away.

Our trip adds Marta Island, watched from the boat for 30 minutes, and lasts 5 hours from the meeting point. Seats start at $160 and can be released without charge until a day ahead. The catch is the calendar: landings for 2026-2027 begin on 15 October 2026 and end with 31 March 2027, so winter is off the table.⁴

If whales tempt you as much as penguins, the long sail to Francisco Coloane Marine Park is the third option. Chile Travel calls it the country's first protected marine area and a main feeding ground for humpback whales, and day trips from Punta Arenas last 10 to 12 hours.¹⁵ Magellanic penguins live there too, alongside sei and minke whales, orcas and dolphins.¹³

The whale listing in our table is a 12-hour outing that sets off from Jose Nogueira street too, giving 3 hours to the park itself after long passages down the strait and around Cabo Froward. It starts from $365 and carries 394 reviews averaging 4.8. It is the dearest day on this page, and the longest stretch on the water.

Timing matters for whales. Chile Travel puts the best whale months from October to April with a peak in January and February, while the best penguin months run from October to March.⁷ A traveller with a free week in midsummer could do both, but with a single spare day you will see more animals for less money on Magdalena.

If Punta Arenas gives you a spare morning or afternoon, Magdalena earns it. It is short, it lands you inside a large colony, and it keeps the rules that protect the birds: 1 hour ashore, a roped path, 2 metres of distance and a guide certified by CONAF.^25,12,26 That combination of closeness and care is hard to match on the other trips.

It suits families, photographers with a mid-range zoom, and anyone who wants penguins without giving up a whole day. It is a poorer fit for anyone who struggles on uneven ground or boat steps, and our listing advises such travellers against it. Anyone set on king penguins, the tall birds with orange on the head, needs the Tierra del Fuego day instead.

If you can spare an extra day, do both. Sail to Magdalena on one day and drive to the king penguins on another, and put Magdalena early in the plan: a small boat to a small island is easy to lose to wind, and a spare morning gives you another chance. The ferry day has its own weather caveats, and its operator warns against booking a flight or bus the same night.