Where to go in Antarctica

If ever there was a name to inspire awe amongst bucket-list travellers, it would be Antarctica. Seemingly the preserve of nature documentaries and historical literature, the surreal 7th continent of the world is an enormous land mass of smooth, flat ice at the end of the Earth – or the very bottom of the globe if we’re being geographically correct. A place of engulfing whiteness, it’s the world’s largest ‘desert’ and (somewhat unfathomably) home to a myriad of extraordinary species and sights so magnificent they are almost unnameable. Protected by the Antarctic Treaty, the ocean teams with humpback whales and hourglass dolphins leaping in the wake of vessels, whilst on the ice, penguins teeter and seals loll in complete symbiosis with the white wilderness. Then, there’s the sparkling ice castles surrounded by miles upon miles of pancake-flat ice; the monolithic icebergs rising from the mists; and the meandering fjords, flanked by ice walls and hulking cliffs. Nothing will prepare you, yet everything will leave a profound impact on your life.