Puerto Almanza and the King Crab Route

Puerto Almanza sits where the map of Argentina seems to run out: a fishing hamlet on the Beagle Channel, near the mouth of the Almanza River, with Puerto Williams and Navarino Island across the water in Chile. It lies about 75 kilometers from Ushuaia and is listed as the southernmost settlement in the country, slightly further south than the Fuegian capital itself.

Getting there is half the trip. You leave Ushuaia on National Route 3 and, further on, turn off the pavement onto complementary Route J, a gravel road that winds through the forest down to the Beagle shore. When the channel opens up, the mountains of Navarino rise straight ahead, often with clouds resting on their slopes, and small boats bob at their moorings in the bay.

This is a frontier place with frontier history. In 1899 a decree signed by President Julio A. Roca set out a port here under the name Almanza, but a permanent presence only arrived in 1966, with a Naval Prefecture post. A territorial law in 1987 created the settlement, and the first civilian residents moved in in 1991. The 2022 census counted 85 inhabitants.

Today the village lives off the sea: around thirty families fish the channel by hand for southern king crab (centolla), centollón and other shellfish. That is the origin of the Ruta de la Centolla, roughly 12 kilometers of Route K between Puerto Almanza and Punta Paraná, declared of interest in a bill passed by the Argentine Senate. The idea is simple: taste the crab right where it is caught, with the channel outside the window.

There is not much else to do, and that is the point. Walk the pebbly shore, watch the boats come and go, follow the seabirds over the water and take in the fact that the Chilean town opposite is closer than any Argentine city.

• Tour type: Food and scenery
• Difficulty level: Easy
• Tip: The last stretch is gravel: drive slowly, leave Ushuaia with a full tank and bring warm layers even in summer, because the wind off the channel is strong.