Taking Cape Horn by Cruise

There is nothing like a cruise for hitting all the highlights in a limited amount of time. A feast of diverse adventures awaits on a 13-day South American cruise with Holland America. Departing from Valparaíso, Chile(near Santiago), and ending in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the ship travels around Cape Horn at the continent’s southernmost point.

From the comfort of the 1,350-passenger Veendam ship, see the green hills of Chile’s Lake District, navigate breathtaking fjords, and drift past massive blue glacier walls that tower high above the ship’s smokestack.

The cruise has six ports, with activities as adventurous as rafting on Chile’s glacial Petrohué River and as tame as wine tasting near Valparaíso. Shore excursions are a chance to get up close with nature or local culture: visit a penguin reserve in Punta Arenas and a sea lion sanctuary at Patagonia’s Puerto Madryn; canoe the waters of Tierra del Fuego National Park; take a driving tour of Ushuaia, the world’s southernmost city; and explore the old-world architecture of Montevideo, Uruguay.