Cold, dry and rarely visited, Antarctica is a dream trip for the adventure traveler. For much of your trip, all you’ll see is yourself, your travel companions and nature. The only human residents are a few thousand scientists at a handful of scientific bases scattered across Earth’s fifth-largest continent. It’s not a country, it’s an international research zone. Scientists from all over the world make their home temporarily in Antarctica to study everything from penguins to global warming. Your best bet to exploring the continent long-term is to become a scientist and be sent there for research. For the rest of us, short-term travel like shore excursions from Antarctic cruises, airplane or helicopter tours, and private overland tours are the way to go.

If you can’t schedule a full-blown trip to Antarctica, you could add a flight over the continent as a day-trip from Australia. It’s a full day trip with over 12 hours of flight time (four over the continent). Some operators offer the option of staying in Antarctica for a night or two before the flight back. Both options allow visitors the chance to see the icy landscape, incredible ice shelves, and some of the wildlife that inhabits the continent and surrounding waters.

The chilly desert of Antarctica is dominated by ice with minimal snowfall. The climate is frigid and harsh. It supports little plant life and there are no land mammals or reptiles native to Antarctica. There are, however, a large number of migratory birds. Black and white penguins and slippery-looking seals are highlights of wildlife-watching. In the water, you’ll be able to spot many marine species including whales as your ship flits along the Antarctic coast. Antarctica is one of the few truly new frontiers for humans on Earth - even though there are residents in the form of researchers here, Antarctica is still nature at its untouched best.

A trip to Antarctica is not a vacation, it’s an adventure. It’s tough to get there, but rewarding once you arrive. Most travel to Antarctica by boat with a cruise company or on a research vessel. Once you’ve arrived you could head to the South Pole (with a guide, of course). There’s a research station at the Pole that you can sometimes tour and there are a couple sites to see surrounding the South Pole. Stop at the Ceremonial Pole for photos among the flags of the signatories of the Antarctic Treaty.

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