Antarctic gateway cities

[1] From west to east, they are Punta Arenas, Chile; Ushuaia, Argentina; Cape Town, South Africa; Hobart, Australia; and Christchurch, New Zealand.

Each of the gateway cities accommodate both planes and ships traveling to Antarctica, and generally service the areas of the continent closest to them.

In the 1820s when mainland Antarctica was first discovered, the current gateway cities didn't have the infrastructure to support expeditions so ships departed from more northerly ports such as Valparaíso, Chile and Sydney, Australia.

For instance, Shanghai has a growing role through the Polar Research Institute of China and could potentially become recognized as a gateway city in the future.

[17] In recent years the cities have seen efforts by municipal officials to promote stronger relationships with the continent, such as Antarctic festivals, education programs for K-12 students, museum exhibits, and public outreach campaigns.

[23][24] Christchurch offers almost no commercial travel to Antarctica, but it is a logistics center for the national Antarctic programs of New Zealand, the United States, Italy, and South Korea.

[25] In addition to its services for national Antarctic programs, Christchurch is home to several locations and events for the local public.

A crowd of people stand on a dock in front of a three-masted tall ship. The sails are down but there are many flags flying.
The Southern Cross docked in Hobart, Australia before its departure for Antarctica, December 17, 1898
A city is seen from the deck of a docked cruise ship.
A view of Ushuaia from the deck of an Antarctic cruise ship
A white statue of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott stands in front of a group of trees. The statue is white and shows Scott wearing many layers of fur and other clothing, as he would have done while in Antarctica.
A statue of Robert Falcon Scott in Christchurch. Scott traveled through Christchurch on his Discovery and Terra Nova expeditions.