Puerto Natales or Ushuaia?

Both sit on cold southern water and neither is a place to swim. The difference is in what you do by the shore instead. In Puerto Natales the gravel waterfront of Última Esperanza Sound is for walks in the wind, and a hotel pool is the only dip on offer. In Ushuaia the rocky, kelp-strewn edge of the Beagle Channel is best seen from a boat deck, and anyone who goes in is doing a polar plunge.

Ushuaia eats a little better. Centolla is its signature, served in several ways, alongside toothfish, channel mussels and lamb on the iron cross, and its centre has more seafood restaurants and parrillas, with long Argentine dinners to linger over.

Puerto Natales shares the lamb and king crab but has a shorter list of restaurants, mostly aimed at trekkers. Its own strengths are local craft beer and Chilean wine, and many places cut back or close in winter.

Ushuaia has the one sight worth planning around: the early twentieth-century prison, now the Maritime Museum, with its radial cell blocks and displays on Antarctic exploration. Smaller museums on the Yámana and the frontier fill out a day.

Puerto Natales offers less: brightly painted timber and corrugated-iron streets, a small municipal museum and the Bories cold-storage plant just outside town. An afternoon covers it.

Neither town has clubs, but Ushuaia stays up later. Argentine dining hours push the evening on, and there are brewpubs, a casino and the odd late bar. Puerto Natales winds down well before midnight, with a craft beer and trail stories in a few pubs in summer, and very little at all in winter.

Both are outstanding, and the difference lies in scale and reach. Puerto Natales is the base for Torres del Paine, about two hours away, with granite towers, the Cuernos, glaciers off the Southern Ice Field and pumas on the steppe, plus boats from the pier to the Balmaceda and Serrano glaciers. It rewards multi-day treks, but the season is October to April.

Ushuaia's wild country begins behind the houses: beech forest and peat bogs in Tierra del Fuego National Park, hikes to the Martial Glacier and Laguna Esmeralda, and sea lion and penguin colonies along the channel. It also works in winter, with skiing at Cerro Castor and dog-sledding, and is the port for Antarctic voyages.

In both places the excursions are into landscape, and neither has much in the way of other towns nearby. Ushuaia has slightly more human interest within reach: Estancia Harberton with its marine mammal museum, lakeside Tolhuin on the way to Lago Fagnano, and a boat across to Puerto Williams. From Puerto Natales the choice is the Bories plant and the Milodón Cave, with Punta Arenas and El Calafate too far for a comfortable day out.

Ushuaia gives children more. Sea lions and penguins from a boat, the little steam train along the old convict railway and snow to play in during winter are easy wins, and the park is close by.

Puerto Natales has the life-size giant sloth at the Milodón Cave and guanacos and flamingos on the road to the park, but its main draw means long drives and tough trails in a draining wind. It suits active families with older children, not toddlers.

Both centres are compact grids you can cross on foot, though Ushuaia's streets climb steeply and can be icy in winter. The gap is in reaching the outdoors. From Ushuaia the national park, glacier trailhead and ski area are short trips by shuttle, taxi or tour, and boats leave from the town pier.

From Puerto Natales the park is a long coach ride, seeing more than one corner in a day needs a tour or a hire car on windy gravel roads, and buses grow sparse outside the season.

Ushuaia has a little more to browse along its main street, with chocolate, wool, penguin souvenirs and outdoor shops, and Tierra del Fuego's tax regime makes some goods cheaper than elsewhere in Argentina. Puerto Natales is more strictly practical: gear and supermarkets for the trail, plus some sheep's wool knitwear, sheepskin and lapis lazuli jewellery.

Neither is cheap for its country, but Ushuaia is the easier on the wallet. Casual meals and hostels stay reasonable there, and visiting in spring or autumn brings room costs down.

Puerto Natales costs more day to day because nearly everything is trucked or flown in, rooms are scarce in summer, and the Torres del Paine extras of park entry, transfers, guided tours and refugio nights mount up fast. Self-catering and booking early are the main savings.

Ushuaia at least has a cultural centre with occasional concerts and local productions, plus some live music in pubs. In Puerto Natales there is nothing regular at all, only a guitarist or folk band now and then and traditional dance at local festivals. Neither is a place to plan evenings around a performance.

Both offer rest rather than a spa culture, and the setting does most of the work. In Puerto Natales the comfort is a sauna or hot tub at an upscale lodge on the sound after a day on the trail. In Ushuaia it is a hotel spa in the forest above town with views over the channel, and a quiet afternoon at the window once the cruise passengers have left.