Where the next stop is Antarctica
7 of the Southernmost Cities in the World
Patagonia, Tasmania and the southern tip of New Zealand — these are the cities at the very bottom of the inhabited world.
Far fewer people live near the South Pole than the North — there's simply less land. The southernmost cities are scattered across Patagonia, southern Australia and New Zealand, and most of them double as gateways to Antarctica.
How we chose these ↓ — jump to the full scoring system at the bottom of the article.
Western Cape, South Africa · pop. 3,740,026
Cape Town, at 33.92°S, isn't far enough south to compete on absolute latitude with the Patagonian cities, but it is the southernmost large city on the African continent and one of the most geographically dramatic in the world, wedged between Table Mountain and two oceans.
The city's Cape Floral Region is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the V&A Waterfront is one of the most-visited tourist precincts in Africa.
Wellington, New Zealand · pop. 215,900
Wellington, at 41.29°S, is the world's southernmost national capital — windy, hilly and packed against the deep natural harbour at the southern tip of New Zealand's North Island. The Wellington Fault runs directly through the central business district.
The city is the headquarters of Weta Workshop and Weta FX, the post-production powerhouses behind much of Peter Jackson's filmography, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the country's national museum. It also features on our greenest cities list.
Tasmania, Australia
Hobart, at 42.88°S on Tasmania's Derwent estuary, is Australia's second-oldest capital city (after Sydney) and the southernmost city on the continent. The Royal Hobart Regatta dates from 1838.
The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), opened in 2011 by collector David Walsh, has reshaped the city's tourism economy almost single-handedly and is one of the largest privately funded museums in the southern hemisphere.
Southland, New Zealand · pop. 49,900
Invercargill, at 46.41°S, is the southernmost city of any size in New Zealand — a flat, green oyster-and-meat town facing the Foveaux Strait. Stewart Island, visible across the strait on clear days, is the country's southernmost permanently inhabited settlement.
The city's grid layout was planned by John Turnbull Thomson in the 1850s and the streets are named after Scottish rivers. The Bill Richardson Transport World museum houses one of the world's largest private collections of trucks and antique petrol pumps.
Santa Cruz, Argentina · pop. 115,585
Río Gallegos, at 51.62°S, is the capital of Argentina's Santa Cruz province — a windswept Patagonian city of roughly 100,000. It is one of the windiest cities in the world, with mean wind speeds higher than most coastal cities on any continent.
The city's economy depends on coal from Río Turbio, oil and gas, and increasingly tourism into nearby El Calafate and the Perito Moreno glacier.
Magallanes, Chile · pop. 123,403
Punta Arenas, at 53.16°S on the Strait of Magellan, was the southern hemisphere's pre-Panama-Canal shipping hub. Wool wealth from Chilean Patagonia built grand European-style mansions along the central Plaza Muñoz Gamero, several of which are now museums.
The city is the launching point for tourism into Torres del Paine National Park and the southern Patagonian ice fields, and the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) is based here.
Tierra del Fuego, Argentina · pop. 79,538
Ushuaia, at 54.80°S on Tierra del Fuego, advertises itself as the southernmost city in the world (the smaller Chilean town of Puerto Williams technically holds the record, but Ushuaia is the southernmost place with proper city infrastructure). The Argentine government's tax incentives have grown the population to roughly 80,000.
Most Antarctic cruise expeditions leave from Ushuaia, and the city hosts the offices of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. The Tren del Fin del Mundo, originally built to supply the now-closed Ushuaia prison, runs into Tierra del Fuego National Park.
How we chose these
We sorted by latitude using coordinates from national geographic agencies, then applied a population floor of roughly 30,000 to focus on places with full city infrastructure (a hospital, secondary schools, an airport, year-round services). Chilean Puerto Williams and a handful of smaller research-adjacent towns sit further south but don't function as cities in the ordinary sense. The list deliberately includes a couple of larger southern hemisphere capitals (Wellington, Cape Town) for context, since they anchor the lower latitudes most readers will recognise.
Sources & further reading
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For entertainment only. Rankings on this page are editorial picks compiled from public sources for fun and discovery — they aren't a scientific measurement. Population figures and place details come from open data; see the linked place pages for sources.