Luxury cruise line Silversea has opened The Cormorant at 55 South, a 150-room hotel in Puerto Williams, Chile, the southernmost city on Earth. The property now serves as the starting point for the company’s Antarctica voyages.
Puerto Williams sits on the Beagle Channel, at the foot of the Dientes de Navarino mountains. Until now, the small town offered only limited accommodation, and the new hotel brings a much higher level of comfort to the area. It was developed with a consortium of Chilean investors.
The Cormorant is the first hotel for Silversea. Cruise lines are increasingly offering more than ocean and river ships, with some opening their own beach clubs and private islands. Silversea is the latest to extend its hospitality on land.
The hotel is the new gateway to Silversea’s Antarctica Fly Cruise programme. Every guest now arrives in Puerto Williams on a Silversea-branded charter flight and stays at The Cormorant before flying across the Drake Passage to board their expedition ship, avoiding two days of sailing in each direction. Guests stay at the hotel again on the way back.
Most rooms are reserved for these passengers, but Silversea may open a few to independent travellers exploring southern Chile.
The hotel officially opened on 5 November with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Silversea executives, Chilean national and regional authorities and members of the local community. The event celebrated the music, history and community of Chile’s far south.
Folk ensemble Los Chamames de la Patagonia performed a Patagonian chamamé with children from a local folk group, and local schoolchildren sang the Chilean national anthem. The ribbon, handwoven by local artisans from natural junco fibres, showed a chain of linked circles symbolising the connections between people, cultures and territories, and the meeting point between Patagonia, its communities and travellers from around the world.
“Today marks a defining moment for Silversea,” said Bert Hernandez, president of Silversea. “We opened The Cormorant at 55 South to make the journey to Antarctica easier and more comfortable for our guests. Now the expedition begins here, in a hotel designed around Puerto Williams, with the same service our guests expect while on board our ships.”
The hotel was built using modular construction. All 150 rooms were made in Mendoza, Argentina, then transported across the Andes and Patagonia to Puerto Williams. Each room overlooks either the Beagle Channel or the forest.
The architecture and interiors draw on the local landscape, traditions and materials. Three large-scale works by Chilean artists Paola Vezzani, Cata Flaño and Javier Canales bring the landscape, geology and ecology of the region indoors.
The restaurant, Latitude 55, is named after the hotel’s position near the 55th parallel south and serves dishes based on regional ingredients and Chilean traditions such as asado. Bar Sur offers teas during the day and a wine list covering Chile from north to south, while the Fireplace lounge looks out over the Patagonian landscape through large windows.
Outside, guests can kayak on the Beagle Channel, hike the coastal trails of Seno Lauta or go horse riding, with the chance to spot cormorants, dolphin gulls and upland geese.
