About South Pole
The Geographic South Pole is travel's ultimate full stop: 90° south, the axis of the Earth, where every direction you face is north, all time zones meet, and the ice beneath your boots is nearly two miles thick. Here Amundsen and Scott closed the heroic age of exploration in 1911–12, and reaching it today — by ski-equipped aircraft across a thousand miles of ice sheet — still counts among the rarest journeys a traveler can make; fewer people have stood at the Pole than have summited Everest.
Visitors pose at the ceremonial pole with its mirrored globe and ring of flags, then walk the few steps to the true geographic marker, repositioned each New Year's Day as the ice sheet slides. Beside it hums the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, humanity's most remote research outpost. The polar plateau itself is a place of extremes worth experiencing simply to have felt: 9,300 feet of altitude, air that can crackle at forty below in high summer, and a silence and emptiness unlike anywhere else on Earth.
Pavlus Recommendations
How our planners would spend a day in South Pole.
Circle the world in ten steps
Walk a small ring around the geographic marker and you've crossed every line of longitude and every time zone on Earth — the planet's only lap that takes seconds.
Toast at the ceremonial pole
The mirrored sphere ringed by the original signatory nations' flags is the classic photograph — champagne optional but traditional, gloves non-negotiable.
Honor Amundsen and Scott
Standing where the great race ended — Amundsen first on December 14, 1911; Scott, heartbroken, 34 days later — gives the polar story a power no book can match.
Tours That Visit South Pole
| Tour | Tour Partner | Days | Next Departure | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Pole & Penguins | White Desert | 7 | Dec 1, 2026 | $95,000View & Get Price |
| South Pole & Blue Rivers | White Desert | 7 | Call for dates | $115,500View & Get Price |
| The Long Stay | White Desert | 8 | Jan 26, 2027 | $110,000View & Get Price |
Book any of these through Pavlus and pay less — never a service fee. Browse the full catalog → or call 800-528-9300 for your unadvertised Pavlus price.