inspiringholidays.com: Antarctic Cruises

If you're looking for the holiday experience of a lifetime then an Antarctic cruise should be at the top of your list.

Antarctica is a continent of extremes. It is the coldest, windiest, driest, iciest and highest of all the major landmasses in the world. It is the continent with the longest nights and the longest days and it plays host to the greatest concentration of wildlife in the world. It is also one of the last true wilderness areas left on earth and remains largely unchanged since the early explorers and whalers first landed on its inhospitable shores less than two centuries ago.

The lowest temperature ever recorded anywhere on earth (-89.2°C) was recorded on July 21 1983, at Vostok Station. Winds have been recorded at 200 mph in the interior of the continent and the average annual water precipitation in the interior is only about 50 mm.

The continent itself is roughly circular with a spindly arm, called the Antarctic Peninsula, reaching northwards towards Tierra del Fuego in South America, the nearest landmass, some 600 miles away. Considerably larger than either the United States or Europe, and twice the size of Australia, the continent is surrounded by a frozen sea that varies in area from one million square miles in summer to 7.3 million square miles in winter.

Ninety-five percent of the continent of Antarctica is ice covered and contains the freshest water on earth - about 70 percent of all fresh water on earth in fact. The highest point in Antarctica is Vinson Massif, with an altitude of 16,864 feet above sea level; the lowest point is the Bentley Subglacial Trench at 8,200 feet below sea level, located in West Antarctica. Antarctica has the highest average elevation of all the continents at about 7,500 feet about sea level.

The Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands abound with wildlife activity. Penguins gather with their fast-growing chicks, whales are seen in great numbers, seals haul out onto ice floes and beaches, and numerous albatross and other seabirds trail in our wake.

If you would like to visit this land of extremes then you'll need to book well in advance. Only a limited number of expeditions head to Antarctica each year and they book up fast.

Visit inspiringholidays.com for a selection of Antarctic Cruises from top cruise expedition companies like GAP Adventures, Kuoni, Page & Moy, The Adventure Company & Travelsphere: