For those with a bucket list more expansive than most, securing a place at one of these out-of-this-world Antarctic resorts can be the pinnacle of a lifelong adventure. Among them, the seven-night/eight-day South Pole & Emperors trip includes the soul-stirring sight of a 1,000-plus colony of bumbling, chirpy Emperor penguins at Akta Bay and (at an additional cost) a journey to the geographic nadir of Mother Earth in a specialized, expeditionary tented base whose nearest neighbor is a NASA space station orbiting 250 miles overhead.

A Guide to Booking a Stay at a Luxury Hotel in the South Pole

Founded by two world-record-breaking polar explorers, South Pole Central Accommodation is the first and only luxury operator to whisk guests into Antarctica’s forbidding interior in addition to its two other 12-person polar camps — Wolf’s Fang and Whichaway. Guests arrive at these oases on Queen Maud Land, an Antarctic territory that resembles a pizza slice, via chartered private jet from Cape Town, to leave a minimal footprint behind when it’s time to pack up and head home.

Guests are housed in either heated tents or space-inspired Sky Pods, which are decked out with luxury furnishings and faux-fur throws, and feature a glazed wall that opens up to the elements in winter when the lodge is in operation. The all-South African front-of-house staff carries on the country’s renowned hospitality culture and seems genuinely happy to be working in frigid, off-grid Antarctica – and someone is always around to fulfill a request, answer questions or engage in organic chit-chat in the main hub.