Antarctica Costs $22,500. What Do These 5 Remote Marathons Really Cost?

Union Glacier, Antarctica

15 Remote Marathons: Entry Fees, Registration, and Cancellation Policies at a Glance

Here's where the five races stand as of October 25, 2026. · Antarctic Ice Marathon — Union Glacier, Antarctica · December 13, 2026 · Registration open for 2026 and 2027 · $22,500 (includes round-trip flights to Antarctica plus camp lodging and meals); the cancellation fee for the 2027 race is $7,500 through November 30, 2026 · Polar Circle Marathon — Kangerlussuaq, Greenland · Ended October 24, 2026 · 2027 date not yet announced · Packages from €2,895 + €350 race entry; cancel from 75 days before departure and 85 percent is withheld · Icefjord Midnight Marathon — Ilulissat, Greenland · June 5, 2027 · Registration open · Packages from €3,300 + €300 race entry; same cancellation terms as the Polar Circle · Midnight Sun Marathon — Tromsø, Norway · June 19, 2027 · Registration open · Full marathon 1,200 Norwegian kroner; no refunds · Patagonian International Marathon — Torres del Paine, Chile · September 4, 2027 · Registration open · Full marathon international rate $382; partial refunds depending on how long after payment you cancel In Greenland, you have to add the race entry to the package to get the real floor price: €3,245 for the Polar Circle and from €3,600 for the Icefjord. Under the terms of Albatros, the travel company that runs both races, a deposit of 25 percent of the total is due up front and is nonrefundable, and the balance is due 75 days before departure.

Cancel after that 75-day mark and 85 percent is withheld; from 15 days out, nothing comes back. Transfers to another person or another race must be requested at least 76 days before departure and cost €100. Insurance is mandatory.

For Antarctica, the organizer's FAQ spells out what the $22,500 doesn't cover: commercial flights to Punta Arenas, lodging and meals there, personal gear and clothing, excess baggage, satellite phone charges in Antarctica, insurance, and every cost incurred while flights are delayed in Punta Arenas. Emergency medical evacuation insurance for Antarctica is mandatory, and the organizer says it typically runs around $100. The 2027 race follows the same tentative schedule as 2026.

Register by December 31, 2026, and pay $21,900 in full at the time of registration, and you save $600. You can also pay in three installments of $7,500. Spots are limited to the number of seats on the plane and fill on a first-come, first-served basis.

The cancellation fee climbs with the calendar. For the 2027 race, it's $7,500 through November 30, 2026; $15,000 from December 1 through May 31, 2027; and the full $22,500 from June 1—never more than what you've paid to that point. You can't defer to the following year, but you can find someone to run in your place or transfer your spot to another person.

In Antarctica, the plane ultimately sets the schedule. The 2023 men's winner explained on "The Kaleb Bryan Podcast" that the ice runway has no control tower, so pilots use the weather to decide 24 to 48 hours ahead whether they can land and take off again that day. The organizer's FAQ includes this line: "Days of delay can be normal for Antarctic flights."

It goes on to advise against scheduling anything important for at least two weeks after your planned return date.

Antarctic Ice Marathon 2026Sun, December 13, 2026 · D-49 · Union Glacier, AntarcticaSee race details

Kangerlussuaq, Greenland

2Polar Circle Marathon, Greenland: A €2,895 Package, Plus €350 for the Race Entry

The full marathon at the 2026 Polar Circle Marathon started at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 24, with a 7-hour time limit.

The half went off the next day at 8:30 a.m. with a 4-hour limit, and runners who do both days earn the Polar Bear Challenge medal.

The official website covers it in one line: "In order to register for Polar Circle Marathon, all international runners must sign up for the tour package." The 2026 five-day package (October 22–26) included round-trip Air Greenland flights between Copenhagen and Kangerlussuaq, four nights of lodging, an English-speaking guide, transportation and meals on the itinerary, and a course inspection on the ice sheet. It cost €2,895 to €3,395 depending on lodging, with €495 to €995 extra for a single room.

Left outside the package: international flights to and from Copenhagen, a hotel in Copenhagen, insurance, and the race entry. Entry is €350 each for the full or the half, or €500 to run both days. How do you get to Kangerlussuaq?

Only by plane. After Nuuk's new airport opened in November 2024, scheduled service between Kangerlussuaq and Copenhagen was cut, then restored in 2025. Keeping the route going, Air Greenland said, "We have adjusted the schedule to support both tourism and local travel needs."

The last scheduled flight of 2026 was October 20; the marathon group flew in on October 22 and out on the 26th. The official guide forecast race-day temperatures of minus 20 to minus 15°C. But Dutch YouTubers "Jens & Joep," who ran the 2025 race, reported that the weekend hovered around 0°C.

Melting ice turned to slush, and around 5K they grabbed ropes to climb up and down a wall of ice. Their video also caught the warning the guide gave in English during the course inspection: "Do not go off the path... If you fall down, you die."

As of October 25, the 2027 date isn't on the official website. If you're eyeing the next race, your first job is the Copenhagen leg. Marathon Tours, the U.

S. travel company that sells the package, notes that Air Greenland flights can't be checked through with other airlines and advises arriving in Copenhagen a day early.

Polar Circle Marathon 2027October 2027 · expected · Kangerlussuaq, GreenlandSee race details

Polar Circle Marathon 2027 · Read the story

Ilulissat, Greenland

3Icefjord Midnight Marathon: A 9 p.m. Start on a Course Open Until 4 a.m.

June 5, 2027, in Ilulissat, Greenland. The full marathon starts at 9 p.m.

and the half at 10:30 p.m., and organizers say the race wraps up around 4 a.

m. The start is at Zion Church and the finish at Hotel Hvide Falk, two different spots. The official 2027 schedule sets time limits of 7 hours for the full and 5 hours, 30 minutes for the half.

The full rolls up and down over a mix of rocky trail, asphalt, and wooden boardwalk, with about 696 meters of elevation gain. Here, too, international runners must buy a tour package. The six-day package flies from Copenhagen to Ilulissat on June 2 and returns on the 7th, and it includes round-trip flights from Copenhagen, five nights of lodging, meals on the itinerary, an Icefjord boat tour, a guided town walk, and a hike in the Sermermiut valley.

A race briefing with a pasta dinner is held the evening of June 4—your last chance to switch distances. The day after the race is left open for recovery, with a celebration dinner and awards ceremony that evening. The price runs €3,300 to €3,600 depending on lodging and room.

City-view rooms at Hotel Hvide Falk are already sold out, and a single room adds €600 to €1,000. The race entry is €300 for either the full or the half, separate from the package. The €100 local registration is for Greenland residents, so it doesn't apply to international runners.

Take the flights out of the package and the price drops by €1,000, so the floor for runners who book their own tickets between Copenhagen and Ilulissat is €2,600. But the June 2 arrival is just the package tour's schedule. If you buy your own tickets, you need to land in Ilulissat before the briefing on the evening of June 4.

Icefjord Midnight MarathonSat, June 5, 2027 · D-223 · Ilulissat, GreenlandSee race details

Tromsø, Norway

4Tromsø's Midnight Sun Marathon: Just Buy an Entry—the Cutoff That Closes After Midnight Is the Wild Card

Of the five races, the Midnight Sun Marathon in Tromsø is the only one where you can book your own flights and lodging without a package and walk from a downtown hotel to the start. The 2027 race is June 19. The full-marathon entry fee opened at 1,050 Norwegian kroner on July 1, 2026, rose to 1,200 kroner on September 1, and goes up to 1,300 kroner on April 1, 2027, and 1,400 kroner on June 1.

The airport is about 5 kilometers from the city center, an easy ride on the airport bus or a city bus, and the start, finish, and expo are all within walking distance downtown. The 2026 race drew 9,000 runners from 97 countries. The first line of the official terms reads: "Registration for our events is binding, and the entry fee paid is non-refundable."

If you're sick or injured, you can move to the following year for 150 kroner, paid by noon the day before the race. Meet the conditions, and you can also resell your bib to another runner. The full marathon has a time limit of 5 hours, 30 minutes, and the finish gate closes at 2 a.

m. Before that, if you don't pass Stortorget square, 10 kilometers from the finish, by 12:45 a.m.

, your race is over and you're recorded as a DNF. A day with YouTuber "Dom Rosenberg," who finished the 2025 full in 4:18, shows what that cutoff looks like up close. It felt like about 9°C around the start, he stood in the prerace bathroom line for 20 minutes, and his hamstring cramped on the Tromsø Bridge around 32K.

The stretch he called the hardest was 31K to 39K. With an 8:30 p.m.

start like in 2025, you'd need to cover the roughly 32 kilometers to Stortorget in 4 hours and 15 minutes—about 7:55 per kilometer.

Midnight Sun MarathonSat, June 19, 2027 · D-237 · Tromsø, NorwaySee race details

Midnight Sun Marathon · Read the story

Torres del Paine, Chile

5Patagonian International Marathon: The Bus Left Plaza de Armas at 7:12 a.m.

The 2027 Patagonian International Marathon holds the full, half, and 10K on Saturday, September 4, and the 30K and 15K on Sunday, September 5. The 2026 race is already sold out. The international rate rises in tiers.

For the full marathon, the super presale was $336 starting June 22, 2026, and the presale was $355 starting September 15; from October 17 through May 17, 2027, the general rate is $382. Each tier closes early once its spots fill, and a payment processing fee is added on the final checkout screen. The full has a 7-hour time limit.

The cancellation clock starts the day you pay. Under Article 12 of the official rules, withdraw within 30 days of payment and you get 75 percent back; at 31 to 60 days, 50 percent; at 60 to 90 days, 25 percent. After 90 days, there's no refund.

The same goes once registration closes. Switching to a shorter distance won't get you the difference back. Getting to the start is partly on you.

Official buses and minibuses run only to and from Puerto Natales, and tickets must be bought with your entry or in advance as a registration ticket before registration closes. In a video by Chilean YouTuber "Easy Run / by Seba Campos," who ran the 2024 half, the bus left Plaza de Armas in Puerto Natales at 7:12 a.m.

and reached the start inside the park about 2 hours later. The start was at 11 a.m.

With no start arch and no gear check, he left his bag on the bus he rode in. The forecast that day was 0°C with wind, and he flagged a 500-meter climb right after the start, a downhill of about 6 kilometers beginning at 10K, and hard-packed dirt. He also passed along advice from runners who have done the course many times: "Add 10 to 15 minutes to your road time."

"Franco Boassi Rotter," who finished the 2025 full in 3:19, said this about the long climb that begins around 28K: "Around 30K, a brutal one comes." There are no cups at the aid stations. The official rules list a reusable cup or bottle, or a hydration system, as mandatory gear.

If you stay in Puerto Natales, you'll take the official bus. Runners staying inside Torres del Paine park should ask their lodging about transportation, and if you use a private vehicle, the driver can't be a runner. Bus tickets can't be bought once registration closes.

Patagonian International MarathonSat, September 4, 2027 · D-314 · Torres del Paine, ChileSee race details