Travel to Chile

Day 17 Puerto Montt - Puerto Varas - Entrelagos (157 Km.)

We left Puerto Montt to drive a few kilometers by the start of the southern highway. This gravel road starts in Puerto Montt and crosses the entire Chilean Patagonia from North to South. The Carretera Austral (Chile´s Route 7) is the continuation of the Pan-American Highway, that starts in Alaska, crossing the American continent from north to south and ends its long journey in the rugged Chilean southern lands. In the area there are places of extraordinary beauty, which are world-class attractions. About 10,000 members of the Military Work Corps constructed with spade, pickaxe and wheelbarrow, to make way for ditches that later would become 1,150 kilometers of Southern Longitudinal Road.

Northern stretch of the Carretera Austral

Northern stretch of the Carretera Austral

(in 15 Km.) Puerto Varas: It is a city on the shores of Lake Llanquihue and offers great views of the Osorno volcano, at the other end of the lake. It was founded by German settlers, so you can find their influence in many of its houses (some converted into national heritage). Roses decorate many houses and squares.

(in 27 Km.) Frutillar: This town has very interesting places for tourists, such as "la costanera (the waterfront)" that has beautiful old houses of German style, with gardens. It is surrounded by trees and gardens where the begonias reign. It also has an excellent beach with fine sand, and views of the Puntiagudo, Osorno, Tronador and Calbuco. Another attraction is the German Colonial Museum, which preserves species and objects used by early settlers in five typical wooden buildings distributed style in an old town founded style: The gatehouse, the water mill whose impeller is driven by water, the blacksmith house is the most representative of the lives of early settlers with their machinery and tools, the bell that was used to gather sheaves of wheat, and a country house. The museum is located between beautiful gardens and trees.

Frutillar - German Colonial Museum

Frutillar - German Colonial Museum

(in 115 Km.) Entrelagos: We slept in a hotel overlooking Lake Puyehue. This little village owes its name to the fact of being located between two lakes: Lake Puyehue at north and lake Rupanco at south.