New Meets Old on This Patagonian Road Adventure
The Carretera Austral: a stunning mix of fiords, volcanoes, glaciers and rainforests.
Offering views of fiords, glaciers, and rainforests, it's no surprise that Chile’s 1,240 kilometer-long Carretera Austral ranks among the most spectacular road trips on Earth.
The route is actually relatively new, with the last stretch to its southern tip of Villa O'Higgins only completed in 2000. Its northern point in Puerto Montt is a 1 hour 45-minute flight south of Santiago, with plenty of highlights on offer when you hit the road.
In the early 1990s, American philanthropist Douglas Tompkins founded Pumalín Park to protect the unique Valdivian temperate rainforests of Chile, and with good reason. These forests are exceptionally biodiverse and contain a few remaining specimens of Alerce trees, among the oldest species on Earth. These forests reach all the way to the ocean and the Comau and Reñihué fiords, where kayakers will find themselves drifting among dolphins, sea lions, and sometimes even whales.
The third-largest lake in South America, Lago General Carrera actually extends over into Argentina. Its bounty of salmon and trout, along with its dreamlike setting among sharp mountain peaks, has made it very popular with anglers. The biggest attraction, however, is Las Cavernas de Marmol. Here, the Patagonian climate has chiseled deep cathedral-sized labyrinths into the multi-hued marble formations along the shore of the lake, accessible by boat from Puerto Tranquilo.
The coastal village of Caleta Tortel sits right between two ice fields at the mouth of the Baker River. Its infrastructure is made up of a network of canals and gangways, looping between traditional houses built on stilts. The exit leading here from the Carretera Austral was completed in 2003 – until then, this spot was only accessible by water.
Get in touch and we'll start planning your personalized Patagonian road trip.
Jurriaan Teulings
Jurriaan dreamt of becoming either an astronomer or a circus clown. He became a lawyer instead, but finally found the ultimate fit for his free-range mind as a travel writer and photographer. A Stroopwafel evangelist, he's also won a few awards: two in plexiglass, one in bronze, and one made of beads. The biggest prize: 20 years of travel to all continents and 99 countries so far.
Image credits:
Lago Negro in Pumalín Park, Sergejf/Flickr; Lago General Carrera, Jason Hollinger/Flickr; Caleta Tortel and Cavernas de Marmol: Javier Vieras/Flickr.