Frutillar

On our last afternoon in the south of Chile, Claudio and I visited Frutillar.

As soon as we got off the bus from Puerto Varas, we were absolutely enchanted by the little town. Like Puerto Varas, Frutillar is located on Llanquihue Lake, but here we were actually able to see Volcán Osorno across the water! There is a beach on the shore of the lake, backed by autumnal trees, and plenty of lovely places to take photos, including a pavilion, a pier, and a sculpture of a piano.

The whole place was just so beautiful and peaceful.

After a look around, we went to find somewhere for lunch. We had been interested in going to this fairytale-style restaurant with a clock, where Claudio's family went in February 2022 (apparently the town was heaving with tourists then!), but it was closed.

In the end, we went to quite a fancy restaurant in the town's theatre. We sat outside on a terrace over the lake, which definitely has to be one of the most scenic places I've ever eaten in!

After lunch, we went to the German Colonial Museum, which recreates the houses and workplaces of the migrants who came to the area in the 19th century. Not only is it an interesting place to visit, but it's also very beautiful. Being there, you could almost believe that you were in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, if it wasn't for the volcanoes in the distance!

We finished off our day with hot chocolate and cake in Chucao Café, a really cosy place with lots of vegan options. There was even a gorgeous little cat there!

It was the perfect end to a lovely holiday! We just wished we could have had a few extra days in the area, as there was more we would have liked to see. But we visited the main places we wanted to go to: Petrohué Waterfalls and Chiloé, and overall we really felt like we made the most out of the three days that we had. 

I hope to have the opportunity to return to the south of Chile at some point in the future!

Puerto Varas

Puerto Varas was the town where Claudio and I stayed during our April holiday in the south of Chile, and it was a really nice place to stay, in addition to being a great base for exploring the area.

The town is located on the shore of Llanquihue Lake, the largest lake that's entirely located in Chile, and like the other towns around the lake, it has a strong German influence. This is because thousands of Germans emigrated to the area in the 19th century, and built many German-style buildings.

The hotel where we stayed is one of them! We chose to stay at the Radisson Park Inn, which is one of the more reasonably-priced hotels in Puerto Varas. It's a very cosy place with wood panelling and underfloor heating, and it definitely gave us that sense of Gemütlichkeit! 

But the most famous building in Puerto Varas is definitely the church, Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, which we went to see on the first full evening of our holiday. This church features in most of the professional photos you can find of Puerto Varas, and it's easy to see why - it's very pretty and very German looking!

Afterwards we had a walk down to the lake, where we found this amphitheatre and a shining statue of a cross on the other side of the water.

We explored around the lake some more on our last morning.

Naturally, we saw a couple of German-style buildings!

But one of the most interesting buildings has to be the Pablo Fierro Museum, a house that looks like a boat and has lots of unusual decorations.

One thing we missed in Puerto Varas was seeing the Osorno volcano across the lake - it was nearly always covered by cloud, and we only managed to see it very briefly while on the minibus to Chiloé.

But the lake on its own was still beautiful to see, and we even paddled in it despite the autumn weather. A nice dog decided to join us!

Puerto Varas is considered to be the touristic capital of the south of Chile, and it's easy to see why!

Next I'll be writing about our afternoon in Frutillar: one of the most beautiful towns we've ever visited...

Parque Nacional Vicente Pérez Rosales

Claudio and I had a truly wonderful three days in the south of Chile last week! We stayed in the town of Puerto Varas and took trips to the Chiloé archipelago and Frutillar, as well as Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park, which is what I'll be writing about today. To be honest, we wished we could have spent at least a week in the area, as it's such a beautiful part of the world, but we definitely made the most of the time we had. It was my last "big trip" of my time living in South America, and it was a great way to round of what has been an unbelievable 14 months of travel adventures. 

We arrived in Puerto Varas on Thursday night, and then started Friday morning by taking a bus from the town centre to Lago Todos los Santos (All Saints Lake), which is located in Parque Nacional Vicente Pérez Rosales, not far from the border with Argentina. It was amazing to get out of the bus and find ourselves surrounded by amazing nature, including forest-covered mountains, a volcanic black sand beach, and of course, the turquoise lake itself.

We took a boat trip around the lake, which was a nice way to get our holiday started. The lake is known for its great views of Volcán Osorno, but the volcano was mostly covered in cloud while we were there! But despite this, we still really enjoyed seeing the stunning natural scenery and quaint cabins around the lake.

After our boat trip, we had a little walk around the area by the lake, which has some nice German style buildings - something that this part of the world is well known for.

Next it was time to get back on the bus and travel back down the road to Saltos del Petrohué (Petrohué waterfalls). This was one of the places I was most excited to see during the entire trip!

Here was where we paid to officially enter the national park, and then we walked the short distance to the falls. There are walkways and bridges that allow you to see the various waterfalls in all their splendour. It was amazing to see how fast they were flowing! Initially, we couldn't see Volcán Osorno, but we came back to the falls at the end of our visit to the park, and had a pretty good view of it. It really looks huge!

We had lunch at a nice restaurant overlooking the river, and then it was time for us to take Sendero Los Enamorados (Lovers Trail). This is a nice walk of about 20 minutes through a beautiful forest, which leads you to a green lagoon, and eventually to the rushing river at the bottom of the waterfalls. We enjoyed this just as much as the waterfalls themselves, or maybe even more so, because we could even touch the water, and it really made us feel right in the middle of nature.

Overall, we had a fantastic day in Parque Nacional Vicente Pérez Rosales. Our time there passed so quickly that it was already dark by the time we got back to Puerto Varas. We did a bit of exploring there in the evening, and then had dinner and went to bed. The next day we had a very exciting tour booked - a trip to the Chiloé archipelago! I'll be writing about that very soon...