How to arrive to Puerto Natales?

Puerto Natales was founded in 1911 and is the Capital of the Ultima Esperanza Province, is located in the extreme south of Patagonia.

You can arrive to Puerto Natales:

By air, from Santiago to Punta Arenas, the flight takes 4 hours and then it's a 3 hours drive from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales (in summer Sky Airlines a chilean company flight to Puerto Natales from Santiago).

By land, from Argentina, passing through the Dorotea & Casas Viejas borders.

By sea, from Puerto Montt by ferry. The journey takes 72 hours and along the way you'll stop at Puerto Edén (Where the last Kaweskar canoers still exist).

Lodging In Chile.

Lodging in Chile falls under a variety of different categories, with a wide range of prices and levels of comfort. Visitors should feel free to inspect lodging carefully before committing to stay.

Hotels in Chile are classified by the familiar system of 1-5 star. Hotels provide services similar to those in North America or Europe.

Apart-hotels are hotel rooms with kitchenettes and other added amenities, ideal for families.

Hosterías are home-style lodges, usually with a restaurant and frequently providing other tourist services. These can be among the most charming and most confortable of all lodgind options, combining local flavor with modern amenities.

Cabañas or cabins are an excellent option for a families groups, typically providing beds for 4-8 people.

Hospedajes and Residenciales are all budget lodging options, and the different between them are not always clear. Rooms most often hold 2 or more beds, though single travelers usually will not have to share with strangers. Baths are usually shared, and breakfast is often included. Ask about access to kitchen and laundry facilities.

Campgrounds can be a great value and lots of fun, often providing the same services as a hospedaje at a considerably lower price . National Park campgrounds typically provide fewer services, at a higher cost, but the setting usually makes up for it. Travelers are recommended to purchase all camping equipment before arrival.

Refugios are wilderness huts, ranging from staffed shelters with restaurants and hot showers (as in the case in Torres del Paine) to simple hovels in the mountains, providing only the most basic of shelter. If backpacking in remote areas, you should almost always carry a tent, even if a refugio appears on your route.

Willd camping is the term we use for camping in non-designated sites. In the desert north and in many parts of Patagonia, there are plenty of spots to camp for free, though visitors should respect private property; it may be best to offer to pay local landowners to camp on their land. In Central Chile and the Lake Region, free roadside camping is hard to come by, though there are countless spots to camp on beaches, in national parks, and in other wilderness or near-wilderness areas in the Andes. Those traveling in a private vehicle will find it much easier to find sites than those using public transport. 

Torres Del Paine National Park.

Torres del Paine is maybe the mos famous tourist attraction. No other Park in South America can boast the same combination of breathtaking landscapes, abundant wildlife, comfortable accommodation and services, and opportunities for remote backcountry hiking and serious mountaineering ascent.

Part of the 242,242 ha was donated to the Chilean State in 1959, and in 1978 it was designated a Unesco World Biosphere Reserve. Geographically, Torres occupies a unique location just south and east of the Southern Patagonian Ice Fields, in an area of transition between the evergreen and deciduous beech forests of the pampa to the east. The inmense mass of the ice fields creates its own microclame, shrouding the peaks to the west in dense clouds and often obscuring views of the Paine Massif the centerpiece of the park- for weeks on end. Surprisingly, however, precipitation in the park is a mere 700mm/year. Winds pose the park's major climatic challenge, with gusts regular exceedingly 120km/hour during the summer months.

Wildlife in the park includes some 25 species of mammals, most notably guanacos, pumas, and two species of foxes. There are also over 115 species of resident and migratory bird species in the park, including a variety of raptors, flamingos, numerous ducks, coots, greese and other waterfowl, and the ñandú or avestruz (south american ostrich). Most wildlife is concentrated in the more benign, open grasslands and scrub of the park's eastern sectors.

Chiloé Island

Chiloé's draw for travelers is quite different from that of other parts of Chile. Although the Coast Range and Pacific Coast remain in a state of raw, entangled wilderness, what brings most visitors to Chiloé is the island's rural culture, gastronomy, handicrafts and architecture.

Wood is an element that has accompanied the "Chilote Culture" since remote times: their houses, stables, boats, fences and churches are still admired by all visitors to the island (and this was demonstrated in 2009 when was chosen the third better destiny in the world by Lonely Planet).

So much that 16 of its churches were declared UNESCO World Heritage sites. They are: the churches of Achao, Quinchao, Nercón, Chonchi, Ichuac, Rilán, Vilipulli, Aldachildo, Tenaún, Caguach and Chelín. The structures have been there for almost 300 years are now some of the oldest standing wooden structures on the Earth.

Big Paine.

Paine Grande is the highest of the four mountain peaks with an altitude of 10.007 ft.a.s.l. It is composed of sedimentary rock and has many hanging glaciers, wich are fed, by sanow throughout the year. The glacier to the southeast is the most prominent and frequently loses ice, wich falls to the base of the mountain helping the reconstitute Glacier Francés. 

Paine Grande is one of the most attractive mountains for people who enjoy climbing. The first attempt to reach the summit was made in 1954 by an Argentinian expedition, sadly without success due to the loss of two climbers killed by the snow avalanche.

Volcán Osorno.

Osorno's arresting form and proximity to Puerto Varas has made it one of the most frequently climbed peaks in the south.

This Volcano has two separate access roads. From Puerto Clocker on the North shore of Lago Llanquihue, a dirt road climbs 20km to the old site of the refugio "La Picada",wich recently burned to the ground  and is tentatively slated for reconstruction by the summer of 2001-2002. La Picada may also be accessed by trail from Petrohué via the trail over Paso Desolación.

On the south slope of the volcano at an elevation of 1,300m, the old ski area at La Burbuja is accessed via Ensenada. Though the lifts stopped functioning long ago, simple acommodation and meals are available at the "Refugio Teski Ski Club", with phenomenal views over Lago Todos Los Santos, Lago Llanquihue, and south to Volcán Calbuco. Local operators offer easy walking trips on the flanks of the volcano beginning at La Burbuja, wich is also the starting for mountaineering ascents of Volcán Osorno; if you wich you can camp for free below the CONAF ranger station.

Porvenir City, in Chilean Tierra del Fuego.

Porvenir is a small town in the Patagonia, located specifically  in the middle of the island of Tierra del Fuego, in southern South America (the island that belongs to Chile and Argentina), located at the bottom of the bay of the same name (in the mouth of the sea of the Strait of Magallanes)).

It is possible to get there by plane (Aerovias Dap, a regional company) or by sea by ferry Crux Australis (Austral Broom, a regional company). It takes 2 hours and a half. It can also be reached by sea in the northern part of the island, in the narrowest part of the Strait of Magellan (that takes 20 minutes). This segment is longer, getting there from Río Grande (Argentina) by crossing the border of San Sebastián.

Porvenir was founded on June 20, 1894 during the height of the search for gold in Tierra del Fuego, Porvenir is now the capital of the province of Tierra del Fuego, Chile, being the most important city in the Chilean side of the island .

Its population reaches the 9,000 people. Today its people live mainly from fishing industry, textile and livestock, which had a great importance for a long time, but less important nowadays.

Some important people who lived in Porvenir, the fisrt name to say is one of the pioneers of Latin American cinema: Jose Bhor, who made several films in the small town; and the Nazi Walter Rauff who was manager of a fishery at the entry of Porvenir.

In terms of culture and typical food of the zone, a character is known as: “Ovejero” (similar to “Gaucho”, a traditional kind of man in the zone) and the famous “Asado al palo” (a lamb that is roasted by breaking through it a large piece of wood and putting it directly to fire)

There are two major events in Porvenir: The Biggest Roast of Tierra del Fuego is made every year during February, that is an an excellent opportunity to taste local cuisine, and assist to the rally called “Carrera de la Hermandad” (brotherhood race). These 2 events are the meeting point for people from Chile and Argentina.

Porvenir has a beautiful seaside, where people can enjoy the beauty of flamingos and black-necked swans. Full of beauty as well, sunrises and sunsets call to be photographed.

PS: traveling between Punta Arenas and Porvenir is so amazing due to the beauty of the “Estrecho de Magallanes” (Magallanes Strait).

Visit Chile.

El país delgado y angosto separado del resto de América del Sur por los sublimes Andes, siglos de aislamiento han moldeado la sociedad chilena, separándola un tanto de sus símiles de América del Sur tanto el lo social como en lo que respecta a su biodiversidad. La mayoría de los viajeros comienza su viaje en Santiago, la capital nacional. Ubicada en el centro de Chile donde se concentra más del 70% de la población, la concentración se extiende también a lo gubernamental y económico. País de contraste posee una diversidad de culturas y escenario, que pocos países comparten. En el Norte domina el desierto y el altiplano, los grandes observatorios astronómicos y las playas aptas para los deportes acuáticos, las enormes mineras y los fantasmas de las salitreras, los mezclas de culturas reflejadas en festejos cristianos llenos de paganismo y los restos arqueológicos de culturas ancestrales. Del Centro se puede decir que Chile solo se mira al ombligo como dicen los provincianos y eso queda demostrado en el gran desarrollo de Santiago y las costeras ciudades de Valparaíso y Viña del Mar, pero el centro es mucho más que eso y los demuestran los hermosos parajes del Valle Central y sus conocidos viñedos. En el Sur el contraste lo hacen los hermosos parajes que producen los Lagos y sublime dominio de sus Volcanes, la ancestral cultura mapuche y la inmigración alemana le dan el sentido a la peculiaridad de sus construcciones y exquisito de sus comidas. La Patagonia es conocida por su hostilidad la de sus secas Pampas con casi nula vegetación y las extremas lluvias de sus islas, sus gigantescos Parques y pequeñas ciudades, la Pesca Deportiva y el Andinismo. El Chile insular esta compuesto por la archiconocida Isla de Pascua y el Archipiélago Juan Fernández conocido mundialmente por Robinson Crusoe. Por esto y mucho más que deberás descubrir cuando lo experimentes, visita Chile. Y la mejor opción es hacerlo con Chile Travel Way.

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