Chile Guide
The Lake District
Puerto Varas
If you return to Ensenada and then take the road to the west, you'll pass along an excellent tarred road along Lago Llanquihue's southern shore, and the land once again becomes tamed, lush and pastoral. After 47km you'll reach PUERTO VARAS, a spruce little town with wide streets, grassy lawns and exquisite views of two volcanoes, Osorno and Calbuco. It's a bit like Pucón, and like Pucón there's not much to see in the town itself – the reason you come to Puerto Varas is for its tourist facilities. However, it does have some old buildings because, despite recent rapid growth, it's not a new settlement – tourism took off in Puerto Varas as long ago as 1903, when the trail between Lago Todos Los Santos and Argentina was first opened.