Chile Guide
The Lake District
Temuco
Once a Mapuche stronghold, TEMUCO, 677km south of Santiago, is the largest city in southern Chile, a commercial centre filled with jostling crowds and horn-honking traffic. Most visitors use it solely as a transport hub (the gateway to the Lake District, it's home to countless bus services) or as a base for exploring Parque Nacional Conguillío and the western mountains. But the city itself has a certain charm, due in great part to its rich Mapuche heritage. This is particularly evident in and around the colourful markets, which are among the best places in the country to hear the Mapuche language spoken. And if you don't visit another museum in the Lake District, you should at least pop into Temuco's Museo Regional de la Araucanía, where you'll see examples of some beautiful Mapuche silver treasure. Temuco is also proud of its connections with Chile's Nobel laureates, Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral (Neruda went to school, and Mistral taught here), although the links aren't exploited as well as they could be.