Chile Guide
The Lake District
The Siete Lagos
Overshadowed by the sexier resort of Pucón, the region known as SIETE LAGOS – Seven Lakes – is the next one south of Villarrica. Six of the lakes are in Chile, one (Lago Lacar) in Argentina, and all are linked by rivers in one hydrological system. They offer a mixture of attractive small villages with good tourist facilities, and countless tracks that plunge deep into remote parts of the cordillera.
The Siete Lagos' relative tranquillity owes itself to the area having been largely ignored by the Spanish. Pedro de Valdivia was the first European to visit it in 1551, but apart from a short-lived silver mining enterprise, the Spanish kept away. The Siete Lagos' first settlement, Lican Ray, was a small trading post founded in the late nineteenth century to serve the Pehuenche and Mapuche Indians driven from the pampas by Argentine clearances.
Today the busiest lakes are the largest ones, the relatively warm Lago Calafquén, 30km south of Villarrica along a tarred road, and Lago Panguipulli, 17km on. The next valley down contains the slightly smaller Lago Riñihue, hardly visited and perfect for nature lovers and fishermen. To the east of Calafquén, beside a little-used road into Argentina, lies Lago Pellaifa, near a concentration of good termas. To the east of Lagos Panguipulli and Riñihue, nestling deep in the pre-cordillera and surrounded by 2000-metre peaks, are the most remote of the Siete Lagos, Lago Neltume and Lago Pirihueico, neither of which was accessible by road until thirty years ago and today are rapidly making their way onto the map.