In this guide
We live in Puerto Varas and build the campers here. When we hand one over, the customer is usually already looking south toward the Carretera Austral. Fair enough. But every season someone comes back early because of weather or a change of plan, and discovers that the lake district had a whole trip in it.
Why Puerto Varas works as a basecamp
Three practical reasons, beyond the scenery:
- It's 20 minutes from Puerto Montt airport, which has daily flights from Santiago. Land in the morning and you're driving the camper after lunch.
- It has big supermarkets, hardware stores and workshops. It's the last cheap place to shop before heading south, and the best place to solve anything you're missing.
- Everything good is close. Volcanoes, ancient native forest, fjords, hot springs and an entire island, all within two hours' drive.
Seven trips less than two hours away
1. Osorno volcano and Lake Llanquihue (1 hour)
The road climbs to the ski centre and the viewpoints. On a clear day you see Calbuco, Puntiagudo and the whole lake. A camper gets up there without trouble and the parking is generous. Tip: go early — afternoon cloud covers the cone with almost offensive regularity.
2. Petrohué falls and Lake Todos los Santos (1 hour)
Inside Vicente Pérez Rosales, Chile's oldest national park. Turquoise water cutting through volcanic rock, exactly like the photos. Carry on to the Petrohué jetty for the emerald lake with Osorno behind it.
3. Cochamó and the Reloncaví estuary (1 hour 45)
My personal favourite. A valley of granite walls people call the Chilean Yosemite, reached on narrow gravel roads where a 4x4 camper earns its keep. The trek into the valley is long and demanding, but the estuary, the timber houses and the curanto cooked in the ground are worth the drive even if you never walk a step.
4. Alerce Andino National Park (1 hour)
Alerce trees over three thousand years old, wet green trails, and far fewer people than Petrohué. The access roads are gravel and get muddy in winter — exactly the kind of detour where 4x4 stops being an extra.
5. Frutillar and the north shore (45 min)
German settler architecture, a concert hall on the lake, and real kuchen. This is the easy-day option, ideal for day one while you settle into the camper.
6. Chiloé (2 hours, including the ferry)
The ferry from Pargua to Chacao is short and frequent. On the far side: UNESCO wooden churches, the stilt houses of Castro, Chiloé National Park with huge beaches at Cucao, and seafront campsites. Two or three nights vanish quickly.
7. Hot springs: Puyehue, Ralún and the smaller ones (1-2 hours)
There are big resort springs and small half-hidden ones. After three days in a camper, an afternoon in hot water is the closest thing to luxury this region sells.
A 7-day route from Puerto Varas
| Day | Route | Where to sleep |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camper pickup, shopping, Puerto Varas waterfront, Frutillar | Lakeside campsite |
| 2 | Osorno volcano and viewpoints | Ensenada |
| 3 | Petrohué falls and Lake Todos los Santos | Petrohué or Ensenada |
| 4 | Reloncaví estuary and Cochamó | Campsite in Cochamó |
| 5 | Alerce Andino National Park | Park campsite or near Correntoso |
| 6 | Ferry to Chiloé, Ancud and the west coast | Seafront campsite |
| 7 | Castro, stilt houses, return to Puerto Varas | Camper drop-off |
That's roughly 600-700 kilometres in total, nearly all of it easy, with two to three hours of driving a day at most. It's the route I recommend to anyone with a week who wants to go home rested rather than wrecked.
A week in the lake district?
Get a quote with pickup in Puerto Varas (free) or at Puerto Montt airport. We'll send you this route with the campsites we use ourselves.
Request a quotePracticalities: shopping, fuel and campsites
- Big supermarkets: in Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt. Buy the whole trip here if you're heading south; prices climb with every kilometre.
- Fuel: plentiful across the region. The last comfortable fill before the deep gravel is Puerto Montt or Hornopirén.
- Camping gear: shops in Puerto Varas and in the Puerto Montt mall, including Decathlon — which is where we send people for the microfibre towels we don't include.
- Campsites: Ensenada and the volcano road have several good ones. In high season, arrive early in the afternoon.
- Mobile signal: good across the region, except inland from Cochamó and in parts of Alerce Andino.
The weather here, without the romance
It rains. A lot. Summer brings spectacular runs of clear days and also entirely grey ones; in winter rain is the default and the volcano appears snow-covered between clouds. A camper changes that equation completely: with a diesel heater, a rainy day stops being a problem and becomes an afternoon of reading with a fogged window and the lake outside.
The only weather advice I give seriously: don't build an itinerary that depends on one specific sunny day. Keep the big-view outings as floating options, and spend the grey days on forest, hot springs and towns.
If a week leaves you wanting more — it usually does — the natural next step is heading down the Carretera Austral. And if you're still choosing dates, read the best time to travel by camper first.
