Rancagua Attractions

• Merced Church
• Pelequén
• Petroglyphs in Río Cipreses National Reserve
• Rancagua Regional Museum
• Río Cipreses National Reserve
• Sewell
• The Trappist Monks Monastery

How Much Do We Love This Place?

The Good

• Country style Chile
• Sewell is a beautiful and well preserved town

The Bad

• There is only one tour company allowed to enter Sewell, and is not that good
• There´s no much to do

Tierra del Fuego Attractions

• Cape Horn and the surrounding islands
• Getting There & Away
• History of Tierra del Fuego
• Navarino Island
• Porvenir
• Puerto Williams
• Tierra del Fuego Chile
• Timaukel
• Weather of Tierra del Fuego
• Yendegaia Ranch

How Much Do We Love This Place?

The Good

• Unique and isolated destination
• The end of the World
• Stunning Landscapes

The Bad

• There are no hotels or tour companies
• Difficult dirt roads
• You need a car or a bike to go there
• Bad climate conditions during winter season

Cape Horn and the surrounding islands

If you have come to Isla Navarino and Ushuaia, you can make a little extra effort and continue to the very end of the Americas to Cabo de Hornos (Cape Horn). This small group of Chilean uninhabited islands has always been synonymous with adventure and romance in the old days of sailing (although usually the sailors feared the hard, brutal and cold journey). The horn was "discovered" in January 1616 by the Dutchmen Jacob Le Maire and Willem Schouten aboard the "Unity". They called it Horn, after their Hoorn, which had accidentally burned down in Puerto Deseado, Argentina on the Patagonian coast. Horn Island, where the famous cape forms its southernmost point, is only 8 km long. The cape itself rises to 424m, with striking black cliffs at the top. DAP Airways has charter flights over Cape Horn that do not land. The South Shetland Islands in the far north of the Antarctic Peninsula are some of the most visited areas of the continent, thanks to the spectacular scenery, abundant wildlife and proximity to Tierra del Fuego, located 1,000 km north across the Drake Passage. The largest of the South Shetland Islands, King George Island, has eight ski resorts on its soil. Chile established the Presidente Eduardo Frei Montalva base in 1969. Ten years later it built the Teniente Rodolfo Marsh Martin station less than 1 km across the Fildes peninsula from Frei. The human population is between 10 and 20 people, while the estimate of the penguin population is two to three million. As part of Chile's policy of trying to incorporate as much as possible of the Chilean Antarctic territory to the rest of the country, the government has encouraged families to settle in Frei and the first of several children born there was born in 1984. At present, the station accommodates a population of about 80 people in summer homes and climate-proof sterile houses.

How Much Do We Love This Place?

The Good

• Unique and isolated destination
• The end of the World
• Stunning Landscapes

The Bad

• There are no hotels or tour companies
• Difficult dirt roads
• You need a car or a bike to go there
• Bad climate conditions during winter season

Puerto Williams

Those who stop here may feel abandoned, but for travelers to Puerto Williams, it is synonymous with adventure. Not much happens in the city. In the city, action means the wind moving debris while cows graze outside in the courtyard square and houses are stacked to the ceiling with wood. With expensive and irregular transportation, Williams feels cut off, but complaints about being forgotten are much more common forgotten among the locals than the few tourists, who recognize a buried treasure when they see it. The population centers are located around a green roundabout and concrete slab in the square called the Commercial Center. Walk a few minutes outside the city and you will be surrounded by moss-covered beech forests rising above the trees. There are 150 miles of trails on the island which can easily compete with those of Torres del Paine, but there are no shelters here. If you choose to hike, take someone with you, get directions before leaving the premises and register with the carabinieri (police), as guidelines markers can be used as suitable maps can be difficult to find.

How Much Do We Love This Place?

The Good

• Unique and isolated destination
• The end of the World
• Stunning Landscapes

The Bad

• There are no hotels or tour companies
• Difficult dirt roads
• You need a car or a bike to go there
• Bad climate conditions during winter season

Navarino Island

With a real sense of the end of the world, this remote place wins the competition without even campaigning. Navarino Island is a paradise for adventurous backpackers. Situated to the south by the Beagle Channel from Ushuaia, it mostly uninhabited reserves house a rugged terrain of peat bogs, forests of southern beech and needle teeth called Teeth of Navarino, you have to go to know what they are really like, these places makes these paths a really famous hiking trail. On a whim, the island is considered by Santiago, the capital of Chile, as part of the Chilean Antarctic, not as part of the territory of Tierra del Fuego and Magallanes. The naval settlement of Puerto Williams is the only city on the island, the official port of entry for vessels en route to Cape Horn and Antarctica, and the home of the last vestiges of the Yagan language, its first inhabitants. A permanent European presence on the island was established in the mid 19th century by missionaries who were followed by fortune seekers during the 1890 Gold Rush. The current inhabitants include the Chilean Navy, municipal workers and crab and octopus fishermen. The remaining mestizo descendants of the Yagan live in the small coastal town of Villa Ukika. Some 40,000 beavers introduced from Canada in the 1940's are now the scourge of the island at present. You can do your part in controlling this pest by choosing it as a side dish for dinner, if you can find a restaurant open.

How Much Do We Love This Place?

The Good

• Unique and isolated destination
• The end of the World
• Stunning Landscapes

The Bad

• There are no hotels or tour companies
• Difficult dirt roads
• You need a car or a bike to go there
• Bad climate conditions during winter season

Yendegaia Ranch

A serene glacier Bay and native forests make up the Estancia Yendegaia, a 400 square kilometer park, pending donation to Parques Nacionales (National Parks). Located in the Darwin Cordillera, it is a strategic conservation link between the Tierra del Fuego National Park in Argentina and the Alberto de Agostini National Park in Chile. This is a unique ranch, this private park is in the process of the disposal of livestock and the rehabilitation of roads. The transformation should be carried out on a large scale, with an airport among the works planned and a path to be opened soon for the site to be opened to the public. Roads are planned for the Stoppani Glacier and the Lapataia Valley to Paso de Las Lagunas, despite crossing the river on horseback and hiking being more viable options. For now only camping (no bathrooms or services) is possible. Unfortunately, access is difficult and quite expensive. A Austral Broom ferry goes from Punta Arenas and Puerto Williams and offers the service to passengers if given notice, for more details locate a good tour guide. From Puerto Williams, the trip takes seven hours. Naval ships disembark once a week from Punta Arenas to Puerto Williams and drop off passengers at the south entrance. The park will soon be referred to the government of Chile and will be managed by Parques Nacionales, but for now, visitor information can be obtained through various tourism facilities.

How Much Do We Love This Place?

The Good

• Unique and isolated destination
• The end of the World
• Stunning Landscapes

The Bad

• There are no hotels or tour companies
• Difficult dirt roads
• You need a car or a bike to go there
• Bad climate conditions during winter season

Timaukel

South of Inútil Bay, the Timaukel region occupies the southern part of Chilean Tierra del Fuego, and is working to reinvent itself as an ecotourism destination - a much more optimistic option than seeing it fall into the hands of U.S. company Trillium Corporation, which was the plan several years ago. Few roads lead to this region, with public transport even more scarce. On the south shore of the bay, Cameron is a great place, and it was named after the sheep farmer of a New Zealand family. Here, the municipal tourism office may have information on the latest developments. To the south, popular fly-fishing can be practiced in Lake Blanco, which is only accessible by car, the lodgings offered are the cottages near the fishing spots and these are exclusive. A new road leads south of Lake Blanco to access Lake Fagnano (a new park is currently managed by the Fundación Yendegaia), to Estancia Yendegaia and the Beagle Channel.

How Much Do We Love This Place?

The Good

• Unique and isolated destination
• The end of the World
• Stunning Landscapes

The Bad

• There are no hotels or tour companies
• Difficult dirt roads
• You need a car or a bike to go there
• Bad climate conditions during winter season

Porvenir

The visit serves to experience a little bit of the Tierra del Fuego life, that's all. Most visitors come on a quick trip from Punta Arenas often with a touch of dizziness due to the crossing. However, spending a night in this village of rusted metal carts offers you the opportunity to explore the nearby bays and countryside and absorb a little more of the relaxed local life. As a Chilean, said of it: "There is nothing to do - but that is the point" Porvenir has a unique heritage. When gold was discovered in 1879, waves of immigrants arrived, many from Croatia, and most did not get rich. When sheep ranches began to emerge, immigrants found more reliable jobs. People from the Chilean island of Chiloé appeared en masse for fishing and working, and the possibility of a better life. The current population is a unique combination of both. Gravel is the main material of the road along scenic stretches of the Inútil Bay on the border with Argentina in San Sebastian, these roads are in good shape. From San Sebastian (where there is gas and a motel), those driving north should avoid heavy travel and opt for the Onaisín route to the oil company town of Cerro Sombrero on the road towards the crossing of the Strait of Magellan in Punta Delgada, Puerto Spore.

How Much Do We Love This Place?

The Good

• Unique and isolated destination
• The end of the World
• Stunning Landscapes

The Bad

• There are no hotels or tour companies
• Difficult dirt roads
• You need a car or a bike to go there
• Bad climate conditions during winter season

Tierra del Fuego Chile

Foggy, windy and wet, Chile's Tierra del Fuego includes half of the main island of Isla Grande, Isla Navarino and a group of smaller islands, many uninhabited. It is home to only 7,000 in Chile, this is the least populated region of Chile. Porvenir is considered the main city, although the state may consider this statement as an exaggeration. These pieces can not help but exude a rough and rugged charm and those willing to venture far can enjoy its doomsday hues. More and more fishermen are attracted to the little-known inland lakes wild adventurers to the Estancia Yendegaia. Tourism should grow when the road from Estancia Vicuña to Estancia Yendegaia is built and a new public airport is incorporated.

How Much Do We Love This Place?

The Good

• Unique and isolated destination
• The end of the World
• Stunning Landscapes

The Bad

• There are no hotels or tour companies
• Difficult dirt roads
• You need a car or a bike to go there
• Bad climate conditions during winter season

Getting There & Away

The most common route from Patagonia to Tierra del Fuego is through a Chilean ferry crossing from Punta Delgada. The roads in Chile to Tierra del Fuego are largely unpaved land. If you are taking a car past Porvenir, it must be 4WD or at least have good clarity and a spare tire. Those who rent a car will need special documents and additional insurance to cross into Argentina, most rental agencies can organize this paperwork in advance. Visitors can take a short flight from Punta Arenas to Porvenir. You can also enter the region from Ushuaia (Argentina), a major transportation hub with planes, ships and buses providing access to many destinations in southern Patagonia. Frequent buses link Ushuaia with Punta Arenas, in fact, many travelers fly to Ushuaia as a starting point for explorations of the South. If you travel from Ushuaia to Isla Navarino (Chile) by boat, be sure to visit the customs office at the airport.

How Much Do We Love This Place?

The Good

• Unique and isolated destination
• The end of the World
• Stunning Landscapes

The Bad

• There are no hotels or tour companies
• Difficult dirt roads
• You need a car or a bike to go there
• Bad climate conditions during winter season