Chile Chico

Bordering Argentina, the town occupies a windy area on the southern shore of General Carrera Lake. A sunny microclimate makes for a pleasant oasis in the steppes. You can reach it by ferry or a roller coaster shaped road dotted with gold and silver mines. Inhabitants of this place originally lived on the earnings from livestock and agriculture but later it became a mining area.

Hikers should not lose Jeinimeni National Reserve, 60 miles, with solitary paths in a barren land enchanted by turquoise mountain lagoons, filled with flamingos Travelers tend to go through the town, but it is worth travelling and seeing the connections to Los Antiguos and Ruta 40 that leads to the southern part of Patagonia. The trip through the steep curves of the Paso Las Llaves, west Chile Chico with the joining to the Carretera Austral is one of the landmarks of the region. Respectable and lavish, it hits with blinding and steep turns, inclining without guardrails at an impressive height towards the lakes. If you are going by car, go very slowly, in some places the roads are so narrow that only allow one car can pass at a time.

How Much Do We Love This Place?

The Good

• It's an area of immense beauty with the remoteness that people expect from Patagonia
• There are some of the best fly-fishing lodges
• A lake with pristine and calypso waters
• You can find lands laden with lush vegetation or layered in fields of ice

The Bad

• Few accommodation options
• Towns along the way are few and far between
• Some parts of the highway are deserted

Somewhere Special To Stay

HOTEL	FROM	iCATEGORY
Puyuhuapi Lodge	219 USD
Loberias del Sur	180 USD
Yelcho Patagonia	3000 USD
Hacienda Tres Lagos	276 USD