Top 10 Places to Visit in Chile
This list of top 10 places to visit in Chile shows you the highlights of the country. I have been backpacking in Chile 2 times already where I managed to visit 13 of 15 regions.
My complete Guide to Chile:
--- my travel equipment ---
camera
insurance
packing list
Online Language Course
Due to it’s long and narrow shape Chile is one of the most diverse countries on the continent. Therefore Backpacking in Chile is very attractive but also time consuming in matters of covering distances – you should plan your journey well and avoid underestimation of distances!
Things to do in Chile covered in this video:
- Atacama Desert, San Pedro de Atacama,
- Streetart in Valparaiso, Valparaiso
- Osorno Volcano, Puerto Varas
- Villarrica Volcano, Pucon
- Carretera Austral & Fjords near Puerto Montt
- Futaleufú River, Futaleufu
- Marble Caves, Puerto Rio Tranquilo
- O'Higgins Glacier and O'Higgins Lake, Villa O'Higgins
- Torres del Paine, Puerto Natales (a must do in Chile!)
- Isla Magdalena & Los Pinguinos, Punta Arenas
Best Places to Visit in Chile: your favorites?
Did I miss any important spot you should visit when backpacking Chile? Tell us your favorite place to visit in Chile in the comments below and feel free to share this video with your friends!
More travel guides for South America can be found here:
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Photo Credits for O'Higgins Lake & Glacier:
1) Lago O'Higgins-San Martín, NASA:
2) Glaciar O'Higgins o Ventisquero Grande, Roberto Araya Barckhahn:
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Music:
Audionautix.com
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Top 10 Places to visit along the Carretera Austral, Chile
In this video guide I summed up my personal top 10 places to visit along the Carretera Austral in the most beautifula part of Chilean Patagonia
➸ related article:
➸ my chile ebook:
MY CAMERA EQUIPMENT
▸ Cam1:Sony A7 II
▸ Cam2: Sony NEX 5
▸ Cam3: GoPro
▸ Drone: Phantom 3 Pro
▸ Drone Backpack: Manfrotto D1
▸ Amazon Tripod
▸ Joby Gorillapod
▸ Audio Recorder: Zoom H2n
▸ SDHC Memory Card
▸ Waterproof Memory Card Case
▸ Backpack Osprey Farpoint 40
The Carretera Austral is a mostly unpaved road that connects the most rural part of Patagonia in the very south of Chile. Tourism in this area is not as pronounced as it is in other parts of the country, as regular bus routes, accommodations and detailed info is hard to find.
But in this seclusion lies the attraction and a special charm. During my last trip I met very few travelers from Europe and North America. The locals welcomed me warmly and most attractions were not crowded.
After traveling this route twice via hitchhiking I thought it is about time that I put together a handy Carretera Austral guide which highlights the main sights along this 1200km long road. The video shows you my favorite places to visit from north to south, starting in Puerto Montt and finishing in Villa O’Higgins.
To do the Ruta 7 properly I recommend about 2 weeks - following I list all the places I visited & Things to do along the Carretera Austral:
- Fjords, Hornopiren, Pumalin Park, Chaiten
- Queulat National Park, Queulat Glacier, Puyuhuapi
- Rio Futaleufu, Futaleufu
- Cerro Castillo, Villa Cerro Castillo
- Marble Caves & Lago General Carrera, Puerto Rio Tranquilo
- Exploradores Glacier, Puerto Rio Tranquilo
- Rio Baker, Cochrane
- Caleta Tortel
- Villa O'Higgins
- O’Higgins Glacier
---About the Patagonia Expedition---
The Patagonian Expedition is a 95% self funded video documentary project following my trip in 2012/2013. Our aim is to show you the beauty of the rather unknown parts in Patagonia alongside with the famous spots.
Beside beautiful landscape you can expect loads of information and our personal experiences and struggles along the way:
➸
MY TRAVEL EQUIPMENT
▸ insurance
▸ packing list
▸ Online Language Course
The whole trip was executed over the course of 2 months using mostly local transport such as busses, cars and trucks. A big thank you goes to Lufthansa for providing the flights into and out of South America in their new Premium Economy Class!
MY HOTEL & HOSTEL RECOMMENDATIONS
▸
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Music:
epidemicsound.com
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Chile que te quiero: O'Higgins
Las tradiciones del campo chileno encuentran su hogar en la bella región de O'Higgins. ¡Te invitamos a recorrerla con nosotros! #ChileQueTeQuiero
Travel Patagonia by Drone in 4k (Best of the Patagonia Expedition)
For me Patagonia is one of the most beautiful travel destinations on earth, to showcase this I created a montage of the best drone footage from my recent trip.
My Guide for Chile:
My Guide for Argentina:
EQUIPMENT USED
DJI Phantom 3 Pro
Carbon Propellers
Remote Sunshade
Extra Batteries
Charging Hub
Manfrotto Drone Backpack
Waterproof Memory Card Case
Durable HDD
Over the course of 2 months I traveled Chilean as well as Argentine Patagonia from north to south to produce a documentary series called The Patagonia Expedition together with my friend Kristin Addis. The trip started in Bariloche (Argentina) and went via the Carretera Austral (Chile) down south to El Chaltén (Argentina) and finally to Torres del Paine (Chile).
It wasn't easy to travel with all the camera gear beside the other equipment we needed, especially considering all the camping stuff (tent, sleeping bag, cooking equipment etc) but I wanted to capture the beauty of traveling through Patagonia the best way possible.
Throughout the trip we got in touch with locals, stayed longer in one spot to really get to know the place and did all kinds of tough outdoor activities. Due to my former travels I already knew most of the places, got in touch with local friends and tourism businesses to help us create these videos. Not to mention the physical preparations which enabled us do all this activities under those partially tough conditions.
We are very grateful for all those experiences, new friendships and cooperations with locals as well as park rangers!
DRONE LAWS IN PATAGONIA
Please consider that all shots were filmed considering the drone laws in Argentina and Chile at the time we filmed there. Moreover we got special permissions by park rangers in some of the locations such as National Parks or filmed on private property with the permission of the owner (e.g. Torres del Paine).
Furthermore I'd like to point out that I took several weeks of practice in training spaces in Europe to ensure safe flights in Patagonia with my drone, especially due to the harsh weather and wind conditions.
In order to protect nature and wildlife in this sensitive part of the world I highly recommend to follow these rules as well if you plan to do something similar. Please check with the local laws before you fly, don't fly in National Parks without special permission, please check the weather conditions before you fly and take your time to calibrate your drone before each flight.
DRONE & PATAGONIAN WEATHER
Consider the extreme weather conditions and come prepared with special equipment as listed above such as a good drone backpack, special propellers, waterproof housing for sd cards and a durable HDD.
FILMING LOCATIONS
Following I list all the places we visited during our Patagonia Travel:
- Bariloche & Villa La Angostura
- Chaiten
- Puyuhuapi
- Villa Santa Lucia
- Cerro Castillo
- Puyuhuapi
- Puerto Rio Tranquilo
- Laguna San Rafael National Park & Eploradores Glacier
- Queulat National Park / Parque Nacional Queulat
- Queulat Glacier / ventisquero queulat (colgante)
- Villa O'Higgins
- Lago O'Higgins & Bernado O'Higgins National Park
- O'Higgins Glacier
- Candelario Mansilla
- El Chalten & Fitz Roy & Cerro Torre
- Los Glaciares National Park
- Torres del Paine
- Region Los Lagos
- Region de Aysén
- Provincia Rio Negro
- Provincia Santa Cruz
- Region Magellanes y Antartica Chilena
ABOUT THE PATAGONIA EXPEDITION
The Patagonian Expedition is a 95% self funded video documentary project following my trip in 2012/2013. Our aim is to show you the beauty of the rather unknown parts in Patagonia alongside with the famous spots:
GENERAL TRAVEL EQUIPMENT
insurance
packing list
Online Language Course
===
My personal recommendations for Hotels & Hostels:
===
Music:
Follow me:
Famous Chileans (Part 1)
Chile's first national hero was the conquistador Pedro de Valdivia (1500?–53), who founded Santiago in 1541. The Indian leader Lautaro (1525–57), another national hero, served Valdivia as stable boy and then escaped to lead his people to victory against the Spanish. His exploits are celebrated in the great epic poem La Araucana by Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga (1533?–96), a Spanish soldier. Bernardo O'Higgins (1778–1842), a leader of the fight for independence, was the son of the Irish soldier of fortune Ambrosio O'Higgins (1720?–1801), who had been viceroy of Peru. Diego Portales (1793–1837) helped build a strong central government. Admiral Arturo Prat (1848–79) is Chile's most revered naval hero because of his exploits during the War of the Pacific. Arturo Alessandri Palma (1868–1950), who became president in 1921, initiated modern sociopolitical reform. Salvador Allende Gossens (1908–73), the Western Hemisphere's first freely elected Marxist head of state, served three years as Chile's president (1970–73), initiating a broad range of socialist reforms and dying in the throes of a violent military coup in September 1973. The coup's leader was Gen. Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (b.1915), a former commander-in-chief of the army. Outstanding church figures have been Crescente Errázuriz (1839–1931), archbishop of Santiago, and his successor, José Cardinal Caro (1866–1958). Benjamin A. Cohen (1896–1960) was an undersecretary of the United Nations.
Chaiten, Puyuhuapi & Queulat NP, Carretera Austral in Chile (Patagonia Expedition #02)
In the second episode of our Patagonia Expedition we start hitchhiking the Carretera Austral in Chile and explore the Fjords north of Chaiten and the hanging glacier of Queulat near Puyuhuapi.
My Guide for Chile:
--- equipment used to produce this video ---
Cam1:Sony A7 II
Cam2: Sony NEX 5
Cam3: GoPro
Drone: Phantom 3 Pro
Drone Backpack: Manfrotto D1
Amazon Tripod
Joby Gorillapod
Audio Recorder: Zoom H2n
SDHC Memory Card
Waterproof Memory Card Case
Backpack Osprey Farpoint 40
The Carretera Austral is a 1200km long road in the south of Chile which connects the most remote areas of the country. The ruta 7 is a paradise for adventure seekers as it is a mostly unpaved road which brings you to the lesser known parts of Patagonia in the stunning Los Lagos and Aysen Region.
Our plan was to get from Puerto Montt till Villa O’Higgins by thumb to get in touch with locals and fellow adventurers along the way. But for the first stretch from Puerto Montt to Chaiten we chose public transport as you need to take 3 ferries to cross through the Fjords. The landscape with its fjords and temperate rainforests around the national parks of pumalin and hornopiren is stunning and reminded me of scandinavia.
Chaitén, once destroyed by a volcano was our first stop. We explored the city and I was surprised how it came back to live after my last visit 3 years ago - a lot of restaurants and shops opened and tourism is increasing with tours to the nearby volcano and to the Pumalin park.
On the next day we got up early, headed out of town and started hitchhiking. After just about 20 minutes we got our first ride which took us to Villa Santa Lucia where we got stuck as there were many like minded adventurers. Shortly before we gave up we got lucky again and got a lift to La Junta where we stayed for the night.
Another day of waiting, only a few cars passed us that day until..after about 6h…a big truck pulled over and offered to take us - we climbed into the back where a party was going on with a bunch of other hitchhikers who got picked up along the way. This ride from La Junta to Puyuhuapi turned out to be one of the most memorable hitchhiking experiences I’ve ever had.
Puyhuapi was our base for 3 days as we wanted to explore the nearby paqrque nacional Queulat with its impressive hanging glacier Queulat. The park is located 20km out of Puyuhuapi. This time Sergio who is the park ranger at Queulat gave us a ride and told us more details about the famous hanging glacier. With this early arrival we were the first to hike up to the viewpoint to get the best view of the glacier - simply overwhelming!
This part of the trip was executed within 1week by using the local buses and altogether 5 rides via hitchhiking - following I list all the places we visited & Things to do along the Carretera Austral:
- Puerto Montt
- Hornopiren
- Pumalin Park
- Chaiten
- Villa Santa Lucia
- La Junta
- Puyuhuapi
- Queulat National Park / Parque Nacional Queulat
- Queulat Glacier / ventisquero queulat (colgante)
I'm excited to share all our experiences in Patagonia over the course of the next 6 weeks with you. In the next episodes we will Hitchhike the central part of the Carretera Austral, trek through the most impressive mountain ranges, ice hike over the glaciers of the southern Patagonian Icefield and meet impressive characters along the way.
The Patagonian Expedition is a 95% self funded video documentary project following my trip in 2012/2013. Our aim is to show you the beauty of the rather unknown parts in Patagonia alongside with the famous spots.
Beside beautiful landscape you can expect loads of information and our personal experiences and struggles along the way.
--- my travel equipment ---
insurance
packing list
Online Language Course
The whole trip was executed over the course of 2 months using mostly local transport such as busses, cars and trucks. A big thank you goes to Lufthansa for providing the flights into and out of South America in their new Premium Economy Class!
===
My personal recommendations for Hotels & Hostels:
===
Music:
epidemicsound.com
Follow me:
Región del Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins
Geografía General - Inacap
Rancagua in Chile
Rancagua is a city south of Santiago in central Chile. Tree-lined Heroes Square commemorates the Chileans who fought in the Battle of Rancagua during the War of Independence. It's also home to the twin-towered Rancagua Cathedral. National hero General Bernardo O'Higgins directed troops during the battle from the nearby Merced Church. Housed in a colonial building, Rancagua Regional Museum explores the area's past.
Chile que te quiero: Tarapacá
Un paseo por la región de Tarapacá no está completo sin un buen chumbeque, un recorrido por su historia salitrera y una visita a sus paradisíacas playas. ¡Conócela con nosotros! #ChileQueTeQuiero
Viajes por Chile: Región del Biobio - Chile es TUYO
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Sitio oficial de promoción turística nacional
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