Chilean Patagonia

Divided in two well defined areas: on one hand North Patagonia, located between Puerto Montt and Villa O’Higgins, (in Aysén’s Region) and on the other hand South Patagonia, (Region of Magellan), where the city of Punta Arenas, the capital of this region, can be found. From this point is possible to gain access to Torres del Paine National Park, to Bernardo O’Higgins National Park, to Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire), to Estrecho de Magallanes (Magellan Strait) and Beagle Channel. Punta Arenas is also the starting point to connect with the Falklands and Antarctica. This southern Chilean city has a glorious past as a provisioning center for the vessels traveling between the two oceans Pacific and Atlantic. Nowadays it stands out for the oil exports, the success in the sheep farming and exports of sheep’s wool and meat. Another place of interest is Puerto Natales, a must for tourists who travel between Perito Moreno and El Calafate on the Argentine side of Torres del Paine, Campo de Hielo Sur (Southern Patagonian Ice Field), el Seno Otway (Otway Sound) with its colony of penguins and Bernardo O’Higgins National Park. But there is no doubt Torres del Paine National Park, declared Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, is the most interesting tourist place.

Places of interest in North Patagonia are the Carretera Austral (Southern Highway), with a length of 1,200 kilometers crossing rivers, cascades, mountains, cliffs and forests of larch and other indigenous varieties which offer a landscape of unforgettable beauty in places such as Parque Pumalín (Pumalín Park), with 42,000 acres of native forest protected by a privately owned organization and the amazingly beautiful General Carrera Lake, which crosses the border line between Argentina and Chile.