Carretera Austral Road Trip

You will drive until reaching the pier where starts the navigation along Leptepu’s fjord (amazing landscapes). You will go with your car on the ferry, and after disembarking, you will continue driving for a little while until reaching another pier, where you will board a second ferry that navigates along Lago fjord. Finally, back on the roads, you will reach Caleta Gonzalo (gate to the Pumalín Park). Take advantage, if the time allows you, to visit part of Pumalin.

Overnight in Caleta Gonzalo.

After visiting another part of the park during the morning, continue to Chaitén (which is not El Chaltén), near the Pacific Ocean. A few years ago, after thousands of years of being inactive, the volcano Chaitén (962 m) left this village in ruins. There are some other volcanoes around, such as the Michinmahuida (2404 m) and the Melimoyu (2400 m). Continue driving south through El Amarillo and lake Yelcho (famous for fly fishing). Surrounded by volcanoes, cascades, forests, and mountains, your Carretera road trip will lead you today to La Junta.

Overnight in La Junta.

Note: You can add one more day to cross the border to Los Antiguos, in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina. You can even drive 1 hour and a half and visit Cueva de Las Manos. Then go back to Chile-Chico and continue your road trip through the Carretera Austral in Chile.

We have reached the end of the Carretera Austral Road trip. Now you have two options: since there are no airports in the area, you can:

1). Drive up to the north (visiting areas of the Carretera Austral you have not seen) until reaching the airport/point where you want to finish your trip. Something that many people do is to drive to Balmaceda (Coyhaique), which implies 2-3 more days if you do it slowly and enjoying some extra attractions, and from there fly back to Santiago de Chile. There are different options, and we will be happy to help you find the right one for you.

2). Drop off the vehicle in Villa O’higgins, and cross to Argentina to an “adventurous” experience: it’s about a crossing that takes you between 1 and 2 days (depending on the option), and combines navigation, trekking, and land transportation. It finishes in El Chaltén, which is the capital for trekking in Argentina, and where are the Fitz Roy and Torre Mounts. The good thing is that El Chaltén is (apart from beautiful) 3 hours from El Calafate, where is the glacier Perito Moreno and where you also have an airport with daily flights to Buenos Aires and other destinations.

If you would like to check as well how would be a road trip along the Ruta 40 (Argentina), click on this page:Ruta 40 Argentina road trip

In any case, ask us for more information!