Enchanting Lakes

Enchanting Lakes

9 days / 8 nights in the Lake District

Departures: Daily except Saturdays and Sundays

Meals: Breakfast

Air Fare: Not included.

Day 1 - Bariloche

Reception at the airport and transfer to the selected hotel. Depart from the hotel for a half-day sightseeing tour of Bariloche and its outskirts. Drive along Bustillo Ave. bordering the Nahuel Huapi Lake towards Playa Bonita. Continue to Campanario Hill, where a cable car will take you to the summit. Enjoy a complete overview of Nahuel Huapi Lake, the mountain peaks of the Andean range and the city. Then drive towards the San Pedro and Llao Llao Peninsulas. Visit San Eduardo Chapel and admire the view of the Llao Llao Hotel and Puerto Pañuelo, departure point of most lake Excursions. Cross the bridge that connects Nahuel Huapi Lake and Moreno Lake and proceed to Bahía López. Enjoy a breathtaking view of Nahuel Huapi Lake from the Panoramic Point, a natural balcony facing the Moreno Lake. Return to Bariloche. Accommodation.

Day 2 - Bariloche / San Martín de Los Andes

Continental breakfast. Departure to San Martín de los Andes through the Seven Lakes Road. This scenic route that borders the northern margin of Nahuel Huapi Lake will take us to Villa La Angostura, a little village surrounded by dense forests and towering mountains. The road has mountain stretches and goes through dense woods of huge coihues. Proceed along the Seven Lakes Road passing by Correntoso, Falkner and Villarino Lakes, among others. Arrive at San Martín de los Andes, a lovely alpine village situated at the Lacar Lake shore. Accommodation.

Day 3 - San Martín de Los Andes

Continental breakfast. Departure to Quila Quina, located 18 km away, where you can still see the ancient houses belonging to the Mapuche Curruhuinca group (Indian tribe). Visit the Arroyo Grande Cascade, a source of carbonated mineral water, and admire the rupestrian paintings of the area. Continue to Chapelco Ski Center to appreciate the panoramic view of the Lanín Volcano and Lacar Lake. Return to San Martín. Accommodation.

Day 4 - San Martín de Los Andes / Pucón

Continental breakfast. Early morning departure from San Martín by motor coach to cross the Andes to Chile over the Tromen Pass. It will be a long, long time before you forget this crossing. While ascending through Lanín National Park, the landscape will change many times until we finally rise above the trees line. Close to our route 3776 mt high Lanín Volcano stands high above the rest of the surrounding mountains with its majestic perfectlly conical snow-capped peak. Native Araucaria trees dominate the landscape. Some may know this tree as the Monkey Puzzle Tree. Upon arrival in Pucón, transfer to selected hotel.

Day 5 – Pucón

Breakfast. Day for active excursions to explore Pucón. Some options are climb the local volcano Villarica, rafting at the Trancura river or visit the Termas de Huife. Accommodation.

Day 6 – Pucón / Puerto Varas

Breakfast. Regular bus transfer along the Panamerican Highway south towards Puerto Varas passing by the city of Valdivia. Great views of the Andes and the snowcapped volcanos. Accommodation.

Day 7 – Puerto Varas / Puerto Montt / Frutillar / Puerto Varas

Breakfast. Departure to Puerto Montt, capital of the Lake District, founded in 1853 by German colonists. City tour visiting the main squares and historical monuments, the port including the fish market of Angelmo where there is a large handicraft market full of artisans and lots of fresh shellfish. Continue to the lakeside town of Frutillar. Sigtseeing of the village. Return to Puerto Varas. Brief tour of the City of the Roses as it has come to be called because of the wide variety of roses all over town. Accommodation.

Day 8 – Puerto Varas / Peulla / Bariloche Lake Crossing

In the morning we set out driving along the southern shore of the lake to Ensenada. Even the hardest of adventurers will find it difficult not to stop and take a few photos as we approach the Osorno Volcano. Our first real stop, however, will be at the Saltos de Petrohue (entrnace fee not included as it has to be paid directly). This series of rapids and waterfalls were formed a long time ago by the cooling lava from the Volcano towering behind them. They form an impressive sculpture of extruded volcanic rock shaped by thousands of years of thundering water flow.

Here we shall board the catamaran and prepare for our crossing of Todos Los Santos Lake (All Saints Lake), surrounded by high mountains whose lower slopes are thickly forested. As we pull away from the source of Petrohue river, the view is quickly stolen away by the impressive size and proximity of ice-capped Osorno Volcano behind us. The rest of the morning we will spend it on the water. To the south high above the forested shore you will see the peculiar shape of Puntiagudo Volcano and a seires of waterfalls. We shall arrive at Peulla, at the esatern end of the lake, about lunch time. This is the heart of Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park. Here we can enjoy a lovely hike to the Cascada de la Novia (Bride’s Waterfalls) and hike amidst native growth "Valdivian Rainforest".

Afternoon continue by motor coach over the Pérez Rosales Pass and into Argentina. On the Argentine side we meet a ferry which takes us across the Frías Lake and afterwards a bus to the final boat ride across Nahuel Huapi Lake. This trip is a crossing pioneered years ago for its aesthetic beauty. It is, in a word, breathtaking. Upon arrival at Puerto Pañuelo, transfer to hotel in Bariloche. Accommodation.

Day 9 - Bariloche

Continental breakfast. Departure transfer to the airport.