So, our landing spot was Santiago de Chile, where the summer heat was high and the vibes were off. We itched to get out, so off we were onto an overnight bus within a couple of days. After eight hours (and a sweet-as bus sleep, to be fair), we were waking up in the Chilean Lakes District, in the beautiful town of Pucon. We welcomed the chilly mornings and sweltered in the hot, sunny afternoons. We were enraptured by the beautiful lake and the plentiful hiking. In fact, it reminded us a little of Taupō back home, with a kindly, small-town, local tourist feel. Pucon was the perfect place to have a holiday before we began our travels in earnest. 

At this point, not having any luggage (and having heaps of anxiety about when it would arrive), limited our activity options, so we spent plenty of time enjoying the town itself. We snacked, we swam, we explored the touristy shops, appreciated the wooden buildings, experienced our first Chilean supermercado (so good!!!). This town vibe was awesome – full of relaxed local and foreign tourists soaking up the summer sun. Once we got our gear (four stressful days, let us tell you), we even managed to squeeze in a 5 day trek, the Villarrica Traverse – we’ll put more details of that in another post.

Sometimes our journey won’t be packed full of to-dos. Sometimes when travelling, all you can manage is a walk around town and a sit down at a cafe – either because the budget demands it, or travel fatigue does. We arrived in Pucon barely a week after Christmas – a week after emotional family goodbyes, last minute stress packing, and a hefty amount of over-eating. What we felt was more like life-fatigue – and we wanted a wee holiday from thinking about anything even remotely futuristic.

Click here to take yourself to ‘Keep it Short and Sweet’ at the bottom of this page which summarizes this blog post.

Tell me everything:

What we did:

Eat, wander, swim, sleep.

The town of Pucon is cute and small but still has three whole supermarkets to explore, which is one of the greatest things about being in a new country – new peanut butter, new hot chocolate, new bread, new vegetables – so much to try! The architecture is mostly wooden and cool to look at, and the tourists were mostly local and super friendly, which made it feel full but not full of gringos. You really only need one good day to explore the town – there isn’t much to it – but there’s a fair bit to do in the area. Chile was a little expensive for us, so we predominantly ate in our hostel. However, we did pick up a few tasty empanadas (around 3000CLP for a big one), and a small amount of ceviche from a few ladies on the road. It looks as though there is a good spread of cuisines, but mostly aimed at a bougier tourist budget – so a bit more than we were willing to pay for a proper meal out.

We stayed at Gecko Hostel, which had a lovely outdoor area and a reasonably sized kitchen. Our room had a private bathroom and a comfy bed, but it was on the upper floor so it got hellishly hot during the day. Thankfully, we had a fan! The owner was lovely and allowed us to leave a decent amount of gear at the hostel while we hiked. There was also a very sweet dog – Midnight – who loved a big cuddle..

The lake is a lovely temperature, but the beach is made up of tiny little black stones, rather than sand, so it’s a motherf***er to walk on, both due to the slipperiness and the heat. There are heaps of water activities right on the beach – kayaking, paddle boarding, and some inflatable playgrounds, too. There’s not really anywhere to paddle to, so we settled for sunbathing and swimming only. If you get peckish, there’s no need to hustle back into town – someone will eventually wander past you peddling some tasty treats, from popcorn to empanadas. However, fair warning in this region: horse flies. We had to scarper – twice! – from our relaxing morning on the beach due to a very persistent insect. Horse flies are not a thing in Aotearoa, so in our first interaction we both had a bit of a panic at the biggest ‘wasp’ we’d ever seen. To be honest, I don’t know which is worse…

Santuario El Cañi

Our single day excursion was to Cañi, a privately owned piece of land to the North East of Pucon. The Sanctuary is special because it holds some of the oldest Araucanía trees in the area, and their presence is culturally significant for the indigenous First Peoples of the area. Not to mention, they are spectacular trees and have some curious biological developments! Upon arrival, they give you a map of the trail which has some really nice descriptions at points of interest, with historical and cultural tidbits. The track is mostly uphill (like, very uphill), and at the summit you get a stunning view of the surrounding parks – totally worth it, and an awesome spot for lunch.

The entry cost was 5000CLP each, and the return bus was 3000CLP each.

It’s easy to get there by bus, we caught the first one at 8:30am from the Pullman Bus terminal. Double check the return times before you descend – we missed one by about 10 minutes (after running/skidding down half the hill) and then had to wait two hours. It was a little rough. However, it is pretty easy to hitchhike on this road in summer – another couple gave up on the bus and picked up a hitch within 20 minutes or so. Your hostel should be able to give you information on the bus times, and at the terminal there are updated times (which you should definitely take a photo of, and triple check which column is going and which is returning! Our #1 mistake…).

As we said, the walk itself is properly steep – the track is in excellent condition, and well signposted, but it’s pretty much all uphill. We’d recommend poles if you’ve got knee issues (or even if you don’t!). We got some hellish blisters, and our poor toes were not pleased when we started the Villarrica Traverse the next day.

Parque Nacional Villarrica

We completed the Villarrica traverse, a 5 day hike from the Villarrica ski lodge towards the border with Argentina, walking in between three volcanoes. We had spectacular weather the whole time, and all the camping spots were stunning. It was, however, our first hike in 7 months, so it was an absolute slog. If you don’t have five days but want to get a taster, our favourite campground was Laguna Azul, which it seems like you can access from the road end. The laguna is stunning, and when you wake up with energy in the morning you can hoon it up the hill to the highest point on the traverse for more great views and some fresh snow melt (but beware of the horse flies!). It’s also possible to complete the Traverse in 3 days, by starting at a different location and shortening the route (or, you could just be a distance-junkie and complete the 71km in 3 days)- we met an ultralight couple that did this.

Entrance to the park was 10800CLP each – this was a blanket fee for our entrance (it didn’t matter how many days we were there), and there was no camping fee.

What we didn’t:

There’s lots of other classic Pucon activities out there, but we didn’t attempt anything more than walks and relaxing.

Adrenaline Junkie Heaven

You name it, Pucon has it. White water rafting, hydrospeed (white water rafting, but just with a board & flippers), skydiving, there are plenty of tour agencies who will help you fill your adrenaline rush, if you so desire. Not a very budget friendly option, though! And while we hiked around it, there’s also several tours which offer expeditions up to the summit of Villarrica volcano, which sits at 2,860m. Climbing an active volcano does seem like a pretty cool (and unique) experience.

Thermal Baths

Due to the activity of Volcano Villarrica, it only makes sense that there are thermal pools nearby. There are three different lots of pools, of varying fanciness. There were plenty of tours going out this way, but unfortunately no easy bus to give us more freedom (and less cost!). Despite that, we definitely gave this a long think – it would’ve been lovely to relax in a proper spa – but in the middle of the day in January, jumping into a hot pool sounds a lot less appetising, strangely enough. Each of the thermal baths seem to have a different entrance fee which probably related to the fancieness at each bath.

Caburgua & Parque Nacional Huerquehue

These are two additional options we found for hiking and lakes, again accessible by bus. The Huerquehue National Park bus only runs one in and out per day, so we picked Cañi for the flexibility. As always, it’s important to check at your hostel AND again at the bus station what the schedule looks like, as they often change. Huerquehue has more options for hiking with three different trails which are easily accessible. There are also places to camp if you’re keen to do an overnighter. The park entrance is 10400CLP at writing for internationals. It looks like there’s also updated information for buses from Pucon on this website, so check back if you’re heading there! https://parquenacionalhuerquehue.cl/acceso-boletos-entradas/

Carburgua offers some lovely looking beaches, rather than hiking. We were a bit beached out by Pucon itself, so felt no need to get on a bus to another swimming destination. The photos do look spectacular though, with the combination of sand and green surroundings. 

En route to both destinations are some more natural lakes called “Ojos del Caburgua”, the eyes of Caburgua. As you can imagine, this looks like another great photography spot. The infrequency of the bus means a stop here might leave you waiting over an hour, unless you can pick up a hitchhike (again, likely to be easy in the busier summer months).

What we wish:

The rest of the lakes district boasts plenty of stunning national parks and hikes that you can link together. You could easily spend a whole summer hiking through this area, between mountains and lakes, along the spine of the Andes. It’s a matter of picking your battles! A lot of the hiking information is also a little more difficult to find – when we emailed CONAF about the state of the Villarrica Traverse, they didn’t reply for 4 days (we were halfway through the hike!) and they sent us a link to a non-official description of the track, on WikiExplore. Thankfully, there was a kind local tour guide who answered a number of our questions on Whatsapp.

Keep it Short and Sweet

• Pucon is very popular in summer – but good popular, with good vibes 
• For Pucon itself – you only need a day or two, depending on your shopping and beaching desires.
• For Pucon’s surroundings – there are easily enough activities for 3 whole days. 
• Local hikes are easily accessible by bus (but double check the timetable).
• Our two top single-day activities, for a budget and for the height of summer:
  • Sanctuario el Cani (3000CLP return bus, 5000CLP entrance)
  • Parque National Huerquehue – we didn’t do it, but would have if we had our gear earlier (3000CLP return bus, 10400CLP entrance)
• Our activity wishlist, if we had a bigger budget:
  • Thermal baths 
  • Summiting Volcano Villarrica (~100USD for a day-long tour)
• We can recommend Gecko Hostel, where we stayed.
• We can’t recommend any restaurants, and while we got some good empanadas from “Panadería Marsil”, the server was cranky on the last day and didn’t heat them up 🙁 so make sure you’re specific!

If you found this post helpful and have any questions about Pucon or any of our other blog posts, then feel free to contact us!