by Allan Taylor

Created on: January 04, 2009   Last Updated: June 02, 2011

Chile's Southern Lakes Crossing

Which is the most beautiful lake in Chile?

Of the dozen or so major lakes in Chile's "Southern Lakes District" travelers invariably score Lago Todos Los Santos as tops.

It differs from the others by being hidden deep within the mountains. It is surrounded by much virgin forest, in contrast to the other lakes in the Andean foothills which have farms and villages scattered around their shores.

Lago Todos Los Santos forms part of the Vicente Perez Rosales National Park which includes the Fuji-like volcanic cone of Osorno at Petrohue, the spiky volcanic neck of Puniagudo, and extends to the Andean frontier with Argentina culminating in icy Cerro Tronador 3460 meters high. A visit here is an ecological adventure not to be missed.

The lake was discovered and named by Jesuit missionaries in 1670 when seeking a route across the high Andes to establish a mission in Patagonia. The lake and mountain pass remained forgotten for 180 years. In the late 1800's it became an important commercial link and migration route for the German settlers from Chile's Llanquihue region. Once across the Andes and into Argentina they developed haciendas around Lago Nahuel Huapi and founded the town of San Carlos de Bariloche.

When the railway line from the Atlantic coast reached Bariloche in 1934 the commercial boat traffic declined and tourism began to develop.

Today this spectacular scenic route across the Andean mountain chain is a major tourist attraction traversed each year by thousands of domestic and international travelers. It involves three catamaran trips linked by buses and takes a full day in summer but maybe two days in the winter because of short daylight hours and snowy conditions.

You can start the crossing either from Puerto Montt or Puerto Varas in Chile, or do the reverse trip starting in San Carlos de Bariloche which is the tourist center for the Argentine Lake District and end up in Puerto Varas or Puerto Montt.

Puerto Montt is the northern fiordland seaport of Chile. It has strategic importance as a terminal for cruise ships and car ferries going south to fiordland, as far as Puerto Natales and Punta Arenas. It is a major local fishing port, exporter of wood chips and has a Chilean naval presence. As such, it is picturesque, but in parts scruffy, like most seaports. Many tourists prefer to stay at smaller, more beautiful, Puerto Varas, some 20 kms inland, located on the shores of Lago Llanquihue.

The tour buses from Puerto Montt pick

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