My Travel Blog: Chile Diaries: Puerto Varas & Volcano Osorno

Puerto Varas is one of the popular tourist destinations in south Chile apart from Punta Arenas, the southernmost major city. It is an amazing destination in the months of November-March if you want to escape the chilly conditions in some parts of the northern hemisphere.

I had the chance to visit this place for about two week in mid-march and was definitely worth it. This was the first time I visited southern hemisphere and was really looking forward to experience a different culture and language.

However, to some extent I was in for a bit of surprise. Puerto Varas was colonized by Germans in the 19th Century and much of architecture and the local cuisine is similar to Germany. In the local bakeries and restaurants, one can get "Kuchen" and "Pommes", one of the most common things in Germany. Some of the fire trucks still have "Feurwehr" written on them and they even have a German club in the center of the town. However, most of the locals do not know German and Spanish is the dominant language.

The town itself is quite small with a population of nearly 42,000 people. It is situated on the banks of lake Llanquihue, the second largest lake in Chile. Local people often fish in the these waters in the evening. Most of the restaurants and bars serve pizzas and burgers, though there are a few places where one can have just the local food.

The view of Puerto Varas from the balcony in my room

Lake Llanquihue with Volcano Osorno in the distance

Lake Llanquihue with Puerto Varas city central behind

Volcano Osorno from one of the viewpoints outside of Puerto Varas

A nice view of the city during sunset

Sunrise

One of the prettiest views from Puerto Varas is that of volcano Osorno. The last time this volcano erupted was somewhere around 1835 when Charles Darwin was exploring the Flora and Fauna in South America. The volcano is unique due to its conical shaped snow capped peak. It is just about an hour ride from the town. During summer, one has the possibility to hike up until the snow line and during winters, this is a popular destination for skiing. There is an amazing view of the lake from the top of this mountain and it is really worth admiring the size of this lake which is not apparent from the town itself.

Volcano Calbuco (which erupted just recently in April 2015) as viewed from the top of volcano Osorno

Vincente Perez Rosale National park as viewed from the top of volcano Osorno

Volcano Osorno (up close).

Puerto Varas has quite a few museums. But museo Pable Fierro catches everyone's attention while taking a walk along the lake shore just a few minutes from the town center. It has all the "vintage" style collections of literally everything. The house has a lot of old pictures, typewriters, bikes, cars, tempos, coke bottles from decades back, piano, cuckoo clocks and many other things. Pictures will tell the rest of the story but it is worth visiting this museum.