The Lakes District
Known for its conical volcanoes and its shimmering lakes, this region of central Chile and Argentina offers accessible and easy-going hiking with spectacular views, quiet villages and a laid back pace of life. The region was the former home to the Mapuche people, who managed to fight off both the Incas and Spanish colonialists for 350 years before finally falling to the Chilean Army in the 1880s. Over the following century, Swiss, Austrian and German settlers transformed the area, influencing the architecture and cuisine of towns like Argentina’s Bariloche and Chile’s Puerto Varas, where tourists can visit quaint Swiss-style chocolate shops before enjoying a day of hiking or kayaking on a nearby lake.
Hiking in Chile
An expert guide to the best treks and hikes in Chile
Parts of Chile, like many places around the world, have become a victim of their own tourism successes. Interest in Torres del Paine far outstrips any of Chile’s other marvellous hiking locations, and so the mainstream travel industry has focused on marketing this one place at the expense of virtually everywhere else. As a result, Torres del Paine can sometimes feel like it’s bursting at the seams with hikers...read more