Route 7 · Los Lagos and Aysén

Things to do in Carretera Austral

Route 7 runs more than 1,200 km from Puerto Montt to Villa O’Higgins through fjords, forests, glaciers and impossibly coloured lakes. It is Chile’s great road trip: the Queulat hanging glacier, the Marble Caves and Caleta Tortel add up along a two-to-three-week journey.

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Carretera Austral on the map

The journey, stage by stage (approximate distances):

Puerto Montt → Hornopirén (110 km). Kilometre zero. After 45 km a ferry crosses from Caleta La Arena to Caleta Puelche (30 minutes) and the road follows the coast to Hornopirén.
Hornopirén → Caleta Gonzalo → Chaitén. The most special stretch: a two-leg ferry sails through the fjords (about 4 hours in all, with a short drive between Leptepu and Fiordo Largo). From Caleta Gonzalo, 60 km through Pumalín Douglas Tompkins Park to Chaitén.
Chaitén → Puyuhuapi (200 km). Forests, rivers and lakes; at Villa Santa Lucía a side road leads to Futaleufú, the rafting capital. Puyuhuapi, at the head of a fjord, has hot springs.
Puyuhuapi → Coyhaique (230 km). Queulat National Park and its hanging glacier, the Queulat pass and Villa Mañihuales up to Coyhaique, the regional capital.
Coyhaique → Puerto Río Tranquilo (220 km). The spires of Cerro Castillo and the arrival at General Carrera, Chile’s largest lake. Boats leave Río Tranquilo for the Marble Caves.
Río Tranquilo → Cochrane (115 km). The lake beside the road, Puerto Bertrand and the confluence of the Baker and Neff rivers; Patagonia National Park is close by.
Cochrane → Caleta Tortel → Villa O’Higgins (350 km). A must-do detour to Caleta Tortel, a village of cypress boardwalks with no streets. Then a ferry from Puerto Yungay to Río Bravo and the last stretch to Villa O’Higgins, the end of the road.

How to get to Carretera Austral

The starting point is Puerto Montt (daily flights from Santiago). You can also start or finish at Balmaceda, Coyhaique’s airport, halfway down.

Some stretches are gravel: a high-clearance vehicle helps but is not essential in summer.
You cross three ferries; the Hornopirén–Caleta Gonzalo one must be booked ahead in season.
Fill up and carry cash: there are long distances without services or phone signal between towns.
The best season is November to March.