Route recommendation needed for Chile ride

When you get this info, could you please share it with me? I am also
interested in doing a ride like this. I biked Israel a while back and had a
great time.
"ThinkNotes" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Hi

Would someone know of a good route to bike for about 15-18 days in Chile? I am an experienced
tourer planning to visit in 2nd half of Nov 2004. Would prefer a route that has mountains, though
classic/must-do rides are always welcome.

Also, am assuming that the main airport for arrival/departure would be Santiago de Chile but if
there are other entry/exit points which are useable, that would be great to know.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Warm wishes Manju Bansal

I toured a few years back in the gorgeous lake & volvano region of south-central Chile. It is more
or less the area between Puerto Montt in the south, and Temuco in the north. Also, I'd suggest the
adjacent region of Argentina should be included. The climate of the region is cool & wet, though it
is typically sunnier & drier during the summer months. I flew to Puerto Montt to begin, and flew
back to Santiago from Temuco. Chilean buses are excellent and readily accept bikes, but it's a long
way (about 1,000km) from Santiago down to this region. I found the buses useful for shorter trips to
avoid stretches that weren't that interesting.

The area is sparsely populated, and has stunning scenery with the picture-perfect volcanoes (e.g.
Osorno & Villarica) and the numerous lakes. One limitation is the small number of paved roads. I
rode a mountain bike with smooth inverted tread tires, and that seemed to be a very good compromise,
since I rode a lot of both paved & unpaved roads.

The mountains in the regions are lower than both further north as well as further south. There are 4
or 5 passes between Chile & Argentina in this area, and they aren't too high. I highly recommend you
ride between Puerto Montt & Bariloche, Argentina. The route involves 3 boats across 3 different
lakes. The middle portion across the pass has no traffic other than a couple of buses ferrying
tourists. There are no cars at all because the unpaved road doesn't connect to any other roads. The
scenery is some of the finest I've seen anywhere in the world.

The towns of Pucon & Villarica, as well as the lovely area around them are also highly recommended.

To see excellent maps of Chile, go to: turistel.clpag mapas ruteros.htmOpen ↗

If you are biking prior to Christmas, no camping gear is necessary in this area. I stayed mainly in
"hospedajes", which are basically B&Bs. Very inexpensive, around US$10 when I was there in the
1990s. After Christmas/New Years, Chileans start to go on holiday and rooms will be harder to find
and prices will probably go up.

I didn't bike south of Puerto Montt, but it's a popular area for touring. The weather might be a
problem in November, though.

I biked a little bit around Valparaiso/Vina del Mar, as well as way down south in Punta Arenas (the
winds will drive any sane persona crazy).

Eric

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Would someone know of a good route to bike for about 15-18 days in Chile? I am an experienced
tourer planning to visit in 2nd half of Nov 2004. Would prefer a route that has mountains,
though classic/must-do rides are always welcome.

Also, am assuming that the main airport for arrival/departure would be Santiago de Chile but if
there are other entry/exit points which are useable, that would be great to know.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Warm wishes Manju Bansal

In article said:

I toured a few years back in the gorgeous lake & volvano region of south-central Chile. It is more
or less the area between Puerto Montt

Chiloe Island might be interesting to bike on. Very few cars. In fact I had a gasoline-operated
stove and could not find any gas in some villages:

kolumbus.fiindex.htmOpen ↗