Tag: Puerto Montt

Arrival: 8:00 AM Last Tender: 6:30 PM Departure: 7:00 PM

TODAY’S WEATHER Partly Sunny High: 74°F 29°C Low: 48°F 9°C

DRESS CODE: CASUAL

For Ladies: DRESSES OR BLOUSES AND PANTS

For Gentlemen: SPORT SHIRTS AND SLACKS

No shorts or flip-flop-type footwear after 6:00 PM in indoor venues

If you choose to visit southern Chile’s ominous volcanoes, its celestial glacial lakes, and its mountainous national parks, you will most likely be visiting Puerto Montt, the capital of the Lakes District and the region’s commercial and transportation hub.

Puerto Montt has a plethora of exit points – the Navimag ferry departs from here – and is a fine spot for a meal (several of the region’s best restaurants are here). For most of its history, windy Puerto Montt was the end of the line for just about everyone traveling in the Lake District. Now the Carretera Austral carries on southward, but for all intents and purposes, Puerto Montt remains the region’s last significant outpost, a provincial city that is a hub for the nation’s salmon farming industry as well local fishing, farming, and forestry.

Today the city center is full of malls, condos, and office towers (it’s the fastest-growing city in Chile) but away from downtown, Puerto Montt consists mainly of low clapboard houses perched above its bay, the Seno de Reloncaví. If it’s a sunny day, head east to Playa Pelluco or one of the city’s other beaches. If you’re more interested in exploring the countryside, drive along the shore for a good view of the surrounding hills.

 SIGHTS

• Caleta Angelmó

• Beaches at Maullín

• Catedral de Puerto Montt

• Museo Juan Pablo II

PARQUE NACIONAL ALERCE ANDINO

Close to Puerto Montt, the mountainous 398-square-km (154-square-mile) Parque Nacional Alerce Andino, with more than 40 small lakes, was primarily established to protect the endangered alerce trees that are spread out upon some 20,000-hectares (49,421 acres) of the park.

MANDATORY ANTIGEN TEST IN CHILE

As a compulsory requirement of the Chilean Healthy Authorities protocol, all guests were obliged to undergo a COVID-19 antigen test every 48 hours for re-entering Chile. The tests were completed under the guidance of the expert onboard Medical Team. Although we had another “Panoramic Bus Tour” where we were not allowed off the bus, the colorful city and Chile’s stunning Lake District, an area of incredible natural beauty, full of rolling fields, glistening lakes, and awesome volcanoes, look amazing even from a bus window.