Bariloche/Puerto Varas/Chiloe Island - How long for each?
 

I have 9-10 days to spend in this region and would like some advice on how to split up my time between the three destinations. I will be flying into Bariloche from Buenos Aires and departing from Puerto Montt to Santiago.

At the present time I am intending to do the lake crossing between Bariloche to Peurto Varas which looks as though it will cover some of the ground that one would normally do when visiting either of these places. The other alternative is the bus all the way around (and vastly cheaper). Does this go through some lovely scenery and is there a chance to stop and see any of it? I am thinking of picking up a car in Puerto Varas or, failing that, from Peurto Montt to go to Chiloe and returning it to Puerto Montt. Do you think this is the way to go as compared to public transport and some day tours?

Is there a lot of difference between Bariloche and Puerto Varas or can we make one of them just a couple of nights and spend extra time at the other and Chiloe. Offhand, it looks like we should spend at least 3 nights on Chiloe.

Any recommendations as to what to visit in each area wouid also be appreciated. We enjoy natural scenery and certainly want to visit some of the churches on Chiloe. Some light hiking would be nice but probably limited to about 3 hours return.

I did this in reverse, Chiloe, Puerto Varas, two days for the bus-boat trip, Bariloche. I was not wowed by Chiloe, but maybe it would have worked better with a car. Everything else was great.

For my TR start here (links at the top of the page): https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...t-care-for-it/

Or here with chat but no pics: https://www.fodors.com/community/sou.../#post10953331

Thursdaysd, thanks for the link to your TR. I really enjoyed it and picked up several tips from it in relation to my own trip. I had been wondering whether to see the Petrohue Falls as a separate side trip as the one day crossing I was looking at didn't include it. It was therefore interesting to read that you weren't very excited about it, possibly because you had just come from Iguazu, which we will also have just done. As I also intend to head up to Valparaiso for my last stop that was good to read through as well.

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Glad you enjoyed it, shandy, thanks for letting me know. It was a great trip, but I did feel that the scenery well outshone the cities.

Pretty much any waterfall is outshone by Iguazu (although I haven't seen Victoria), plus with all the buses arriving at once it was crowded. It sounds like they may have changed the itineraries, both one day and two day people were on the same bus out of Puerto Varas when I did it. Which company are you considering?

The first four photos here are of Petrohue: https://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/...a-2012/Puella/

Thursdaysd, I've not chosen an operator for the crossing yet. Which company did you use, although I realise it was some years?

Shandy - turns out I don't actually know. I can't find the notebook for that trip, although I have the others going back to 2001! I arranged that leg with a travel agent in Puerto Varas after I got there, and Quicken says that it was Turistour - https://www.turistour.cl/cgi-bin/tur...gi?LANGUAGE=EN . I think the provider was Cruce Andino - https://www.cruceandino.com/cruce/EN/home/inicio# - but I cant be sure, and I see they aren't advertising a two day trip from west to east, only the other direction - which is yours.

I admit it was a very long time ago (2010, the year of, and just a few days after, the big earthquake!), but I don't recall using an operator to book the journey from Bariloche to Puerto Varas. I recall that there was only one bus and/or boat in each place, and all went together. Some people might have had their own guide, but there were overall guides to tell you where to go. I thought we just bought a single journey type ticket that covered everything. Now, things may have changed.

It was a long day, but a nice trip. I thought the Petrohue Falls was pretty, and of course it's not the same as Iguazu, but still worth a short stop, which the bus did as part of the crossing.

As to how many days, we spent three in Bariloche and could have stayed one more day. Due to disruptions in flights from the earthquake, we had to cut our time in Puerto Varas and surrounds short and didn't plan to go anywhere else in the region.

We were picked up in Bariloche, Argentina very early, around 6:30am, for the Lakes Crossing after spending several days in this nice small city. We were glad that we had arranged to stay at the lodge overnight in Puella which included an excellent dinner. The next day we continued to Puerto Varas, Chile. The trip was very scenic with volcanoes and lakes. After exploring this area for a few days, we flew to Santiago.

We did a similar trip long ago in 2010 and loved every bit of it. Enjoyed a few days in Chiloe. Its a sleepy litte place but for us well worth a couple days to wander. We did have a car. The bus, boat bus trip was really fun. We did a helicopter trip on it. I have a TR that gives lots of details. have a great trip. here https://www.fodors.com/community/sou...nd-arg-886904/

Thank you for the responses everyone. In particular, I loved your trip report Yestravel. Even though it some years old I have picked up some great tips from it. As you ended up doing the crossing between Bariloche and Puerto Varas both by the lakes and on your return just by bus, I would be very interested in your comparison between the two. I would really like to do a lake crossing but prices for next February are approx $500 per person which makes it very expensive. It is only about $40 to simply go by bus. Do you think it is worth paying the $500? Does it cover a lot that you wouldn't be able to see on our day trips whilst staying in Bariloche and Puerta Varas?

There is no comparison between the crossing by bus boat bus etc and the return we did just on the bus. Are you doing it round trip and thus the $500? I looked quickly at the site of the place we used and one way is $230. Or is it just much higher in Feb? We did the one day crossing. I'm not sure how you would see what you do on the boat bus etc crossing from Puerto Varas or Bariloche by dong day trips, but I could be wrong as we didnt do that. Bottom line, you asked, is it worth $500 a person? Doubt I would pay that to go today.
Glad our old TR is helpful. Obviously some things never change -- we can use very old guidebooks just for sites. To this day, that was one of our favorite trips. I hope you love yours just as much, Happy to answer any other questions that I can.

Yestravel, thanks for your comments. When I look now at the Cruce Andino site for February the price is coming up cas USD295 which is about $450 Austraian dollars, Sorry, I hadn't specified that I was talking about Australian dollars. That is a little better than the original site I checked which was obviously a third party one. I think that we will just wing it and decide when we get there. If it is bad weather it's no use paying that sort of money and perhaps, with luck, you can pick it up cheap as a last minute fare or with cash. I know that it is a very long bus ride. Was it reasonably comfortable?

Sometimes you can pick up better fares at the last minute. Good idea to just wait and see. When is your trip?
We went from different beginning and end points than you might do. As i remember it was ok. If it was horrible I would remember that. The buses are pretty good there, better thn other SA countries we have taken them in.

Did Patagonia in 2019. Went BA to Bariloche where we spent 3 nights than took the boat ride/ bus to Puerto Varas- Puerto Montt-Puenta Arenas etc. 3 Nights and 2 days in Bariloche was fine, probably could have spent more time for hiking or fishing but was fine with three nights. Do not remember cost of crossing to Chile but somewhere around $200 plus sounds about right, Booked via our Travel agent in BA. Did take the entire day starting out early in am and arriving in PV as the sun was setting. PV very different from Bariloche