47 Best Sights in The Lake District, Chile

This small museum in Temuco exhibits a collection of animal-shaped ceramics and textiles with bold rhomboid and zigzag designs—both are distinctively Mapuche specialties—as well as old black-and-white photographs. A fogón, the traditional cooking pit, graces the center of the museum.

This museum contains a decent collection of Mapuche artifacts, Chilean and Spanish firearms, and exhibits devoted to the German settlement of Osorno. Housed in a pink neoclassical building dating from 1929, this is one of the few older structures in the city center.

Author Pablo Neruda was Chile's most famous train buff; he spent his childhood in Temuco, and his father was a rail worker. Accordingly, the city has transformed its old rail yard into this well-laid-out museum documenting Chile's rail history and dedicated it to the author's memory. Thirteen locomotives (one diesel and 12 steam) and nine train carriages are housed in the round engine building. Scattered among the exhibits are snippets from Neruda's writings: "Trains were dreaming in the station, defenseless, sleeping, without locomotives," reads one. Exhibits are labeled in Spanish, but an English-speaking guide is on hand if you need translation. The museum lies a bit off the beaten path, but if trains fascinate you, as they did Neruda, it's worth the short taxi ride from downtown. 

Housed in a 1924 mansion, this small museum covers the history of the area. It has an eclectic collection of artifacts and relics, including musical instruments, utensils, and the country's best collection of indigenous jewelry. Upstairs, exhibits document the Mapuche people's three-century struggle to keep control of their land. The presentation could be more evenhanded: the rhetoric glorifies the Central European colonization of this area as the pacificación de la Araucanía (taming of the Araucanía territories). But the museum gives you a reasonably good Spanish-language introduction to Mapuche history, art, and culture.

This series of four small waterfalls surrounded by Valdivian rain forest is a classic day trip from Pucón, just 11 mi (18 km) away. The water cascades into natural pools that are a mesmerizing shade of blue. In summer, it's an especially popular spot for swimming, picnics, and camping. A great way to arrive is by bike, which allows you to see the southern Chilean countryside up close.

The friendly people at the tourist office arrange free daily tours in summer. Each day has a different focus, including walks around the city, fruit orchards, or nearby farms.

Close to the city center, Cuarto Centenario Park was established in 1958 to celebrate the city's 400th anniversary. A popular picnic and recreation spot, the park is about 67,000 square meters in size and has bicycle paths, playgrounds, and lots of green space to escape the urban jungle. Among the more than 20 species in the small forest of the park are younger specimens of the ancient Sequoia trees native to California.

Halfway up Volcán Villarrica, you find this cave right next to a very basic visitor center. It first opened up in 1968 for spelunkers to explore, but eventually tourism proved more lucrative. A short tour takes you deep into the electrically illuminated cave via wooden walkways that bring you close to the crystallized basalt formations. Your tour guide may make occasional hokey references to witches and pumas hiding in the rocks, but it's definitely worth a visit—especially if uncooperative weather prevents you from partaking of the region's other attractions and activities.

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. Comparable to California's redwood trees, alerce grow to average heights of 50 meters (165 feet) and can reach 5 meters (16 feet) in diameter. Immensely popular as building material for houses and furniture in southern Chile, they have been nearly wiped out from the landscape. They are also the world's second-oldest living tree species, many living up to 4,000 years.

Chile's oldest national park was established in 1926. South of Parque Nacional Puyehue, this vast 2,538-square-km (980-square-mile) preserve includes the Osorno and lesser-known Puntiagudo volcanoes, as well as the deep-blue Lago Todos los Santos. The Volcán Osorno appears in your car window soon after you drive south from Osorno and doesn't disappear until shortly before your arrival in Puerto Montt. There is a visitor center opposite the Hotel Petrohué that can provide info on several hikes, such as the Rincón del Osorno trail that hugs the lake and the Saltos de Petrohué trail, which runs parallel to the river of the same name.

This smaller of the beaches near Lican Ray is south of town and a good place to go with kids. There's space for sunbathing on the beach and parking for boats. Amenities:  food and drink; lifeguards; parking (free); toilets; water sports. Best for: sunrise; sunset; swimming; walking

Packed with crowds in summer, the gray-sand Playa Frutillar stretches for 15 blocks along Avenida Philippi. From this point along Lago Llanquihue you have a spectacular view due east of the conical Volcán Osorno, as well as the lopsided Volcán Puntiagudo. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); toilets; water sports. Best for: sunrise; sunset; swimming; walking 

This beach stretches a few blocks on the west side of Lican Ray and is the place to go for swimming and soaking up the sun. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (free); toilets; water sports. Best for: sunrise; sunset; swimming; walking

Temuco's bustling central square is ringed with imported palm trees—a rarity in this part of the country. A monument to the 300-year struggle between the Mapuche and the Spaniards sits in the center.

Lined with lime and oak trees, this square six blocks north of the Plaza Aníbal Pinto is ruled over by the 1906 Iglesia Santa Trinidad, an Anglican church and one of the city's oldest surviving structures.

Just south of the Centro Cultural El Austral lies one of two fortress towers constructed in 1774 to defend Valdivia from constant attacks by the Mapuche. Both towers—the other sits on Avenida Picarte between the bus terminal and the bridge entering the city over the Río Calle-Calle—were built in the style of those that guarded the coasts of Andalusia, in southern Spain. A wall and moat connected the two Valdivia towers in the colonial era, effectively turning the city into an island.

Truly adventurous types attempt the five-hour hike to the summit of 2,240-meter (7,350-foot) Volcán Puyehue. As with most climbs in this region, CONAF rangers insist on ample documentation of experience before allowing you to set out. Access to the 1,070-square-km (413-square-mile) park is easy; head east from Osorno on the highway leading to Argentina.