Lago General Carrera and Nearby

It takes a 280-km (174-mile) drive from Coyhaique along the rutted, mostly unpaved Carretera Austral to reach Lago General Carrera—a beautiful, almost surreally blue lake, the biggest in Chile (and the second-largest in South America, after Lake Titicaca). This spectacular place is more than worth the trip. Every year, more and more travelers have been making the pilgrimage in four-wheel-drive vehicles to fish, hike, and gasp at the mountains, glaciers, and waterfalls that dot the landscape.