Puerto Varas to Punta Arenas Road Trip Ideas At Wicked Campers South America

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Puerto Varas to Punta Arenas

Wicked Campervan Trip Options: Pickup in Puerto Varas & Dropoff in Punta Arenas only

You’re about to start a trip that will take you to the most amazing landscapes of the Patagonia. The very heart of it, through Chile and Argentina. Prepare yourself to see endless fields of millenary ice, feel the furious wind of extreme south, listen to the eternal silence and watch breathless scenarios like the towers of ice and rock known as Torres del Paine. This is it. The ultimate trip. This is the real Wicked experience!

The very start of your trip is just as amazing as what you’re gonna find later. Puerto Varas, the “City of the roses” as the locals call it, it’s just great. First tip to consider: You’ll be in a place known for its beers, pastries, typical food and natural beauty.

To start you can go drive around the Llanquihue Lake, visit the Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park and even (depending on the time of the year) climb the Calbuco Volcano. When going around the lake you will see other towns also. Frutillar, Llanquihue and Puerto Octay are nice destinies to pass through, take nice pictures, eat good, relax and if you want practice watersports or simply enjoy the beach in the lake.

Considering time, we’ll continue driving north through Route 5 passing the towns of Purranque and Río Negro and stopping at Osorno to buy some groceries, load the tank and keep driving but this time heading east, in direction to Puyehue National Park and Argentina.

The park worth a stop. If you’re looking for nature, wild landscapes, endless forests and turquoise colored lakes, this is one of those amazing places Chile has to offer. There you have four different trekking routes, camping areas, pools and more!

Once you decide to drive to Argentina, you need to keep going up on the range in direction to Cardenal Antonio Samoré International border crossing. There you have to drive south surrounding Nahuel Huapi Lake till you get to San Carlos de Bariloche.

This Argentinian city is considered one of the most important touristic spots of the country and is known worldwide because of its beauty, the great slopes to practice ski (during winter) and its perfect, amazing, addicting, unbelievable chocolates. Don’t leave the city if you haven’t try at least one of every variety.

Be amazed by the landscapes you’ll se at Nahuel Huapi National Park, Victoria Island, Tronador Hill, Otto Hill or the Nahuel Huapi Lake.

After Bariloche your next stop is Esquel. You have to drive through Route 40 heading south to get there. It’s a 286 Km trip that ends in this town that offers the chance to do Rafting, Hiking, Horseback riding, climbing and fly fishing.

After Esquel it’s time to go back to Chile. Relax! The trip isn’t near over yet, there’s a lot more fun and adventure to live!

You are now driving towards Futaleufú, re- entering Chile to drive through the Austral Road in direction to Chile Chico. But first, you can make a stop at some places to keep being surprised. You can go practice rafting at Futaleufú River (considered one of the best in the world for practicing this sport), or get into Queulat National Park and be really amazed with the “Glaciar Colgante” (Hanging Glacier), a natural phenomenon that will make you use your camera more than ever before; climb the Cerro Castillo or go fly fishing at Baker River, the most abundant river in Chile.

Like I said before, you are driving now to Chile Chico, where you can do a lot of stuff. Like what? Well, you can start by going to Piedra Clavada (Nailed Stone), a 40 meters tall cylinder of rock stuck in the middle of the pampa. Or you can also go to the Plaza del Viento (Wind Square), where you can see the General Carrera Lake and the environment where the city is embedded, or go to the Jeinimeni Reserve, the Cueva de las Manos (Hands Cave) or the Moon Valley (obviously not the one in San Pedro, it appears there are several Moon Valleys around), among other activities and places you can visit.

From Chile Chico you’ll have to drive again to Argentina. The trip is far from ending!

Go through the border and drive southeast to visit your next target. You need to arrive at El Calafate, a town located at 75 kilometers of Los Glaciares National Park, where you’ll find probably some of the most impressive landscapes you’ll ever see on another trip.

And it’s not just landscapes and nature.

In El Calafate you can visit the Glaciarum Museum of Patagonian Ice, the Glacier Interpretation Center and the “Glacio Bar”, the only one bar worldwide completely made of glacier’s ice. Everything there, from sits to glasses, is made of millenary ice.

It shouldn’t take you more than two hours to arrive to Los Glaciares National Park from El Calafate. There, at the park, you can visit different spots, each more impressive than the other. Glaciers Upsala, Spegazzini, Onelli and Seco will leave you breathless, but you will never be prepared for the king of the show: The imposing Perito Moreno, an ice mass that reaches up to 70 meters tall and has a front of five kilometers. It feels like endless, like being in another planet.

If you didn`t get really impressed by the glaciers (though we know that’s impossible) then finish your visit to the park going to Fitz Roy Hill. A tower made of rock and ice, surrounded by other hills, that rises to the Patagonian sky to reach more than three thousand meters, challenging every visitor who wishes to conquer it.

Next stage of your adventure is the return to Chile. Why going back? Well, first because your trip ends on Punta Arenas and, more important, you still have amazing places to visit.

Once you’ve visited Los Glaciares National Park and went back to El Calafate, drive south through Route 40 and deviate on Route 293 and later Route 9, which will take you to the border with Chile. Once in Chile and before going to Cerro Castillo, you can visit the Cueva del Milodón (Milodon’s Cave), where a German settler found the rests of an 10 thousand year old animal of more than two meters tall!

After visiting the cave, keep driving northwest to Cerro Castillo, and get ready to visit one of the most beautiful and amazing scenarios that the Patagonia has to offer.

Torres del Paine.

These Patagonian skyscrapers will be one of the last stages of your trip so enjoy it. You’re near the end of the world! Eat sleep and chill on your Wicked campervan.

Right after losing your mind with Torres del Paine, you need to drive again heading south. If you still have the time, make a stop at Puerto Natales to make yourself a gift: Eat the irresistible “Cordero Magallánico” (Roasted Lamb) with wine, or make pictures of one of the southernmost towns in the world. You can navigate the Fiordo de Última Esperanza (Last Hope fjord) or visit the Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers, inside Bernardo O’Higgins National Park.

And, for the last, you got to keep driving south to arrive to Punta Arenas, your last destiny. Of course, if you still have time left to drive (and say good bye to your loyal campervan) you can visit for example the “Hito Mitad de Chile” (Chile’s middle milestone) which indicates de middle point between Arica- the northernmost city in continental Chile- and the South Pole, where ends the Chilean Antarctic Territory.

And yes, this is it. You have traveled lots of kilometers through amazing roads, ancient forests, endless fields of ice, towers of rock and the unique sensation of being in some of the most wild places in the planet… and survived!

You have lived the Wicked experience!!

Cheap Campervan Hire Trips

Here at Wicked Campers we’ve developed a range of Campervan Trip Ideas for roadtrips around Puerto Varas – check them out!

Puerto Varas to Santiago

Puerto Varas to Araucanía

Puerto Varas to 7 Lagos

Puerto Varas Loop

Puerto Varas to Chiloé

Puerto Varas to Punta Arenas

You wanna’ jump out of a plane or sail the Cabo de Hornos? Just ask Us baby! We have friends all over the place!

We have a variety range of van from a 2, 3, 4 and 5-seater campervans, minicampers and 4WD that will accommodate your travel in Chile. Enjoy the country and save your pocket money for beers and tickets to atractions and activities, instead of putting it in expensive accommodation.
Check out our campervans and see which one is the perfect option for you: