North Patagonia looks different from each side of the Andes. On the Argentine slope it is lakes, steppe and dry forest; on the Chilean one, rain, ferns, volcanoes and the sea coming deep into the mountains as fiords. This loop crosses the range twice. It goes south from Bariloche on the Ruta 40 through El Bolsón and the alerce forests of Los Alerces, enters Chile at Futaleufú, rides the Carretera Austral north through Pumalín with ferries between the road's broken ends, and comes back to Argentina past the Osorno volcano.
Day 1 · Bariloche
Highlight · The spires of Cerro Catedral, reached along the lakeshore past Playa Bonita.
Drive · 60 km
The car is collected on arrival and the first afternoon goes to Cerro Catedral, the mountain whose spires gave it its name, reached along the lakeshore past Playa Bonita. In winter it is the country's best-known ski area; in summer its lifts open the high trails.
Night · Bariloche
Day 2 · Lake Nahuel Huapi to Puerto Blest
Highlight · Lago Frías, emerald green under the Tronador.
A day on the water. Boats leave Puerto Pañuelo across the Nahuel Huapi, past the islet where Perito Moreno is buried, to Puerto Blest on the wet western shore. From there a short road reaches Lago Frías, emerald green under the Tronador, and on the way back a stair climbs beside waterfalls to Lago Los Cántaros.
Night · Bariloche
Day 3 · Ruta 40 to El Bolsón
Highlight · The Gutiérrez, Mascardi and Guillelmo lakes, then El Bolsón at the foot of the Piltriquitrón.
Drive · 160 km · under 2 h · paved
South on the Ruta 40 along the Gutiérrez, Mascardi and Guillelmo lakes. El Bolsón sits at the foot of the Piltriquitrón, a town of hop farms, berries, craft markets and its own mild climate. The afternoon goes to the Lago Puelo national park, a few kilometres south; the night is in El Bolsón.
Night · El Bolsón
Day 4 · Los Alerces to Trevelin
Highlight · The chain of lakes of Los Alerces, and a short walk to its oldest alerce.
Drive · 185 km
Through Epuyén and El Hoyo, villages of artisans and Mapuche communities, then off the Ruta 40 onto the road through Cholila, where Butch Cassidy once settled to keep out of sight. Los Alerces national park follows its chain of lakes, Rivadavia, Verde, Futalaufquen, and a short walk reaches its oldest alerce. The night is in Trevelin, the Welsh village south of Esquel.
Night · Trevelin
Day 5 · Over the Andes to Futaleufú
Highlight · Rafting on one of the world's great whitewater rivers, or the view back from Cerro Bandera.
Drive · 50 km · gravel
Only 50 km, on gravel, but across a border: the Paso Futaleufú leads into a different country and a different climate. Futaleufú is a small Chilean town on one of the world's great whitewater rivers; the afternoon is for rafting, at whichever grade suits, or for the walk up Cerro Bandera for the view back over the range.
Night · Futaleufú
Day 6 · Carretera Austral to Caleta Gonzalo
Highlight · Close under the Chaitén volcano and the ice-capped Michinmahuida, then giant ferns in Pumalín.
Drive · 210 km
To the Pacific. The road reaches the Carretera Austral and turns north through Chaitén, rebuilt after the 2008 eruption of its volcano, and passes close under the Chaitén and the ice-capped Michinmahuida. Then the Pumalín park, with its first short trails among giant ferns and alerces, and the end of the road at Caleta Gonzalo, on the fiord.
Night · Carretera Austral
Day 7 · Pumalín
Highlight · Out by boat into the fiords and to a sea-lion colony.
A full day in the park. Boats go out into the fiords and to a sea-lion colony; the trails along the road, Cascadas, Tronador, Los Alerces and Cascadas Escondidas, run from a short kilometre to three hours there and back.
Night · Carretera Austral
Day 8 · Ferries to Hornopirén
Highlight · The untouched Pacific slopes of the Hornopirén national park from the longer ferry.
Where the Carretera Austral runs out of land, ferries take over. Two crossings, Caleta Gonzalo to Fiordo Largo and Leptepu to Hornopirén, with a short stretch of road between, five to six hours in all. The longer ferry runs under the untouched Pacific slopes of the Hornopirén national park.
Night · Carretera Austral
Day 9 · Reloncaví to Puerto Montt
Highlight · Half an hour by ferry across the Reloncaví estuary, to the edge of the Alerce Andino park.
Drive · 115 km
Sixty kilometres of coastal road to Puelche and a third, half-hour ferry across the Reloncaví estuary to Caleta La Arena, on the edge of the Alerce Andino park and its fifty lakes. The last stretch of the Carretera Austral ends in Puerto Montt, the largest town of the journey and the night's stop, 22 km short of Puerto Varas.
Night · Puerto Montt
Day 10 · Puerto Montt to Puerto Varas
Highlight · The perfect cone of the Osorno over Lake Llanquihue.
A slower day after the fiords: the waterfront and the Angelmó fish market in Puerto Montt, then the short drive to Puerto Varas on Lake Llanquihue, under the perfect cone of the Osorno. Two ways to fill it: north to Chiloé by ferry, to Ancud and the penguins of Puñihuil, or east to Lake Todos los Santos and the blue falls of Petrohué.
Night · Puerto Varas
Day 11 · Samoré pass to Villa La Angostura
Highlight · A last look at the Osorno from the shore road to Puerto Octay.
Drive · 220 km
Back to Argentina through the Samoré pass, with a stop in Frutillar, the most German of the lake towns, and the shore road to Puerto Octay for a last look at the Osorno.
Night · Villa La Angostura
Day 12 · Los Arrayanes and back to Bariloche
Highlight · The cinnamon-barked arrayanes of the Quetrihué peninsula, trees found almost nowhere else.
Drive · 85 km
Walk · Los Arrayanes · 12 km
A morning in Villa La Angostura: the Quetrihué peninsula holds the arrayanes forest, cinnamon-barked trees found almost nowhere else, reached by boat or on a 12 km trail. Then around the Nahuel Huapi back to Bariloche.
