01 The Southern Andes Chile
The Aysén Traverse
Fourteen days down the Carretera Austral from Balmaceda to Villa O'Higgins, on foot, by boat and by a truck that has done it forty times — ending where the road does.
- Duration
- 14 days
- Party
- 4 to 6
- Season
- Late November to mid March
- From, per person
- £18,600
The route
- Balmaceda
- Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez
- Valle Exploradores
- Puerto Río Tranquilo
- Caleta Tortel
- Villa O'Higgins
The Carretera Austral is 1,240 kilometres of mostly gravel that the Chilean army cut through Aysén in the 1980s, and it ends — actually ends, with a sign and a turning circle — at Villa O’Higgins. Beyond it are a lake, a border post and a footpath into Argentina. We have run this journey every southern summer since 2017 and it is still the one Ines plans first.
Why it is fourteen days
Because it cannot be done in ten without becoming a driving holiday. The distances are not large on a map, but a hundred kilometres here is three hours, a ferry that does not wait, and a bridge that was there last year. We build in two days that do nothing: one at Río Tranquilo, one at Tortel. On every departure so far, at least one of them has been spent waiting out weather. On the ones where it was not, nobody has asked for the day back.
How the party moves
In a single Sprinter with Nicolás driving, and on the water in whatever the lake allows. We cap the party at six because the Tortel guesthouse has three double rooms and we will not split a group across two villages. If six people want to come and they are four couples, that is a different conversation.
Who it suits
People who walk six hours without being asked twice and who can sit in a warm room while it rains sideways without checking their phone for the forecast. It does not suit anyone who needs a firm arrival time at a hotel, because in Aysén the road decides that.
What we will not do
We will not fly you over the Northern Patagonian Ice Field for a photograph, and we will not add a night in Puerto Varas “on the way”. It is not on the way. It is a two-hour flight in the wrong direction, and it would turn the last day of this journey into an airport.
Day by day
The shape of it
Days 1–2
Coyhaique
Land, sleep, eat lamb at Camila's sister's table. Kit check on day two — we will make you swap boots if yours are new.
Days 3–5
Valle Exploradores
Three nights at one lodge. A full day on the San Rafael glacier approach, a rest day, and a boat day if the lake allows it.
Days 6–7
Puerto Río Tranquilo
The marble caves at seven in the morning, before the tour boats. Afternoon off, on purpose.
Days 8–10
Caleta Tortel
No roads in the village — boardwalks only. Three nights, one long walk to the Steffen fjord viewpoint.
Days 11–13
Villa O'Higgins
The end of the Carretera. Two nights at the lake, one crossing to the Candelario Mancilla shore and back.
Day 14
Balmaceda
A small plane from O'Higgins if the weather is kind, a ten-hour drive if it is not. We quote for the drive.
What the price covers
Included
What £18,600 buys
- Thirteen nights in six beds, every one slept in by Ines since 2024
- All boats, including a private charter on Lago General Carrera
- Camila Ruiz-Tagle for all fourteen days, and her driver Nicolás
- Every meal outside Coyhaique, and the wine Camila chooses
- The O'Higgins–Balmaceda light aircraft, or the drive if it cannot fly
- Satellite messenger for the party, and Neve on the desk at any hour
Not included
And, pointedly, what it doesn't
- International flights to Balmaceda — we will tell you which ones, you book them
- Travel insurance with evacuation cover (required, and we check the policy)
- A glacier helicopter. It exists. We will not book it.
- Single rooms at Caleta Tortel — there are none to be had
- Tips for the boat crews, which Camila will tell you honestly