The Lago Llanquihue area is not far from the Puerto Montt airport. The Lago, with its cute European-style towns and perfect Volcan Osorno, is a much more impressive introduction to southern Chile than is Puerto Montt itself. Re-check the map for orientation. Puerto Varas is the most convenient tourist destination on Lago Llanquihue. It has banks, travel agents, hotels, hospedajes (like B and Bs), sporting goods stores, busses, good restaurants. But it does not have the aura of a tourist trap. It's just comfortable and a great place from which to launch explorations of the region.

Frutillar is a small town a few miles further north on Lago Llanquihue. Frutillar does not have all of the facilities of Puerto Varas, but the coastal area is very pretty and quiet. The picture is the Hotel Kleine Salzburg. I have very good memories of staying and eating at the Kleine Salzburg although the desk clerk almost burned it down one night when my wife and I were guests (in the room under the front gable). I think it has completely recovered. Maybe a little expensive, but a nice treat.

In front of the Hotel Kleine Salzburg there is a famous black sand beach which has provided the foreground for many photos of bathers, the lake and Volcan Osorno.

There are roads that circle Lago Llanquihue on the north and take you all the way to Ensenada. Tucked away here and there are farmhouses artfully crafted by the German settlers. This is sort of a little Bavaria.

The road along the south shore of Lago Llanquihue is nicely paved, faster, and less adventurous. The north and south routes join up at the tiny town of Ensenada at the entrance to Parque nacional Perez Rosales. The Parque road leads eastward between the slopes of Volcan Osorno and the Rio Petrohue. The photo is of some spectacular cascades on the Rio.

The parque road ends at Petrohue on the shore of Lago Todos Santos. From here the Lago extends eastward, through the mountains, almost to the Chilean / Argentinean border. A ferry boat makes daily round trips along the lake. The wooden lodge at Petrohue is gorgeous and, during the off season, not too expensive. The photo shows the lodge against the backdrop of Volcan Osorno, from the viewpoint of the ferry boat. Don't count on being able to photograph the volcano. Often there are clouds.