Experience the best of Puerto Chacabuco

Puerto Chacabuco is a port on the Aysén Fjord in the Aysén Region of Chilean Patagonia, a deep inlet walled by steep mountains of temperate rainforest. Cruise ships and ferries dock here. A road follows the Aysén River valley to the town of Puerto Aysén, a short way inland, and carries on to Coyhaique, the regional capital, about 80 km away.

Boats leave through the fjords for Laguna San Rafael National Park, where the San Rafael Glacier calves icebergs into a lagoon. Farther north, Queulat National Park has a hanging glacier above a waterfall, reached along the Carretera Austral, the long southern highway that links settlements through the Patagonian wilderness. Rivers around Coyhaique are known for fly fishing for trout.

Patagonian lamb roasted over an open fire, fresh salmon from the fjords and trout from the rivers are the local flavours, often followed by calafate berry desserts. Rain falls in every month and the fjord is often wrapped in low cloud. December to March is the warmest and brightest stretch, while winters are cold and dark.