Introduction

194km South of Puerto Guadal

Made famous when Prince William of the British Royal family spent a few months of his gap year working here, Caleta Tortel is an incredibly small settlement with simple buildings of natural timber construction set upon wooden stilts on the hill sides. There are no roads or streets in the usual sense, but a series of interconnected wooden boardwalks between houses and areas. The combined length of all the boardwalks is 7km.

The village is located between the Northern and Southern Patagonian icefields that cover the Andes. This combined area of snow, ice and glaciers covers around 4,000k2 of mountain tops. Here, is also the place where Chile’s most powerful river, the River Baker, enters into Pacific waters together with the rivers of the Bravo, Pascua and Huemules, which, together create a network of channels and inland waterways containing glacial-melt, fresh water.

Historically, the Kawesquar, indigenous people occupied this area, using their canoes carved from tree trunks to navigate the channels, fiords and islands in Southern Patagonia. This is not lost on the people of Caleta Tortel and there are many wood-carved sculptures of the Kawesquar people and their canoes at various places, especially the plazas, around the village.

The village was officially founded in 1955 and was only accessible by water until 2003. However, these days the Carretera Austral Road has arrived to Tortel and access is also by vehicle.

It can be considered a “quaint” village, or to some, a rather “backward” settlement where locals appear to have no concern for the local environment, often throwing waste literally “out of the window”.

However, it is totally unique and for this reason it merits a visit and is also a good logistical stop off.

The location of the village, beside the mouth of the River Baker and in a forested-sided fiord, makes for pretty surroundings. If you stay for a couple of days, it is possible to visit Jorge Montt Glacier, the “Isla de los Muertos”, Steffen Glacier and trek the La Bandera Hill.

Car Park

Visitors must park their cars in the car park located at the entrance to the village and from here you will need to walk to your hotel, which can be up to 2km. Therefore, any guests staying overnight need to take only a small bag with you to your accommodation and not try to carry or pull any suitcases with you.