Castro, Chiloe, Western Patagonia

Introduction

Castro is the largest city on Chiloe Island and also the capital. Upon entering the city, along the Ruta 5, on the right are the famous “palifito” houses (houses on stilts). Around Castro there are other groups of these types of houses too.

On the main plaza is the San Francisco church, declared one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites, along with 15 other Jesuit churches on the Island. There is also a large market that specialises in reasonably good quality hand-made goods.

Using Castro as a base, there are several islands to visit from here, as well as the other 15 UNESCO classified Jesuit churches, rolling, rural countryside, fishing villages and National Parks.

Lemuy Island

Located south of Castro, and just past the village of Chonchi (home to the Chonchi UNESCO church) there is navigational access by ferry from Huicha. En-route to Chonchi is also the UNESCO church of Vilupulli.

Lemuy is home to nine, small villages. The ferry arrives to Chulchuy, on the south-western shore of Lemuy and from here are the locations for these UNESCO classified churches: Ichuac, Aldachildo and Detif. There are also remnants of a native Valdivian forest where there is a hanging walkway through the tree tops. In the south-eastern corner of Lemuy there is a narrow, almost sea level stretch of land that connects to an almost independent smaller sector of the island.

Caucahué Island

Caucahué if translated to English means “place of seagulls” (so watch out above your head!). This island is opposite the village of Quemchi, which is approximately halfway between Ancud, in northern Chiloe and Castro further south. To get here you need to divert east from the Ruta 5 to Quemchi.

On this island (population of around 638 inhabitants as per the 2021 census), are still native forests that come down to the sea. It is home to a variety of birds.

To get to the island it requires a short, 20-minute ferry crossing from Quemchi

Ancud, Chiloe, Western Patagonia

Description

The city is located on a peninsula, although this is not obvious when you are in the centre, but with sea on three sides there are nice views if you can get to higher ground.

The reasons to stay over at Ancud are: to rest, prior to continuing south and onward on your exploration of Chiloe Island; to see the marine life at Puñihuil (located about 25kms west of Ancud) and to appreciate “real Chilote” life. When driving west from Ancud the countryside is rural and there are also some small, tidal inlets where fishing boats are moored, creating a kind of “romantic” scene.

You can use Ancud as your base and venture south to Castro, and the areas of interest close to Castro, however, it is more practical to accommodate yourself in Castro, or in the area closer to Castro, in order to see that part of the island. The drive or transfer time to Castro is about one hour, then you need time to venture out to the places of interest and return of course.

This can be a half, or a full day trip depending on if you decide to have lunch at one of the beach-side restaurants and stop off elsewhere on the way here, or on the way back. The route directly west from Ancud will take you to Puñihul, which is about 25km away and requires a turn off left, which is sign-posted, from the main road. Here you can see Magellan and Humbolt Penguins, Otters, Cormorants and Sea Lions among other marine and bird life.

The final sector of the road that leads to the long, sandy beach is narrow and passing through undulating countryside. Upon entering onto the beach in your vehicle (either your own, or in a minivan with driver), you need to cross through a water-covered sector and then you will be on the sandy beach.

Depending on tide, you will board a novel high-rise platform on wheels which is man manoeuvred to the waiting boat. This boat is often waiting in half a metre of sea water and from there you board the long, open air vessel.

Jesuit Churches, Chiloe,
Western Patagonia

Introduction

Chiloe Jesuit Churches

If you are not a church lover or interested in older buildings, it would not be surprising if you are not concerned about seeing the Jesuit Churches of Chiloe. However, these churches vary in size and content and offer a wonderful glimpse into the history of the Island and a way of life, therefore, they merit a visit.

The churches, which are completely built from wood, are quaint and “homestead like”.

They are in Chiloe as a result of missionaries who came here with a view to convert the indigenous peoples to Christianity. The Jesuits arrived in 1608 and influenced the area through to 1767, constructing 79 churches, whereupon the Franciscans followed and built another 70 or so.

The Jesuits would travel to Chiloe each year and stay for around eight months, during which time they would build churches along the coast, which then also acted as navigational points for sailors. Many of the locations were chosen by the protection that higher ground could give on one side, and the ability to place the entrance facing south to offer shelter from the prevailing winds and the rain.

Local carpenters constructed the churches, entirely from wood, using ship-builder techniques. As a result, the interior roofs of these churches are inverted boats, in other words, the hulls of boats “upside down”, formed the ceilings.

From the 150 or so original churches built, 60 remain and 16 of these were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2000.

The Jesuit Churches of Chiloe have been regarded as the best examples of ecclesiastical, wooden architecture in Latin America. They are seen as examples of a mix between European style and local carpentry representing the traditions of the Jesuit Peripatetic missions in the 17th and 18th centuries, further developed by the Franciscans in the 19th century.

Chiloe Climate and Weather

Chiloe, How to get Here,
Arrivals and Transfers

If you are using this method the drive from Puerto Montt is along RUTA 5 to Pargua, a distance or around 56km. From Pargua, which is directly southwest from Puerto Montt, you need to take a ferry (many operate constantly during the day, departing every 30min or so), over to Chacao on the north-eastern corner of Chiloe Island. This crossing will take about 45min and offers the opportunity to lazily look at the view and be accompanied, if you are lucky, by dolphins and sea lions swimming in the channel nearby. From Chacao it is 27km east to Ancud and 88km south to Castro.

Therefore, from Puerto Montt it is 83km, plus the ferry crossing to Ancud and 144km to Castro, plus the ferry crossing. Realistically, the combined drive and ferry time to Ancud from Puerto Montt is approx. 2.5hrs – 3hrs, and to Castro it is 3.5hrs – 4hrs, considering slow traffic.

Only to cover this option, yes, you can arrive by boat, but you will need to be aboard a private motor launch or yacht. Interestingly, here at ExperienceChile.Org , we are offering private crewed, navigational charter options for the channels and fiords around Chiloe, but this is not a transfer option to get to the island.

There is also an option to be on board the ferry that departs from Chaiten, on the Chilean mainland on the Carretera Austral, but we do not arrange that and this arrives to Quellon 92km from Castro, further in the south of the island.

Hotel Accommodation, Chiloe Island, Western Patagonia

Introduction

In reality most of the accommodation offering in Chiloe Island is at the lower end of the market, such as hostels or simple, rustic places and, although such places are acceptable to many, they do not meet the criteria that we seek for our clients, therefore they are not included here.

However, there are a few reasonable properties as well as one stand-out option. In our Chiloe accommodation section, we publish information on the properties that we feel comfortable working with. Herewith below is more about our classification definitions.

The principal areas where the better accommodation is located is in Ancud, the northern town, closest to the mainland; and Castro (and surrounding area), the capital, about halfway down the island.

ExperienceChile.Org Inspections

In order to know what is what, we spend considerable time, money, and energy, in visiting as many accommodation options as humanly possible specifically with the aim to check up on what the quality of accommodation, and services is, and where these places are located.

Remember, a picture does NOT give you the whole story.

Therefore, we only work with selected accommodation partners. These are companies and properties that we know we can trust and that offer good accommodation, at good level, in nice places, and such properties are shown below.

In order to better locate the type of property that you want we have also categorised them under our own definitions.

During our inspections we ask the hotel owners if we can stay overnight at the hotel. We ask this because staying overnight is vastly different to just popping in with a quick visit. We like to know what the noise pollution is, what the breakfasts are like, how comfy the beds are, what the staff are like.

Therefore, if you see “inspected & approved” we are saying that we feel the hotel is perfectly good. If it does not have “approved” it means we have not stayed overnight or we feel it is not up to the level that our clients will require.

The reason we have a selected number of hotels that we choose to work with is because we regularly visit the hotels in Puerto Natales in order to know what they are really like. We cannot rely on the hundreds of often “suspect” reviews published in the internet. Therefore, we try to promote the better hotels that we know will make your trip more enjoyable. However, if you see that we have “inspected” a particular hotel, this does NOT mean that we recommend it necessarily. The ones we recommend are “approved”.

Hotel Partners

We will summarise below our hotel partners. Why do we have accommodation partners? The basic reality is that we, like you, want to know which hotels are “decent”, and that they offer comfortable accommodation in terms of rooms and facilities, and we prefer to work with those hotels that “pass our test”.

NOTE: Remember that we realise that you may well have a particular hotel, or lodge, that is not shown in our listings. If this is the case, PLEASE tell us what, and where this hotel is, and we will include it in your itinerary.

Castro, Chiloe, Western Patagonia