- Overview
- Trip Outline
- Pricing
- Trip Includes
- Trip Excludes
- Gallery
- Reviews
- FAQ
Route
Technical Characteristics:
Route Profile: Hard. A reasonable level of fitness is required, as these hiking trips can require sustained endurance levels, hills and longer days. These tours are intended for active people who are comfortable participating in up to 6 hours of hiking per day. These tours may include hiking on difficult terrain, sometimes steep and/or uneven trails, with obstacles such as wet logs, branches and muddy areas. All our guided hiking tours include natural interpretation and focus on the history, volcanology and the native flora and fauna of the wilderness areas.
Travel Season: Departures Saturday January 21; April 8; November 4 and December 9, 2023
Departures Saturday January 6, 2024
Special departures available on request
*A minimum of 4 participants is required for this tour.
*Group rates available for this tour. As this is a guided tour, the pricing improves with more people participating. Please ask us for details
Accommodation:
3* and 4* hotels
Discover the Lake and Volcano district in Chile. Explore the capital of adventure travel in Chile and hike one of the most beautiful trails in the Lake and Volcano District. Surrounded by mountains, lakes and volcanoes, you will find the most amazing hiking trails in these extraordinary national parks.
Itineraries
Day 1
Temuco – Kutralkura Geopark, Lonquimay Volcano 1 – 3 hours
Our local staff will meet you at Temuco Airport and transfer you to a small quaint mountain village called Malalcahuello. This village is part of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve “Araucarias”. Your hotel is located in a national park, with the Lonquimay volcano in sight and surrounded by ancient araucaria trees. It is a modern hotel with spa and a small ski resort. Your guides will meet and greet the group and then we’ll take a warm-up hike to the incredible Christmas Crater. In the evening, we’ll have an orientation and briefing session before our welcome dinner together.
Day 2
Kutralkura Geopark, Coloradito Trail 3 - 5 hours
Welcome to Kutralkura, Chile's first Geopark. Today, we start hiking from the hotel. We’ll hike towards Cerro Coloradito (reddish hill), a natural view point of four volcanoes: Lonquimay, Llaima, Sierra Nevada and Villarrica. The hike is quite fun, with fantastic views and almost no other people in the trails. We’ll be surrounded by an ancient forest of araucaria trees, some of them dating over 2,000 years old. After the hike, we’ll return to our hotel and enjoy the evening in the spa. Finally, we’ll eat dinner at a local restaurant in Malalcahuello village.
Day 3
Conguillio National Park, Truful Truful Canyon 4 - 5 hours
Today we invite you to once again explore the heart of the Kütralkura Geopark, today in Conguillío National Park. This well-conserved territory is situated between 900 and 3,125 meters high and covers an area of 60,832 hectares. We'll drive approximately three hours, passing through old-fashioned little towns like Cunco and Melipeuco until we get to Conguillio National Park, one of the most attractive and outstanding parks of the Lake & Volcano District in Chile. This area is part of Kütralkura, the First Geopark in Chile”. During the visit, you will witness how the Llaima volcano has permanently shaped the landscape of the area with its eruptions and you'll have the fantastic opportunity to walk on the lava flows that once came from the heart of the Earth. We'll visit the Truful-Truful Canyon and its waterfalls. This is the most important geosite of all the geopark, where you can see 13,000 years of eruptive activity of Llaima volcano. We'll visit the pristine Arco Iris (Rainbow) Lake with its clear waters that reflect stunning colors. Then we'll hike a very beautiful trail called the Woodpecker’s trail, where you can spot the Magellan woodpecker, which we will see searching the tree trunks for insects. After spending some time taking pictures and enjoying the amazing view, we'll hike back to the bottom of the trail and then drive 20 minutes to our eco-lodge, where we enjoy a welcome dinner and stay overnight.
Day 4
Conguillio National Park, Sierra Nevada Trail & Llaima Volcano 5 – 6 hours
Today we’ll drive 20 minutes to Playa Linda located at the shores of Conguillío Lake; followed by hiking along the Sierra Nevada trail surrounded by native trees, including ancient monkey puzzle trees or araucarias and Nothofagus. We'll also be able to spot endemic birds such as the chucao tapaculo and the noisy slender billed parakeet. After spending some time taking pictures and enjoying the amazing view, we'll hike back to the bottom of the trail and then head back to our eco-lodge. Later, we’ll get in the vans and start traveling to Pucón (2-hour drive), the main adventure tourism destination in the Lake & Volcano District. Enjoy the Villarrica Volcano and lake views at your hotel. Free night to explore Pucon and eat out. Ask our guides for tips about shopping and dining.
Day 5
Villarrica National Park, Lagos Andinos Trail & Lanin Volcano 3 - 4 hours
We'll head to the heart of The Andes Mountains, driving to the border with Argentina. Here, we'll be surrounded by an ancient forest of araucaria trees (Araucaria araucana) and we'll visit 2 or 3 Andean lakes that offer great birdwatching. We’ll have an easy hike and be surrounded by native trees (mostly of the Nothofagus family) and with striking views of Lanin volcano (3,780m), the highest volcano in all of the Lake & Volcano district. Later we'll head back to town and do the mountain gear fitting for the volcano climb next day. Finally, we’ll go to eat dinner with the Colipi Family, part of the Mapuche community. They will be our host this evening, they will cook for us and share their culture and stories.
Day 6
Villarrica Volcano Climb 6 hours
Today you will have to be ready at 6:30am and if the weather conditions are favorable, we’ll start driving to the ski resort located at the base of the volcano at 1,400 meters. Ascending the active Villarrica Volcano is without a doubt a once in a lifetime experience, the climb is not technical, but you need to be in good shape to reach the summit. Once we arrive at the parking lot we can take the chairlift that will take us to the higher part of the ski resort at 1,800 meters., saving us almost 1 hour of climbing. From the top of the lift we begin ascending the slopes of the volcano, stopping briefly every 30 minutes, having a longer break to eat our food when we are half way to the crater. If we find hard snow or ice we’ll put on the crampons and use the piolets and after 4 or 5 hours we’ll reach the live crater at 2847 meters above sea level. The views from the top are absolutely mind-blowing, overlooking five lakes and several volcanoes in the distance such as Llaima and Lanín. The descent is quite fun, especially when we can slide down the snow on our rear ends. We’ll return to the vehicles around 5 pm and immediately head off to Pucón, where we hand back the gear. Free night to explore Pucon and eat out. Ask our guides for tips about shopping and dining.
Day 7
Pichillancahue Glacier & Villarrica Volcano + Hot Springs 4 - 5 hours
Departing from Pucón, we drive 60 km by van to Coñaripe, a small village located in Los Rios Region. Here we take a dirt road that leads us by the Llancahue river valley to the Villarrica National Park. We will see several majestic snow-capped volcanoes such as Quetrupillan and Rucapillan. The vegetation changes from rauli and hualle forests (Nothofagus trees) to gigantic thousand year old araucarias as we ascend to Chinay, the higher point of the day at 1,250 meters above sea level. Here we can take an amazing trail towards Pichi Llancahue Glacier, a phenomenal glacier which is absolutely covered by the blackish volcanic ashes of the Villarrica Volcano. Once again you’ll enjoy the stunning views of four volcanoes. Back to the entrance of the trail, we’ll visit the fantastic Geometricas Hot Springs. This place offers the perfect combination between thermal facilities and natural surroundings. Located in the environs of the park, Termas Geometricas has 16 strategically located thermal pools, allowing the visitors to never feel overcrowded. The natural surroundings are exuberant and the facilities are simple but very cozy. Finally, we'll enjoy a farewell dinner in a very special place with the local community and your local team of guides.
Day 8
Pucon – Temuco – Airport
Sadly, it’s time to say good-bye to the beautiful Lake & Volcano District of Chile. After breakfast, we’ll ride in vans to Temuco Airport to catch your flight back to Santiago. Once you arrive to Santiago will have a couple of hours before your international flight back home. It’s been a trip you will always remember! End of services.
Prices
Included:
- 7 nights’ accommodation at 3* and 4* hotels
- Specialized tour guide (1 guide per 10 clients)
- Private transportation in Mercedes Benz Sprinter
- Meals as per itinerary (7 breakfasts, 6 picnic lunches, 4 dinners)
- Entrance fees to national parks and hot springs.
- Accident insurance and all activities according to the itinerary.
- Guided hikes including natural interpretation on the volcanology and the indigenous flora and fauna of the parks, as well as cultural interpretation and focus on the history and traditions of local communities; hot springs.
Not Included:
- International and local flights
- Extra Drinks
- Gratuity to tour conductor/crew about $120.00 USD per person
No Details Found
Related Trips
-
8 Day(s) 7 Night(s)
There are no reviews yet.