After enjoying our Santiago stay, we hired a car and drove south to the Lake District. It is nearly 800km from Santiago to Pucon and we stoppd for the night at Salto del Laja. Hotel Salto del Laja is located right next to the waterfalls and one can sit on a balcony and watch the waterfall and many birds around. It was a very good spot to break the long trip.
Rather than continuing driving along the highway we decided to take a turn towards the mountains at Victoria and drive on paved country roads. The scenery around was absolutely spectacular. We went through Las Raices Tunnel drilled more or less under Sierra Nevada and almost reached Argentina border. At this point the road turned to gravel which we did not quite expect. But we continued on our detour. It was fascinating to drive through this more remote area. The mountains and valleys are very beautiful and there are araucaria trees everywhere. We eventually made it to Villarica, probably adding at least 2 hours to our trip compared to if we took the highway. But it was a fun drive.
We drove through Villarica town and headed to Pucon along the lake Villarica while admiring the views of Villarica volcano. In early January traffic was very busy. It seemed that half of Chile decided to move to the lakes to enjoy beautiful weather. Beaches were packed and people were swimming in water that was barely reaching 20 degrees. It won’t be long before the entire road from Villarica to Pucon is built up with vacation homes and condos, but not yet! We stayed in an airbnb with nice lake views not too far from Pucon town.
During the day we explored the area driving around and hiking. In the evening we would go to our airbnb and make a barbeque admiring beautiful sunsets over the lake. It was definitely a very nice way to unwind and enjoy Chilean summer. We drove to Puerto Fuy and took a boat tour on Lago Pirigueico with views of Mocho Choshuenco volcano. We hiked up to Villarica volcano mirador (not braving popular volcano hike itself). We also drove up to see Lanin volcano. It is quite an experience to be surrounded by so many volcanoes.
After 4 days in Pucon it was time to start going back and getting ready to fly home. We drove from Pucon to Santa Cruz. All along the way we saw many volcanoes in the distance. And there are national parks and waterfalls and so many things to do all around the area. We had a nice late lunch at a Viu Manent winery and stayed the night in Santa Cruz. The next day it was drive back to Santiago and a flight out at night. What a great trip this was.