Carretera Austral

The Carretera Austral (CH-7), formerly known as Carretera General Augusto Pinochet, is the name given to Chile's Route 7. Construction of the road started in the 1970s and is still going on. It passes through very beautiful and sparsely populated parts of Chile. Landscapes vary from forests and fjords to spectacular mountains, glaciers and volcanoes.

Most of the road is gravel (ripio in Spanish) ranging from quite good quality to absolutely horrible. If you are driving, you will not need a 4WD but your car will be suffering. You will probably have to take a ferry or two to get in or travel along the road.

The local tourist information offices in the towns along the road distribute good and free maps and information booklets.

Travelling on the Carretera Austral by bicycle is very popular in the summer months (best in December, January and February). You will need a good quality bike (mountain or touring bike), good panniers (although some people have been known to use milk crates and other less expensive alternatives), a spare tires and some tubes. It will also be helpful to have duct tape, zipties, elastic straps.

The only big cities with a full range of services are Puerto Montt and Coyhaique where there are big supermarkets, bicycle shops and bicycle repair shops. Anywhere else, you will be lucky to find a hardware shop (ferreteria).

To stay in touch, you can buy a local prepaid SIM card (you will need an unlocked phone for that). Cell phone coverage is usually present in towns and villages. Entel has the best coverage. Movistar is the second best company, but south of Coyhaique, they only have coverage in Cochrane. Virgin Mobile has good deals on prepaid SIM cards. Virgin uses Movistar's network. If there is a public library in town, there will be free internet in it.

Chile is a relatively expensive country and the extreme south is even more so. If you are on a budget, or you are travelling by bicycle or hitchhiking, you have to bring a good tent. It is always a good idea to carry food for at least two or three days. In most towns there will be at least one minimarket, selling bread and some other basic things. If you are lucky they might have some good vegetables and fruit. Siestas are the norm.

Having a very strict schedule is not a good idea. The locals say that those who are in a hurry don't go far.

Good gear for bad weather, especially rain and wind is essential.

If you are entering from the south, bring enough Chilean pesos (CLP$). The only ATM is in Coyhaique. Credit cards are almost never accepted. In Coyhaique, at Frutteria Palestina, you can buy Argentinean pesos at a better rate than in Argentina (still not as good as in Puerto Montt or Puerto Natales).

Transporting your bicycle to and from the Carretera Austral can be very easy or very difficult. Taking a bicycle on a bus in Chile is generally OK. The driver might say there is not much space but you should politely insist, maybe remove the front wheel to show how small it actually is. You might have to pay a bit extra to the driver (normally around CLP$2000). Many bikers start or end the journey in places in Argentina - Ushuaia or El Calafate for example. Buses in Argentina are ridiculously expensive and might charge you as much as 400 Argentinean pesos to take your bike on the bus to Buenos Aires, for example. You can ship your bike (Via Cargo seems to be a good company) for less than that and make your way alone (hitchhiking is straightforward, except for on Ruta 40, going north, it seems). Some bikers have reported problems with customs when shipping their bike from Ushuaia, as the cargo passes the border twice.

Finally, LADE flies more cheaply from El Calafate and Ushuaia than others to/from Bariloche, Buenos Aires, Comodoro Rivadavia and other destinations. Visit their office (open 10:00 to 16:00 on weekdays) or call for inquiries. Their website shows availability even when there isn't any. Their rates are fixed (around 900 pesos to Buenos Aires). Book in advance because they sell out. They charge only 8 pesos per kg of luggage above the included 15 kg, so taking a bike with you will not be to expensive. From Punta Arenas, buses going all the way to Santiago, passing through Argentina, seem to be a lot cheaper per kilometers than their Argentinean counterparts.

If you start from the north, getting to Puerto Montt is straightforward.

You can also enter the Carretera Austral by ferry from Chiloé to Chaitén (once a week in high season).

There are a few border crossings from Argentina into different places on the Carretera Austral (see map).

To start from the south at Villa O'Higgins, you will have to do an interesting and expensive border crossing from El Chaltén in Argentina. From El Chaltén there is a road of around 40 km of very bad ripio to the southern shore of Lago del Desierto (hitchhiking not impossible in high season). You can camp here, but it is better to go to its northern shore the same day and camp there (much better location and view and it is free). Take the boat (130 Argentine pesos, March 2013 - two, three times a day in high season, passengers and bicycles only, no cars). Alternatively, hike along the lake (5 hours), kind of impossible with a bicycle.

At the northern shore of the lake is the Argentinean immigration post. From there you will have to walk (and walk your bike if you have one) on a trail of varying quality and gradient) to the border between Chile and Argentina.

From the border, a very bad gravel road (on the Chilean side) leads to the southern shore of Lago O'Higgins (camping possible here). From here you will have to take a very expensive ferry (passengers and bikes only), CLP$44,000 as of January 2017, no extra fee for a bike. The ferry goes once a week in shoulder season and up to four times a week in high season. Cancellations are possible. They accept credit cards (at least in their office in Villa O'Higgins). The ferry takes you to the harbour, 7 km south of Villa O'Higgins, which is the southern end of Carretera Austral.

If you are doing this crossing in the opposite direction, you can secure a place on the boat by buying the ticket in their office in Villa O'Higgins, but you can also just show up. The crossing generally takes two days, camping at Lago del Desierto, at the Argentinean immigration post, with a magnificent view of the lake and Mount Fitz Roy is highly recommended.

You can fly into Coyhaique and Puerto Montt on regular flights.

Remember that every time you cross the border between Argentina and Chile, all fruit, vegetables, lentils, beans, cheese, meat, honey, etc., will be confiscated.

Carretera Austral is one of the most popular routes in the world for cycling. The road conditions range from very bad to normal paved road (around Chaitén and Coyhaique).

Many people, especially young Chileans, hitchhike on all or parts of the road in summertime. Hitchhiking is straightforward, but due to low traffic and fierce competition from other hitchhikers, it can be slow (but you should not be in a hurry anyway).

You can rent a car and drive it yourself. This is not possible if you are on a tight budget.

There is no scheduled bus that goes all the way from Puerto Montt to Villa O'Higgins. There are, however, scheduled buses running between different towns along the way, covering the whole length of the road. Between some towns there will be buses a few times a week, between others - once a week in high season. Prices are relatively high.

Considering the magnificent landscapes around, this part of Chile offers few hiking possibilities. Apart from a few short trails in the national parks (Pumalín, Queulat, a trail in Caleta Tortel, some trails around Cochrane and Villa O'Higgins), there are no other hiking possibilities, and noticeably - no long distance trails. In fact, most of the time, there will be a fence between you (the road) and the surrounding nature, as most of the land is private.

The following text describes the route from north to south in four sections, divided by the three biggest settlements (prices are as of summer 2015/2016):

There is not much traffic on the Carretera Austral. The road conditions usually don't allow driving at too high speed. However, some people still drive quite fast (usually locals). Passing cars will create clouds of dust, which can be from annoying to dangerous if you are biking or hitchhiking. CONAF park rangers, driving green pickup trucks, are known to be some of the least considerate drivers around.

In high season, the weather is generally reliable and not too windy. When asked about the weather forecast, locals will usually say "Tomorrow will be the same as today", i.e. unpredictable. However it can pay off to use some good weather forecast websites such as YR and Windguru.

Medical services are far in between. Only Coyhaique and Puerto Montt have something like a hospital with some limited services in Cochrane and Chaitén.

Use a lot of sun protection. The southern sun is very, very strong.

With regard to crime, this part of the world is as safe as it can get.

If you are biking, take it easy on the gravel when going downhill. Big rocks, sandy patches, potholes, dead or living animals or just about anything can appear in the middle of the road at any time, giving you very little room for reaction. Also, wear a helmet at all times. Sometimes passing cars' tires send small stones across towards you.

Horseflies (tabanos) are super annoying and can be a bit dangerous if you are biking. They disappear at the end of January.

El Chalten and El Calafate in Argentina and on to Torres del Paine. See the Get In section for the border crossing procedure. Many bikers continue to Ushuaia, hoping that the strong winds in Patagonia (Argentina) and Tierra del Fuego will be in their back. Biking from El Chalten to El Calafate is doable in two days. At around 120 km from El Chalten there is an abandoned pink house next to the road where many bikers spend the night. The police is known to show up around 20:00 some days to throw people out. Try to arrive late at the pink house.

In the north, from Puerto Montt you are close to Chile's lake district, Osorno with the namesake volcano and Bariloche in Argentina.

From many places on Carretera Austral you can cross to Argentina and travel on its famous Ruta 40 (known to be difficult for hitchhiking, very windy and sparsely populated). In fact, if you take a bus from Coyhaique to Puerto Montt, it will probably drive through Argentina.