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This pioneering road eats its way through the virgin forest and through total isolation, passing intricate fjords, hanging glaciers and turquoise lakes.
South of Puerto Montt the sea with its countless fjords and channels frays into the mainland, so that boats, ferries and ships become necessary means of transport.
It was as late as the 1980s that the road was built here, giving access to the hitherto almost inaccessible regions of North Patagonia, which in many parts are still covered by thick, indigenous rainforest.
Nowadays Carretera Austral leads from Puerto Montt to Villa O'Higgins, 1,200 km further down south, intermittently broken up by Pacific fjords with ferry connections. Apart from the occasional colonial settlement and fishing village these swathes of land are mostly unpopulated and untouched. Hence nature appears in its purest and most fascinating light: primeval forests covered under clouds of heavy mist, silent estuaries populated by colonies of sea lions, hanging glaciers, and steep 'volcanic teeth'. Alternatively you can also explore just parts of the adventurous gravel road by hired car.
Tour Offers North Patagonia
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