Let’s be honest here. Whether you’re a seasoned traveller or a brand new backpacking enthusiast, nothing will save you from the hassle of finding the right bus. Most of the Chilean Patagonia has a system of buses with timings that can vary from rarely to sometimes, so get ready. Just grab a cup of coffee (or mate for those into it) and make the town’s info point your best friend for the trip.
Right at the start of our adventure to Chilean Patagonia, we found out that anything related on how to reach Chaiten from Puerto Montt was – at least in the web – practically classified material. Yep, we tried it all. Tripadvisor forums (you’d be amazed of how useful those can be), other fellow bloggers, lonely planet and we even ended up trying to read some info out from some russian website but Google Translate wasn’t up for it that day.
The unattractive and rainy Puerto Montt
Even in the city of Puerto Montt itself, very few people considered the journey to be feasible without having our own private (or rented) vehicle. Thankfully, after pulling out a little info from the web, talking with our AirBnB host and having a looooong spanish-only chat with a random guy at the bus terminal, we finally got some results. Now we know that there are three different ways to make this journey all year-round. Check them out!
A sip of Chiloé Island (11-12hrs & 21’000CLP)
Red Itinerary
If visiting Chiloé Island before heading to Chaiten is on your bucket list, then this is the right one for you.
Puerto Montt is the main hub for buses heading to the island. There are several buses run by Cruz del Sur, TransChiloè and Queilen bus that connects the two destinations on a daily basis. The bus fare (thank god) includes the ferry crossing from Pargua to Chacao that would otherwise cost you a salty 15$ if you’re traveling with your own car. Once again, cheap Chile hits your wallet.
If you plan discovering the island and then heading over to Chaiten that’s a great option but for those short on time, it is also possible to do it in all one go.
The ferry from Quellon to Chaiten (13’000CLP/pp) travels twice per week – Thursday at 3am and Sundays at 6.30pm. It’s definitely not a wide variety of options but hey… at least it’s something! On the other hand, the bus ride from P. Montt to Quellon (8000CLP) takes around 6hrs so here’s the spot-on plan – on Sundays taking any bus before 11am would get you at the port with enough time to hop on the ferry.
Night night Ferry (9hrs & 17’300CLP)
Orange Itinerary
In short: no thrills no frills. This should be your itinerary if you wanna save time, pay less but spend the night awake on a ferry.
Puerto Montt is also the place where to get direct ferries (operated by Naviera Austral) to Chaiten. It might sound like a fancy way to travel but don’t be fooled! The ferries leaving on Mondays-Thursdays-Fridays at 11pm will have you travel for 9hrs on a very uncomfortable seat. Yeah, you heard us right. Forget about the comfy sleeper buses you got used to. Nothing like it!
You get what you pay for though. In fact, the fare for this ferry is “only” 17’300CLP/pp which makes it cheaper than any bus or bus+ferry combination!
Exploring the fjords on land & sea (10hrs & 20’000CLP)
Blue Itinerary
If you don’t plan visiting Chiloé, simply forget about taking the direct ferry above to save time and money, this is the way to go. On this journey Patagonia will literally introduce herself by showing you some of the most treasured landscapes: the fjords.
Now you’d be wondering “Great, I bet you there’s 4-5 buses per day…” – WRONG. Kemel Bus is the only year-round reliable company that offer this service. The morning bus leaving at 7am on a daily basis from Puerto Montt gets to Chaiten at around 4.30pm (sunny days) or 5-5.30pm (rainy days). No kidding.
A rare specimen of Kemel Bus
The 10-h journey it’s actually not a lot of driving (5hrs) but more like embarking and disembarking ferries all day long (bit exaggerated here, it’s only three ferries). The fare for this trip is 20’000CLP/pp and includes all the fares for ferry crossings.
One of the ferries of the journey
Here’s the breakdown of the journey as precise as it can be:
P. Montt -> Caleta Arena (1h)
Caleta Arena -> Caleta Puelche (30min)
Caleta Puelche -> Hornopiren (1h40min)
Hornopiren -> Leptepu (3h40min)
Fiordo Largo -> Caleta Gonzalo (40min)
Caleta Gonzalo -> Chaiten (1h30min)
Picking the right way into Chaiten should be pretty easy now that you know all the options but that apart, we’d really wholeheartedly suggest you to pick the latter one. There are not enough words for us to describe how amazing that journey was or… wait, actually yes – it was absolutely phenomenal. An hour and some little pennies more for a whole lotta adventure. Who wouldn’t grab the deal!?
PLANNING A TRIP TO PATAGONIA? CHECK MORE GUIDES BELOW!
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