Among the marble caves of Puerto Rio Tranquilo

Like most Patagonian towns such as Chaiten and Puyuhuapi, the little seaside port of Puerto Rio Tranquilo doesn’t really get tourist all-year long. In fact, the high season is so limited that finding any wandering traveller outside the Dec-Feb period it’s gonna feel like playing “Where’s Wally?”. Jokes apart, the holiday season is not the only reason why tourist visit town during summer, there’s something more: the colour of the water.

This ain’t no Photoshop!

Yep, you read that right. No no no, we don’t drink while writing blog content (…well, officially at least). People do actually swarm to Puerto Rio Tranquilo because of the drastic change in water colour – shifting from boring to bright turquoise – that happens during the summer months. But this is not yet the end of the story.

If you never googled Puerto Rio Tranquilo, you wouldn’t know that it is home to several marble caves which happen to date back to the last ice age. Even though they’re just beautiful, what really gives them that special touch is how the summery water colour reflects on the cave walls. From early in the morning to late afternoon, a blue tint spread all over the places creating an amazing lights & shadows effect which fill the memory card of every photographer.

In this article, you’ll find all the essentials tips to book the right tour and make the most of Puerto Rio Tranquilo.

The best time to go

Long before you start thinking about where to book you tour, the one thing you really need to take into consideration is when to go.

Without beating too much around the bush, going on a tour on a sunny morning is jackpot. That’s because mornings means calm waters and sunny means… well, top-notch reflection and colours. But if you had to choose between morning and sun, just follow the old Patagonian rule: “Take advantage of sunny days”.

At the time we visited, we had planned going the next morning but opted for going the same afternoon we arrived cause it was super sunny. Guess what? The next morning (which was supposed to be sunny) was pouring down!

The “harbour” of travel agencies in town

Buying tour in town vs. harbour

The moment you step down the bus, you’ll notice that pretty much everybody will try to sell you the tour to the marble caves. Despite all the tours being exactly the same, avoid buying tours in town and head to the small “harbour” (group of boat agencies) just in front of town. Here’s why.

Overall, there is a limited number of boats so it’s virtually impossible that each company in & out town has their own private ones. The truth is that the tour companies in town are advertising the tours on behalf of the boat owners sitting in the harbour (they do have their own offices there) and in return get a commission. Therefore, the best thing you can do is buy the tour right from the harbour. That said, buying the tour straight from the boat owners also has another advantage: you can bargain.

All tours in town cost 10’000CLP/pp and we can vouch that it’s hard (if not impossible) to push it down. But all is possible if you meet the amazing people at Aoni Expediciones! This little tour company has possibly some of the most funny yet professional guides of P. Rio Tranquilo. Even when we mentioned if they could lower the prices, they took us in and said “If we fill the boat with 10 people, I’ll make you pay 9’000CLP each”. That’s what we call business!

The first cave we entered

What’s the typical tour like

We didn’t try every last tourist company in town but we can tell you the how the great experience we had with Aoni Expediciones went.

The tour starts with you walking 500m away from town until you reach the “real docks” where the boats are parked. Then you take you seat and for the next 10-15min you’re simply gonna be boating over the beautiful General Carrera (or Buenos Aires) lake which – must be mentioned – is the second biggest in South America. During the whole duration of the tour, guides explained everything there was to know about the area thoroughly in both Spanish and English.

The first stop is at some lesser known marble caves en-route to the hot stuff. Here boats can enter partially so you can admire the inside but truth to be said this is nothing more but the introduction of what is yet to come. Visit duration: 10min.

Nice yet lesser famous caves

The second stop (another 10-15min of boating) will get you to the marble cave tunnel. In this place you’ll have the chance to go through a marble cave from side to side and see the amazing walls carved out by water. Be aware that this passage is not always open and sometimes you’ll just have to around it – which is still spectacular. Visit duration: 15min.

En-route to the third stop

The third stop is at the Capillas and Catedral de Marmol (same boating times). Just so you know, this is where all of the pictures you’ve seen of the internet have been taken. At the capillas the boat will enter for you to see a much better version of the “tunnel” caves – blue reflections, crazy rock formations and unbelievable colours. At the catedral instead, you’ll just be able to go around it (imagine it like some kind of huge egg-like rock formation) and see it beauty from the outside.
Visit duration: 20min.

Lastly, you’ll head back to P. Rio Tranquilo without any more stops on the way. Overall, you’ll be actually visiting the marble caves for around 1h, maybe 1h30min if you’re lucky and do about 2h of in-between boating. In total – from the moment you’ll leave the harbour – the typical tour lasts an average of 3h.

What to bring

• Camera
• Hat for the sun & UV radiation (remember the ozone hole)
• Anti-wind jacket
• Warm clothes for the speedy boat connections
• Sunscreen & UV radiation
• Sun glasses

If you can, make sure to visit the town’s cemetery

Info about town

Where to sleep
Finding accomodation in Puerto Rio Tranquilo has been the hardest and less pleasant experience of Patagonia so far. All hostels/cabañas/hospedajes owners we were unlucky to talk to were far from being kind and showed that they really didn’t care less if we were staying or not. Hey, maybe we went to the wrong people but one thing we’re sure about: do everything you can to avoid Cabañas Silvana. Such a bad experience that would deserve a post alone to explain it all.

Prices range from 10-15’000CLP/pp per bed (or room in hospedajes) and about 40-80’000CLP for cabañas for 4-6 people.

DO NOT go here for your own sake!

Transport in & out
As far as we know, there are two bus companies getting to Puerto Rio Tranquilo from Coyhaique (which must be your previous stop obligatorily). These companies are Acuario 13 and Buses Sao Paolo.

Acuario 13 has a bus on Wednesdays & Sundays at 8.30am and Fridays at 2.30pm.
Buses Sao Paolo has a daily bus leaving at 9am all days of the week.

In the end, visiting the Marble Caves was a great yet too short (wish tours were longer!) experience that was actually better than our expectations. Even though Puerto Rio Tranquilo is definitely not your kind of dream destination – it hardly deserves more than full day – we feel we did the right thing to stop to take a look at the caves. If you like us are not sure what to do, we can tell you just one thing: go a visit this stunning caves, one way or another!!!

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