Hugh Sinclair - Chile: Carretera Austral: A Guide to One of the Worlds Most Scenic Road Trips

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

PRICE CODES Throughout this guide we have used price codes to indicate the cost of those places to stay and eat listed in the guide. For a key to these price codes, see for restaurants.

AUTHORS FAVOURITES Finding genuinely characterful ac-commodation or that unmissable off-the-beaten-track caf can be difficult, so the authors have chosen a few of their favourite places throughout the country to point you in the right direction. These authors favourites are marked with a .

MAPS

Keys and symbols Maps include alphabetical keys covering the locations of those places to stay, eat or drink that are featured in the book. Note that regional maps may not show all hotels and restaurants in the area: other establishments may be located in towns shown on the map.

Grids and grid references Some maps use gridlines to allow easy location of sites. Map grid references are listed in square brackets after the name of the place or site of interest in the text, with page number followed by grid number, eg: [ C3].

AS THE CONDOR FLIES Throughout the guide we have included boxes to indicate where a town is in relation to the start and end points of the Carretera Austral (by the definition of this guide, Puerto Montt in the north and the border crossing at Villa OHiggins in the south).

USING WHAT3WORDS ADDRESSES IN THIS GUIDE

Most locations in this guidebook contain a physical address (street name and number) and a what3words (W3W) address. This takes the form of ///word1.word2.word3 and is equivalent to a GPS co-ordinate. W3W ( w what3words.com) is a UK-based company that developed an ingenious means to identify location using combinations of three words in almost any language.

There are many advantages of using W3W over normal addresses or GPS. First, many places in southern Chile, especially hiking trails, viewpoints, turnings, volcanoes, etc, do not have a traditional address. Even lo-cations that ought to have an address often do not Chileans are notoriously bad at placing house numbers outside buildings! Second, it is easier to communicate a W3W address than a GPS co-ordinate. And, third, W3W addresses can be instantly scanned for navigation purposes.

The authors favourite bar along the Carretera Austral is Cirus Bar in Puerto Montt (). Its address is Miradores 1177. This is fine if you happen to know where the street Miradores is, how the numbers progress, and assuming the bar displays the house number. The GPS co-ordinates are -41.476377, -72.953386. There is no need for any prior knowledge of the region to use these, but good luck communicating it with friends, and beware if you get a digit incorrect! The W3W address is ///siblings.sweeper.hobbies (///redonda.juro.agrupan in Spanish). With the app downloaded on to your phone, you can scan, dictate or type the W3W address and not only will the destination then appear on your screen, but the app can navigate you to it. Make a small error in this address entering sibling (singular) instead of siblings (plural), and the app questions whether it really is a remote plot of desert in Western Australia you wish to visit, or Cirus Bar just a couple of miles away.

Simply go to the Play Store or App Store to download the free what3words app. The box at the top of the screen offers the three means to enter an address: type, scan or dictate. You can use the app without creating an account, but to save or import locations you must sign up, which is quick and also free. For more advanced features, visit w what3words.com.

IMPORT ALL W3W ADDRESSES IN THE GUIDEBOOK TO YOUR PHONE This feature is available only if you have created an account with W3W and must be done on a computer, not in the app. This imports over 500 locations, each individually labelled, corresponding to locations in the book, removing the need to manually write/scan/dictate individual addresses from the book into the app:

On a computer, go to w bradtguides.com/w3w-chile, and click on Chile: The Carretera Austral to download the locations file.

Again on your computer, log into w what3words.com and click Saved locations. Then from the three dots menu select: Import lists from CSV > upload CSV > [select downloaded file].

Log into the W3W app on your phone and the locations will appear momentarily.

Chile: The Carretera Austral
Dont miss

National parks and reserves

Marvel at giant alerce trees at the Parque Nacional Alerce Andino (GR/ML/A)

Glaciers

Its hard to traverse the Carretera Austral without seeing a glacier, but if you only make the effort to visit one, make it the Ventisquero San Rafael (HS)

Trekking

Cerro Castillo is one of the key trekking areas in southern Chile, with options for gentle hikes and challenging climbs (G/S)

History

The history of the Carretera Austral is fascinating but relatively undocumented pictured here are the Puyuhuapi pioneers, whose legacy is still visible in the town today (LL)

Wildlife

Ral Marn Balmaceda is a paradise for wildlife watchers, where penguins, cormorants, dolphins and sea lions vastly outnumber people (HS)

The ferry ride from Hornopirn to Caleta Gonzalo through the Fiordo Comau is a dramatic introduction to what lies in store further south (HS)

The pretty cemetery of the San Miguel de Aulen chapel, along the coastal road towards Hornopirn (HS)

The quaint church in Villa Santa Luca (A/S)