What to do and see in Cochrane, Aisen Region: The Best Things to do

Reviewed By StevenSue - New York City, United States

We spent several days hiking around Patagonia National Park. Absolutely spectacular! Not crowded, and with hiking trails that you can reasonably access (this was, for us, on our recent 3 weeks in Chilean Patagonia, somewhat unique. We found national parks in Chile where trails were difficult to access--Patagonia National Park trails were easy to access. And we found easy to access trails that were mobbed, like the Hanging Glacier near Puyuhuapi. Patagonia National Park trails were easy to access but not crowded in the least). We did several hikes: 1) The Piedra Clavada trail on the back-side of Patagonia National Park was one of our favorite hikes. If you have 4 wheel drive you can drive to the base of the hike. If not, you need to walk an extra 1.5 kilometers from the ranger station. The hike features some unique rock formations ("lunar landscape" they call it) and two caves with ancient hand paintings. Its a beautiful and not extreme hike with views and interesting things to see along its entire length. The words "totally worth it" come to mind. This trail is accessed through Chili Chico, not through the main entrance to Patagonia National Park. The road from Chili Chico to the trail head is a very good gravel road. A ranger station near the road marks the trail head. If coming from Balmaceda consider taking the ferry to Chili Chico. If driving from Cochrane just be aware that the last 60 kilometers to Chili Chico on highway 265 is a less good gravel road with some sharp mountain turns. 2) The Aviles Loop Trail, about half an hour from the main entrance's ranger station, was a long loop trail to a scary bridge over the river (scary atleast to those of us with a bit of a fear of heights. The suspension bridge is not long but is at a high height over a gorge). Great views looking down a couple of valleys. Starts off flat and then climbs some solid elevation. About 16 kilometers long. We did not do the Lago Chico Loop trail. The gravel road up to the trail was narrow and we were not sure about the ground clearance of our 4 wheel drive SUV. In hindsight, I think we could have easily made it to the trail head given it was a dry day. But we elected not to push it and quickly turned around and walked some other small trails in the park. We also did a small hike off of Lago Cochrane that required a boat ride to get to. That was a nice little (1 hour round trip) hike and a nice short boat ride. The summit of the hike had a great view over Lago Cochrane. Our hotel--Ultimo Paraiso--arranged the boat for us.