What's the best route to experience Patagonia?
 

Hello fellow riders!

I will be visiting Chile/Argentina in Feb 2024 for about a month. What are the best routes to visit Patagonia? I've read about the famous Carretera Austral (Puerto Montt to Villa O'Higgins) but I also heard that it was magnificent from the Argentina side. Can someone give me some guidance on which routes to take as well as things to see along the way (national parks, glaciers, etc)?

Any kind of advice would be helpful!

Thanks
:D

I guess the obvious first place to start is here: https://adventureriderradio.com/adve...helle-lamphere

We rode the Caraterra Austral down to Villa O’Higgins then doubled back and took the 265, alongside the Lago Gral. Carrera to join Ruta 40. From there we headed north up to the Parque National Nahuel Huapi or ‘Lake District’ as it is known in Argentina.

This was an amazing and beautiful route. I think a month is a decent amount of time to do it and there are lots of off shoot roads which will take you to various sights. Personally I would always do my own research as to the specific things I wanted to see as perceptions are always different.
One thing I would say is that, for us, the bottom section to Villa O’Higgins was the best and a lot of non-South Americans, we were in touch with, cut this bit off to go down to Ushuaia, I’m glad we didn’t - if you’ve got time to do both fine but I don’t think a month is long enough. It might be enough to get you to El Chalten and/or El Calafate which is why you need to do a bit of research and decide your priorities.

My fingers are crossed that you get a good weather window bier

Thanks for the info! Yeah I think there are 2 options.

1: Drive down the Carretera Austral to O'Villa Higgins and turn back and take 265 to cross into Argentina and ride on Ruta 40 to complete the loop.

2: Drive down the Carretera Austral and cross into Argentina and ride down to Ushuaia and turn back to return.

What is the weather like during that time of the year?

I am in Puerto Varas right now and I think the only thing that changes is the temperature of the rain. haha Might catch a couple of dry days or not a single one. Impossible to predict. Just go for it.

Ride safe!
Martin

Best route.
 

There is no best route. There is no objective measuremrents.

But my favorite was Carretera Austral. It can beb done in one week. But that is not recomended. 2 weeks will allow some detours. I actually planned three weeks for some rests days and rainy days. But two weeks Carrretera Austral

Ruta de los site lagos is a nice part of Ruta 40.
Add the Argentinian side of los Andes. Perrito moreno glacier and some other places close to the Chilean border.

And your month is gone.

And you will have a wonderful trip.

That is my personal view.

Good-better-best for what? How do one measure whats best and second best etc??? Its totally subjective and personal whats the «best» road. Best motorbike, best engine oil, best luggage system, best helmet option, best food, best music etc etc….?

I rode down the whole length of the Careterra Austral and found that very interesting and full of interesting things to see.
Then I backtracked past Cocrane on the Careterra Austral and crossed into Argentina at Paso Roballos. And that was also an amazing ride, lots of kms on a very remote gravel road. Then I rode so that I reached R40 in Argentina and followed that southbond but eventually took a left turn towards Rio Gallegos in the regional R5 because the R40 south of there was really rough and some other riders who were a week in front of me had to rescued out with their bikes loaded into pickup trucks. And I didnt want to end up like that. This was in December 2016 so things could have changed of course…

The stretch of R40 I rode was nothing special and extremely wind ridden! Absolutely horribly strong winds that time after time almost blowed me off the road. Some stretches were rough and deep gravel so not very enjoyable on a relatively heavy bike loaded up with gear….

Unfortunately my bike broke completely down in Punta Arenas after being in Ushuaia and had to be trucked back to Santiago so I personlly dont know of tye other road options down in Patagonia.

To sum it up - the chilean side aka the Careterra Austral was really amazing! The argentinian side wasnt all that interesting in comparison - but of course one had to travel there to reach Ushuaia.

Rain and wind - yes there will be a lot of that! Look at the weather forecast and take bad weather into consideration. Better to wait out rough weather at a warm and dry guesthouse….

In my opinion.

The Carretera Austral is magnificent, lush, green. Ruta 40 coming back on the Argentinian side is arid, wild and bleak but both are splendid.
I would definitely cross over and back as often as possible too. These passes are beautiful. Chile Chico, Fataleufu, Huiliches. We missed out on some further north as the passes were still blocked.
I went in October which is early spring and we had some wet days on the Austral but we also had a lot of perfect, sunny, bright weather.
We, my wife and I on one bike, spent five weeks going Santiago, Ushiaia, Santiago and we didn’t flog it so a month is fine.
Have a great trip.

Definitely do the last leg of the carretera austral to o’higgins - the ride is magnificent & the scenery is spectacular -I almost skipped it but I am SO glad I didn’t

Top tip - leave your luggage in a guest house in Cochrane & then you can travel fast & light on the gravel down to O’Higgins & collect your stuff on the way back

I crossed over into Argentina via Paso Rodolfo Roballos which takes you through the Tamango National Reserve -the road is a bit rough & you will be pretty isolated but it’s an incredible place

Happy hunting!

All routes in that area are fantastic in their own way. An option for the return is the ferry from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt. Spectacular scenery, lots of whales, and a nice break from riding if you did 70,000 km to get there.

My wife and I took that ferry north after Ushuaia (2020), and I concur - great experience. Coming back north that way bought us the time to explore Isla de Chiloé, another great experience.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Santiago to Ushuaia
 

Hi,
I will be riding my RE Himalayan from Santiago de Chile to Ushuaia starting 5th February, as the next leg of a trip from Medellin to TdF and eventually back to Medellin. You can read about the MDE TO SCL trip on this site.
Probably going down as far as you can go in Chile then cross over to Argentina.
Am equipped with hot grips, and cold and wet weather gear even though it’s summer.
Probably do it in about 4 weeks.

Carretera Austral
 

Some thoughts

Carretera Austral ”classic route”
Located some 80km east of the Carretera Austral by the Argentine border, Futaleufú is a key access point to the road, and the start of the ‘classic’ route. Many visitors to the region enter or leave via Futaleufú to/from Argentina, skipping the northern section of the Carretera altogether.
And exit/leave via Balmceda, also skipping the south part.
I think that they miss a lot.
Picture 1

The full route
It goes from Puerto Mont to Villa O`Higgins.
Well worth traveling.
Picture 2

Getting to Villa O Higgins, there is no border crossing to Argentina. There is a road going to the border. But no road on the Argentinian side. There is no border crossing south of Cochrane suitable for motorcycles, so there is no choice but to double back up to Cochrane.


But the Carretera is much more than the road.
It is an area to discover. Make several detours.
And get a view of the nature and the first settlements here.
Proposed route including detours:
Picture 3

It should have included Pumalin National Park.
But it was closed when I was there. There was a description of a wonderful camp site in the park. But both the entrance and the information building was closed.
I have no update of the current status of this project

=
North of Coyhaique, ther is one old and one new road.
The original road 7. That is still gravel. Not much to see
Blue on the picture

The new road. Tarmac. Waterfall, glacier and beautiful views.
Green on the picture.

Thanks everybody for the incredible info! Do you think it is worth bringing a tent for camping? I've done camping on a previous long term bike trip in Africa so I wouldn't mind it at all. Though i'm not sure if it would be too windy during this time of the year in the Patagonia.

re the tent, my question is "what's your alternative?". Lots of people camp in tents in the area with no problem. When we made our longest trip in Patagonia we stayed mostly in posadas which were inexpensive (more expensive in Chile than Argentina).

re routes, as others have noted, go back and forth between Chile and Argentina as much as you can; also get off the main roads - so much to see. For example on our last trip in Patagonia we spent some time around Lago Aluminé, which we had not previously visited, and enjoyed the area. Most visitors bypass this, although there are lots of Argentines there. Other posters have mentioned places which would be higher on the "wishlist" however if you spend the time you can enjoy a lot more.