Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt is a medium sized town of approximately 175,000 people, located on the coast of southern Chile. It can be reached by bus from any major northern cities, and is also on the end of the line from the train route. As the name implies, it is a port town, and large ships can be seen entering and leaving the bay.

Puerto Montt was founded in 1853 during the wave of German immigration. There is an excellent market along the coastline that sells arts and crafts, cheese, and has many seafood restaurants with freshly caught fish at prices ranging from reasonable to very expensive. It pays to shop around. Most tourists frequent these restaurants.

Puerto Montt is the end of the line for traveling by road or rail in Chile. In order to proceed to the untouched natural areas of Patagonia, one must take a ferry to the island of Chiloe from Puerto Montt, or fly. In that manner, the town is a connection point to the beautiful southern areas of Chile. In terms of tourist attractions, besides the ocean and coastal market, Puerto Montt is an average town without anything too spectacular.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been there :) We took a side trip from Bariloche once, and this was one of our stops. Hey, I noticed there's no way to contact you here, so no easy way to exchange contact info. Let me know if you're interested in exchanging links with my Argentina blog. Thanks!

Jglohr said...

Hey, I just checked out your blog. Looks great. Yes, I'd like to exchange links. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Chile seems to be an interesting place. I hope i can visit it someday.