Puerto Varas looks across Lake Llanquihue at a volcano that appears to have been drawn with a ruler. Osorno, at about 2,650 metres, is a near-perfect snow-capped cone, and from the lakeshore at sunset, when the cone turns pink and the water goes flat and glassy, it is one of the great views of southern Chile. Beside it, the more jagged Calbuco, which erupted dramatically in April 2015 and sent a column of ash high into the sky, looks darker and more menacing.
The town was founded in the 1850s as part of a government scheme that brought German settlers to this corner of Chile, and their influence is everywhere. Wooden houses with steep gables, shingles and decorated eaves line the streets, a church with a tall steeple stands over the town, and cafes serve kuchen, the rich fruit-and-cream cakes brought from the old country. The settlers cleared forest and farmed the rolling hills, and the area still has a pastoral feel, with dairy farms, orchards and neat fences.
For a rider, the Lake District is a delight. The road around Lake Llanquihue, about two hundred kilometres in all, passes pretty lakeside villages such as Frutillar, where a music festival is held in a concert hall on the water, and Puerto Octay. To the east, the road to Ensenada and Petrohué skirts the foot of Osorno and follows the Petrohué River to its rapids and to Lago Todos los Santos, a deep emerald lake ringed by forest and mountains. Roads are generally well maintained, with long curves and pleasant gradients, but patches of gravel and roadworks appear, and rain is frequent. The best season is summer, from December to March, with long days and a good chance of clear views, though showers are possible all year.
Fuel is easily found in Puerto Varas, which has several stations, and in nearby Puerto Montt, a port city of about a hundred and sixty thousand, seventeen kilometres to the south. Ensenada, to the east, is small and offers limited supplies, so fill up first. Dress in layers, since the weather is changeable, and carry a rain jacket. Try the curanto, a hearty seafood and meat dish traditionally steamed in a pit with hot stones, and the local salmon, farmed in the cold waters of the southern fjords.