Why this ride
It goes by way of Church of Rilán, Church of San Juan, Church of Castro and back through Church of San Juan. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Church of Tenaún and Church of Castro
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 346 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 7 h 14
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Chiloe Island Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 40 km this is Chiloe Island Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 61 km
- Named road
- Chiloe Island Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Church of Tenaún
Out on the eastern coast of Chiloé, where the island looks across a channel at the smaller islands of the inner sea and, on a clear day, the snowy volcanoes of the mainland, the village of Tenaún gathers around a wooden church that looks almost too bold for its setting. The façade is painted deep blue, scattered with white stars, and topped not with one but with three towers. It is one of the sixteen churches of Chiloé on the World Heritage list, masterpieces of a unique tradition of wooden architecture.
Read the complete Church of Tenaún write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Church of Tenaún is where the day begins. Next is Church of Rilán.
2. Church of Rilán
Chiloé is an island of rain, wood and faith, lying off the coast of southern Chile across the narrow Chacao channel, and its wooden churches are its great treasure. Built by island carpenters following a tradition introduced by Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and continued by Franciscans, they combine European church forms with local shipbuilding skills, using native timbers and covering the walls with overlapping wooden shingles called tejuelas. Sixteen of them were listed by UNESCO in 2000, and the church of Santa María de Rilán is one of them. It stands on the Rilán peninsula, east of Castro, facing a quiet inlet, its tall tower and painted wooden facade rising above the low houses and green fields of the village.
Read the complete Church of Rilán write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Church of Rilán comes up about 61 km into the recorded legs. Next is Churgh of Caguach.
3. Church of San Juan
San Juan is a tiny village on a sheltered inlet on the east coast of Chiloé, the big green island off the coast of southern Chile, and its wooden church stands right by the water, painted white with a tall tower, looking out over the boats moored in the channel. It is one of the sixteen Churches of Chiloé on the World Heritage list, a unique school of wooden architecture that grew out of the Jesuit missions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and was continued by the Franciscans and the islanders themselves. The churches were built by local carpenters using native woods, with techniques borrowed from boat building, and many of them are covered in wooden shingles. Inside, the vaulted ceilings often look like the hull of an upturned ship.
Read the complete Church of San Juan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Church of San Juan, about halfway. Next is Church of Castro.
4. Church of Castro
Castro's church is the first thing that makes visitors to Chiloé stop talking. San Francisco stands on the Plaza de Armas of the island's capital, a big building with a corrugated-metal skin painted in yellow and violet, two towers and a wooden interior that is mostly hand-cut native timber. It was built in the early twentieth century to replace an earlier church that burned, by an Italian architect, and it is one of the sixteen Chiloé churches that UNESCO listed in 2000. The rest are mostly smaller and older, scattered along the coast, built by Jesuit missionaries and their Chilote carpenters, who were boat builders first and used what they knew. If you tip your head back inside, the vaulted ceiling looks like an upturned hull.
Read the complete Church of Castro write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Church of Castro sits at 154 km, about halfway. Next is back through Church of San Juan.
5. back through Church of San Juan
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of San Juan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Church of San Juan comes up about 226 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Churgh of Caguach.
6. back through Church of Rilán
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of Rilán write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Church of Rilán, late in the day. Next is Church of Tenaún.
7. Church of Tenaún
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of Tenaún write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 307 km.
Leg by leg
Church of Tenaún to Church of Rilán
Church of Tenaún → Church of Rilán is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of Rilán to Church of San Juan
Church of Rilán → Church of San Juan is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of San Juan to Church of Castro
Church of San Juan → Church of Castro is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of Castro to back through Church of San Juan
Church of Castro → back through Church of San Juan is 53 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of San Juan to back through Church of Rilán
back through Church of San Juan → back through Church of Rilán is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of Rilán to Church of Tenaún
back through Church of Rilán → Church of Tenaún is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.