Puerto Montt is where the Chilean mainland effectively runs out. South of here the country breaks into islands, fjords and channels, the Pan-American Highway stops, and onward travel is by ferry, by plane or along a single remote road. It is a working port of about 250,000 at the head of the Reloncavi Sound.
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THE FIRST THING TO SAY IS THAT PUERTO MONTT IS A TRANSPORT HUB AND IT KNOWS IT. People arrive to leave: for CHILOE by ferry or bridge, for the CARRETERA AUSTRAL, for the NAVIMAG ferry through the fjords to Puerto Natales, for the Andean lake crossing to Bariloche in Argentina, or for a flight onward to Patagonia. The city has one genuinely good thing of its own, which is ANGELMO, and otherwise its value is where it puts you. Our Chile travel guide for women covers the country.
THE SECOND IS THE RAIN, and it is the fact that decides everything you pack. Puerto Montt receives roughly 1,800 millimetres a year, spread across every month, with something over 180 rain days. There is no dry season, only a less wet one. This is temperate rainforest latitude and the weather comes off the Pacific in bands; a week here without rain would be remarkable. Anyone arriving with a Chilean mental image formed in the Atacama is in for a shock.
THE THIRD IS THE VOLCANOES, AND HERE THEY ARE A NAMED RISK RATHER THAN A VIEW. The FCDO's volcano section names the Los Lagos region specifically, and Puerto Montt is its capital. OSORNO, the symmetrical cone on every postcard, and CALBUCO, which erupted in 2015 and closed the airport and dusted the city in ash, are both within sight on a clear day and both active. That is not a reason to stay away; it is a reason to check the alert level if you are going up either.
Angelmo, the Sound and the Volcanoes
A fish market worth the trip, a sheltered sound, and two active cones on the skyline.
ANGELMO IS THE REASON TO SPEND A DAY HERE. The old fishing cove at the western end of the waterfront is a market of seafood stalls, handicrafts and small restaurants built over the water, and the produce is extraordinary: picorocos, the giant barnacles that look impossible and taste of the sea, machas, erizos, and shellfish of kinds that exist nowhere else in this abundance. The thing to eat is CURANTO, a Chilote dish of shellfish, meat, potato and nalca leaves traditionally cooked in a pit with hot stones, served in the restaurants above the stalls. It is one of the great regional meals in South America.
THE WATERFRONT itself is a long promenade with the sound in front and the hills behind, and the coloured houses on the slopes above are what the city looks like from the water. The CATEDRAL on the Plaza de Armas is built of alerce wood and is the oldest building in town.
PUERTO VARAS is twenty minutes north on LAKE LLANQUIHUE and is where most visitors actually choose to stay, and that is an honest recommendation rather than a slight on Puerto Montt: it is a German-settler town of shingled houses and rose gardens with Osorno framed across the lake, and it is prettier and quieter. Our Puerto Varas packing list covers it.
ALERCE ANDINO NATIONAL PARK, 40 minutes east, protects stands of ALERCE, the Patagonian cypress, a tree that lives over three thousand years and was logged nearly to nothing. Walking among them is the best half day in the area and the park is wet, muddy and lightly visited.
AND MONTE VERDE, just west of the city, is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Americas: evidence of human settlement dated to around 14,500 years ago, which overturned the accepted timeline for the peopling of the continent. There is very little to see on the ground, which the city is honest about, but it is worth knowing you are standing in that argument.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Chiloe, the Carretera Austral and the Fjords
An island of wooden churches, a road into Patagonia, and a four-day ferry south.
CHILOE is the obvious next move and is a genuinely different place: an archipelago with sixteen UNESCO wooden churches, palafito stilt houses, its own mythology and a damp green landscape that feels closer to Ireland than to Chile. Our Chiloe packing list covers it.
THE CARRETERA AUSTRAL begins here in practical terms, running south through Patagonia on gravel and tarmac with ferry hops, and it is one of the great road journeys. Our Carretera Austral packing list and the Coyhaique packing list cover what it involves.
THE NAVIMAG FERRY runs from Puerto Montt to PUERTO NATALES through the channels over roughly three to four days, and it is a working cargo ship that takes passengers rather than a cruise. It is the classic way to reach Torres del Paine, and the Puerto Natales packing list and Torres del Paine packing list cover the other end. Book well ahead and expect weather.
NORTHWARD, the route to Santiago passes through the ARAUCANIA REGION, which is the one region the FCDO singles out in Chile, with civil unrest around Temuco and a state of emergency in the provinces of Biobio, Arauco, Cautin and Malleco. Puerto Montt is not in it and nor is Los Lagos, but a bus or a drive north goes through it, so it is worth knowing rather than discovering.
Getting around: El Tepual airport is 15 minutes west with frequent flights to Santiago and Patagonia, and it is the one that closed in the 2015 Calbuco eruption. Long-distance buses are good and the terminal is central. THE CITY IS WALKABLE ALONG THE FRONT and steep behind it. For the parks and the lake, a hire car or a tour is needed.
When to Go
December to March. It rains in all twelve months, but it rains less then.
A temperate oceanic climate with a narrow temperature range and very high rainfall: 7 to 12C in winter, 11 to 19C in summer, and roughly 1,800mm of rain spread over every month of the year.
DECEMBER TO MARCH is the southern summer and the only sensible window for most trips. Long days, with light until ten in January, the Carretera Austral passable, the Navimag running most reliably, and rainfall at its annual low, which still means rain on perhaps a third of days. This is the high season and prices and ferry bookings reflect it.
APRIL, MAY, OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER are the shoulders: wetter, cooler, far quieter, and the landscape at its greenest. Workable if you are equipped and flexible.
JUNE TO SEPTEMBER is the Patagonian winter. Short days, 7 to 11C, heavy sustained rain, snow on the volcanoes and passes, many southern services reduced or stopped, and the Carretera Austral difficult. The city itself functions normally and is cheap, and the Andean ski centres near Osorno operate.
THE HONEST SUMMARY IS THAT THE WEATHER HERE IS NOT A SEASON TO PICK BUT A CONDITION TO EQUIP FOR. Four seasons in a day is the local cliche because it is accurate, and a clear morning with Osorno visible can be driving rain by lunchtime.
Is Puerto Montt Safe for Women Travelers
Safe. Weather, water and the volcanoes are the real risks, and petty theft is the city's one real crime problem.
US State Department travel advisory: the Chile advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/chile, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
UK FCDO: there are NO advised-against areas anywhere in Chile, and the word advise does not appear on either the safety and security page or the regional risks page. ONE REGION carries its own section: the ARAUCANIA REGION, where there is ongoing civil unrest especially around Temuco, with attacks by groups of demonstrators on people and property, and an ongoing STATE OF EMERGENCY in the provinces of Biobio, Arauco, Cautin and Malleco with the military assisting regional police. What the FCDO does cover at length instead is ordinary crime and natural hazard: MUGGINGS, which it says happen frequently in Santiago and Valparaiso, increasingly with guns and knives, in daylight and in plain sight, with the explicit advice not to resist; DRINK SPIKING in the Suecia and Bellavista areas of Santiago; and TAXI SCAMS AT SANTIAGO AIRPORT, where criminals dress as authorised drivers inside the arrivals hall, so the rule is to book and pay for an official taxi inside the building before you exit.
Chile is one of the most seismically active countries on earth and the honest advice is procedural rather than alarming. Major earthquakes are a real risk, building regulations require new structures to account for them, and the FCDO notes that safety measures are widely known and practised by local authorities. Read the instructions in your hotel room, which every Chilean hotel posts, and know that the coastal drill is to move inland and uphill after a strong quake rather than to wait for a siren, because a local tsunami can arrive in minutes. A CHAIN OF VOLCANOES IS ACTIVE IN THE LOS LAGOS REGION, which the FCDO names along with Chaiten, Llaima in Conguillio National Park, Lascar in the north, Copahue on the Argentine border and Villarrica above Pucon. Monitor local media and the official volcano monitoring advice if you are travelling in those areas.
ON THE VOLCANOES SPECIFICALLY, because this is one of the regions the FCDO names: OSORNO and CALBUCO are both active and within sight, and Calbuco's 2015 eruption was sudden, sent ash to 15 kilometres and closed El Tepual airport. The Chilean geology service SERNAGEOMIN publishes alert levels for every volcano and they are the thing to check before going up Osorno or into the Calbuco area. An ash event can also stop flights at a few hours' notice, which is an argument for a buffer day before an international connection.
THE TSUNAMI RULE APPLIES HERE TOO, though the sound gives more shelter than an open coast. Evacuation routes are signed, they lead uphill, and the drill after a strong or long earthquake is to move up and inland without waiting for an official warning. Chile's 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the largest ever recorded at magnitude 9.5, was centred not far south of here.
PETTY THEFT IS THE CITY'S GENUINE CRIME PROBLEM and Puerto Montt has a worse local reputation for it than its size suggests, concentrated around the bus terminal, the port area and Angelmo in the busy hours. Bags, phones and daypacks left beside a restaurant chair are the pattern. The FCDO's mugging warning names Santiago and Valparaiso rather than here, and violent crime against visitors is uncommon, but this is a port city and the terminal area at night is not where to linger with luggage.
THE WEATHER IS THE RISK THAT ACTUALLY RUINS TRIPS. Sustained cold rain with wind, on a hike in Alerce Andino or on a ferry deck, is a hypothermia risk rather than an inconvenience, and cotton is the wrong answer. The water in the sound and the lakes is cold enough year round that falling in is serious.
Chile has no reciprocal health agreement with the UK or the United States, so travel insurance with medical cover is essential. Private clinics in Santiago and the larger cities are excellent and expensive and will ask for payment or an insurance guarantee before treating you; the public system is good by regional standards but slower for a visitor. A farmacia handles minor problems. TAP WATER IS DRINKABLE across most of the country including Santiago, which is unusual in South America, though it is heavily mineralised in the north and many visitors prefer bottled there. THE TWO REAL ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS ARE ALTITUDE AND ULTRAVIOLET: the altiplano and the Atacama run above 4,000 metres on ordinary excursions, and the combination of thin dry air and latitude gives northern Chile some of the highest surface ultraviolet measured anywhere.
Socially this is easy and unremarkable. Chile is among the more straightforward South American countries for a woman alone, the city is a working port rather than a tourist town, and a woman eating alone at Angelmo draws no attention. English is limited outside hotels and tour operators; Spanish or an app matters.
The Puerto Montt Packing List
A genuinely waterproof shell, which is the one item that decides the trip
Not showerproof. Waterproof, with a hood, taped seams and a long enough cut to keep rain off your thighs. A packable rain jacket for women is the baseline and in this climate it will be worn most days. With 1,800mm of rain and over 180 rain days, this is the difference between a good week and a miserable one.
Waterproof trousers, which most people regret not bringing
Waterproof hiking trousers. For Alerce Andino, a Navimag deck, a Chiloe day or simply walking to dinner in a Patagonian downpour, wet legs for eight hours is the thing nobody plans for.
Base layers, because the cold here is wet cold
11 to 19C in summer with rain and wind is colder in practice than a dry 5C, and this is where cotton genuinely fails: it holds water, stops insulating and takes a day to dry in this humidity. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and merino keeps insulating when damp, which is exactly the property this climate demands. A long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the single most useful garment in the bag here. Add a fleece mid layer.
Waterproof boots, not trainers
Alerce Andino is mud, Chiloe is mud, and the city's steep streets run with water. Something waterproof with a real sole and ankle support. Wet feet are the commonest complaint about this whole region and the easiest to prevent.
A hat and gloves, in summer too
A merino beanie and merino glove liners. A ferry deck in the channels in January is cold, windy and wet, and the deck is where you want to be for the scenery.
The small things
A dry bag, which is not optional on the Navimag or any small boat and is useful for a day pack in this rain. A quick dry towel. Seasickness tablets for the ferries and the channels. Cash in pesos for Angelmo and the small places. And a buffer day before an international flight, because ash and weather both stop planes here.
Essential Resources for Women in Puerto Montt
Emergency numbers: 131 ambulance, 132 fire, 133 police, Carabineros. 137 is maritime rescue, which matters on this coast and in the channels. Mobile coverage is good in the city and along the main routes and thin to absent on the Carretera Austral and in the parks.
Tourist police: Chile has no dedicated tourist police force. The Carabineros handle visitor matters on 133, and the SERNATUR regional office is the right route for a complaint about a tour or ferry operator.
Main hospital or clinic: the Hospital Base San Jose de Puerto Montt is the public regional hospital with a 24 hour emergency department and is the referral centre for Los Lagos and much of the south, which matters because facilities thin out rapidly beyond here. Clinica Puerto Montt is the main private option. A farmacia handles minor problems. For an emergency dial 131. NOTE THAT THIS IS THE LAST SUBSTANTIAL HOSPITAL BEFORE PATAGONIA, so anyone heading down the Carretera Austral should treat it as the point of reference.
Official health authority: the Chilean Ministry of Health on the national government portal. Chile has no reciprocal health agreement with the UK or the United States, so insurance with medical cover is essential. The Hospital Base is the regional referral centre and is the last substantial hospital before Patagonia
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Santiago.
Official tourism authority: Chile Travel, the national tourism board. And with the SERNATUR regional office for operator complaints, plus SERNAGEOMIN, the Chilean geology service, which publishes the alert levels for Osorno and Calbuco
It rains in all twelve months, roughly 1,800mm over more than 180 rain days, with no dry season. A genuinely waterproof shell and waterproof trousers are the difference between a good trip and a wretched one.
The FCDO names the Los Lagos region in its volcano advice. Osorno and Calbuco are both active, Calbuco erupted in 2015 and closed the airport, and SERNAGEOMIN publishes the current alert levels.
This is the last substantial hospital before Patagonia. Anyone going south should know that before they go.
Petty theft is the city's real crime problem, concentrated at the bus terminal, the port and Angelmo in the busy hours.
Most visitors stay in Puerto Varas instead, twenty minutes north on the lake, and that is a reasonable choice rather than a criticism of this city.
Solo women safety assessment: Puerto Montt is straightforward for a woman travelling alone and Chile is among the easier South American countries for it. This is a working port rather than a tourist town, a woman eating alone at Angelmo draws no attention, and English is limited outside hotels and tour operators so Spanish or an app matters. PETTY THEFT IS THE CITY'S GENUINE CRIME PROBLEM and its local reputation for it is worse than its size suggests, concentrated around the bus terminal, the port area and Angelmo during busy hours, with bags, phones and daypacks left beside a chair the usual pattern; violent crime against visitors is uncommon and the FCDO's mugging warning names Santiago and Valparaiso rather than here, but the terminal area at night is not somewhere to linger with luggage. THE WEATHER IS THE RISK THAT ACTUALLY RUINS TRIPS AND CAN DO WORSE: sustained cold rain with wind on a hike in Alerce Andino or on a ferry deck is a hypothermia risk rather than a discomfort, cotton fails completely in it, and the water in the sound and the lakes is cold enough year round that falling in is serious. THE VOLCANOES ARE A NAMED FCDO RISK FOR THIS REGION, with Osorno and Calbuco both active and Calbuco's 2015 eruption sudden enough to close the airport, so check SERNAGEOMIN alert levels before going up either and keep a buffer day before an international flight. And the tsunami drill applies: evacuation routes are signed and lead uphill, and after a strong or long earthquake you move up and inland without waiting for a warning, in a region where the largest earthquake ever recorded struck in 1960.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Chile travel guide for women. Twenty minutes north and prettier is the Puerto Varas packing list. For where this port takes you, read the Chiloe packing list, the Carretera Austral packing list, the Puerto Natales packing list and the Torres del Paine packing list. For the opposite extreme of the same country, the Iquique packing list covers a city where it never rains at all. For why merino rather than cotton when the cold is wet, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
