caretera Austral
 

I will be riding the caretera in November , I read in places that ferry do not work until january and in some other web there claim that they are working all year , any recent info and comments on you favorite part of it.

Although I've been on the Carretera Austral in Jan/Feb this year, I absolutely can't imagine that the ferries wouldn't work in November. On the contrary. I would expect them to be running year-round. There are people living down south, they need supplies too.

As to favourite parts: all of it! If I should name one, I'd say the 400km around Lago General Carrera. Coyhaiyque, Puerto Ibanez, Puerto Tranquilo, Coyhaique. Excellent riding, apart from potholes good ripio all along the Carretera. Around Coyhaique some 200km pavement. It all depends on the weather - lot's of rainy days down there!
2011b_Patagonia_Carretera_Austral pictures by frankinasia - Photobucket

caretera
 

Great news , exactly what I wanted to hear , where did you started and ended , did you the all road.

Carretera Austral Jan/Feb 2011
 

Route Jan-Feb 2011
Torres del Paine - El Calafate - El Chalten - Bajo Caracoles - Paso Roballo (all ripio, lots of Guanacos) - Cochrane - Villa O'Higgins - Chile Chico - Bariloche - Valdivia - Puerto Montt - Chiloe - Chaiten - Coyhaique - Chile Chico - Coyhaique - Chaiten - Futalefu -Bariloche

a bit more than usual - I have time :-)

My daughter just crossed a few weeks ago from El Quellon (Chiloe) close to Chaiten in a ferry . The winter is just starting and the conditions are not good at all. The ferry couldn't dock for several hours but it is not impossible.

I'll check my books in the next hour to see which ferry companies are doing the crossing.

Gaston
samericaxplorer

Chiloe to Mainland Chile by Ferry
 

There is only one company doing the crossing:
Naviera Austral S.A. [Rutas]
They do Castro (Sundays) and Quellon (Fridays) to Chaiten.

But it's not necessary to go this way. There is also the land route via Esquel, Argentina via Futalefu to Chaiten.

I think the post is rather about the ferries further south like Puerto Ibanez to Chile Chico and Puerto Yungai to Villa o'Higgins. I believe these are government operated (the latter is free of charge) and run year-round, except of course in very bad weather.

I agreed,

A good plan would be from Valdivia down to Rio Bueno, then diagonal to Entre Lagos and heading East to Argentina through the pristine Nat. Park Puyehue. (a stop in the hot baths 'termas de Puyehue' is a must) follow to Bariloche area

From Bariloche taking the 258/40 south all the way to Esquel to enter Chile again and meet Futaleufu (Carretera Austral).

It is always good also to come south Chile to Pto.Montt, crossing to Chiloe to Quellon or Castro and ferrying to Carretera Austral, but I think both corridors West to East Villarrica-San Martin de los Andes and Osorno-Bariloche are just spectacular.

Austral
 

Hi Gaston , I missed you at the last thursday meets , thanks a lot for the info .
I will try to see you in couple weeks.

A quick note on the construction alonf the Caretera.

Right after (going South) Puyuhuapi there is a stretch of construction where they have completely closed the road since they are doing blasting. They have a free ferry that crosses the gap, but it only goes when it is full, which can take a long time. You'll want to budget extra time for that part.

carretera
 

thanks for the heads up .I am already dreaming of the road and i think camping and exploring the area will be great fun, did you have any fuel problem while doing it . I should have about 300miles range with my bike .

Thanks again

300 miles is plenty, I had a range of 300km and never had any issues

great information!
 

is it possible to ride all of the Carretera Austral this time of year? say mid june-ish?

Austral in June
 

Possible yes
Enjoyable? Probably not.

I am near Temuco right now and it is very wet, and it is even wetter to the south.

And there is high possibility of snow and ice at higher elevations.

If I were riding now in Northern Patagonia I would head north.

I did a 500 km tour on my GS out of Santiago last weekend and the riding weather was perfect.

best time to do the Austral Road is after November.

September, October could be fun but still wet windy and cold.

Gaston

Hendi, I 'll be contacting you soon

Hendi,

We had VERY strong winds (110 - 130 kmh gusts) last year in mid December and had to change our route off the 40 onto Ruta 3 at Esquel as it wasnt possible to ride 2up (blown over) - we ended up holed up in Sarmiento for several days with some British cyclists bier
If possible I would try and arrive later, our friends Daryll & Angela, arrived at the beginning of Feb and had good weather....maybe aim to cut over to Bariloche as late as possible - mid to late December if you are travelling slower than we did - Xmas or New Year in Ushuaia, its a good place to hang out for a few days and drink beer...

One World 2 Explore

Hostel Yakush in Ushuaia has parking fo a couple of bikes, a good kitchen and is central.

I still would like to blow the froth of a few beers with you and Gaston sometime !

Suerte Amigos!