Puerto Varas

A cone of 2652 metres carries permanent snow at the top. A chairlift reaches the middle slope and going higher requires equipment.

Water splits through hardened lava and drops in several channels. It runs jade and the volcano stands directly behind.

The water runs a deep emerald, which gave it a second name. The boat crossing into the neighbouring country begins from this shore.

Built of timber in 1915 after a German model, its walls are painted yellow. Set on a rise, it enters photographs together with the lake.

A timber concert hall projects above the lake and a music festival fills it each summer. Through the glass behind the stage the volcano stands as a backdrop.

A timber walk crosses ground where lava from the volcano set hard. Thick moss covers it, so footsteps make no sound.

This volcano erupted heavily in 2015, so its top is left broken. The road running south of the lake faces that broken summit directly.

Several timber mansions the German settlers built stand along the hill. Cut wood trim on the frames and eaves changes with every house.

A lakeside path joins the two ends of town with two volcanoes in sight. When the wind gets up the lake raises waves and reads like the sea.

Glacier water keeps the river cold and the current fast. Wetsuits go on for the raft and a calm stretch partway down gives a rest.

A watermill, smithy and farmhouse of the 19th-century German settlers, moved onto a lakeside hill and rebuilt. Their kitchens and bedrooms hold the furniture and utensils those families used. From the garden, Osorno volcano stands square across the lake.

Where the Puerto Montt waterfront runs out, craft stalls and seafood kitchens stand in rows. Chiloe wool and baskets dominate, and inner kitchens ladle curanto and seafood broth into big bowls. Touts outside push hard, so read menu prices first.

A forest where alerce trees thousands of years old survive, about 1 hour by car from Puerto Montt. The trunks rise straight, their red bark split in long vertical strips. Showers come often, leaving trails wet, so waterproof shoes are the choice.

A cross tops the little hill behind town, with the lake and the Osorno and Calbuco volcanoes in a single view. Walking up from the centre takes 20 minutes. On a clear evening the snow on the summits glows orange at sunset.

A valley ringed by high granite walls, nicknamed the Yosemite of Chile. Vehicles cannot enter; reaching it means five or six hours on foot along muddy trail. Camping inside runs on booking, and nobody without one gets in.

A quiet village on Lake Llanquihue's northern shore, where timber houses of the German settlers climb the slope. Few tourists come, and the lakeside peninsula walk meets almost no one. It makes a good halfway point on a lake drive out of Puerto Varas.