Tourism in Archipelago of Chiloé

This island with the name o Chiloé is located to the South of Puerto Montt, 1.061 km to the South of Santiago, and one and a half hour’s flight from there. The Central Valley sinks in to an interior sea and the Coastal Mountain Range is fragmented into multiple groups of islands, giving form to the second largest island of South America - after Tierra del Fuego – 180 km long from North to south, with 40 minor islets of which 35 are inhabited, they form the Archipelago of Chiloé.The Chacao Channel has to be crossed by ferry which takes 25 minutes to get to the Big island of Chiloé.

An ample territory of creeks, channels, gulfs, lakes, lagoons and almost unspoiled nature – like the Chiloe National Park – from which towns emerge with their unique constructions, archetypes of the Religious Wooden Architecture of the Chilota School, like its churches and style houses with typical cuts, wooden tiles, balconies and view points.

This is a land and sea of myths and legends, history, traditions and customs and traditional celebrations offered by the people. A typical gastronomy is chilota’s soup (cazuela), barbeques and the most famous representative dish of the island, is curanto, a hearty catch-all stew traditionally cooked in a hole in the earth, delights and unique experiences for the visitors.

This territory (archipelago) was originally inhabited by huilliches and chonos natives that were colonized very early by the Spaniards who settled in this place by the middle of the XVI Century. By the same date, the first religious congregations arrived to evangelize the population, they were Franciscans and Mercedarians, but finally it was the Jesuits, who arrived in 1608 who organized the evangelization system that characterized this area, a system that was continued by the Franciscans friars after the Compañía de Jesus (Jesus Company) was thrown out of the country in 1767.

This was the last Spanish settlement in Chile and America, which has some marvelous views of the ocean and of the interior gulf, still has the San Antonio and San Miguel de Ahui Forts in the city of Ancud along with its artillery and original structures.

Like this Chiloé invites tourists to visit its churches built in the XVIII and XIX century from noble wood such as larch and cypress, 16 of which have been declared World Heritage Sites; to see their sailors sailing in their boats through the channels and islands; to know their country works through agrotourism; their cities and homes built on palafitos (stilt houses) -; the beautiful landscapes and customs and traditional celebrations; their unique gastronomy based on fish and seafood and most of all to feel the hospitality of its people.