Puerto Montt Things to Do Tips by globetrott Top 5 Page for this destination

great excursions from Puerto Montt

Much more interesting than the town of Puerto Montt are the various excursions that you can start from there into the surrounding mountains.
When arriving by cruiseship there will be lots of taxi-drivers waiting for you at the pier, offering tours to see the Osorno and the National Park and all of the many lovely buildings built in the typical german style there. They have big poster with photos and maps, showing you where they will take you to and also indicate the prices for these tours.

Directions: All of these taxidrivers will wait for you at the plece, where you are leaving the port-area.

the old village of Puerto Montt

This suburb of Puerto Montt is not far away from the port-area, some side-streets with interesting old architecture dating back to the time of the early settlers from Germany. It was interesting to walk there a bit, I never felt unsecure and the few local people that we met were also very friendly.

Directions: leave the main road to town at the army-barraks, that is the way to get to this part of town.

a collection of old steam-locomotives

There was a time in Chile when the train had an important role in the transportation of goods and persons, but that was a long time ago and there are not a lot of train-lines left over. Most of the trafic is done by cars and buses nowadays and at a few places you can still see some old steam-trains like here in Puerto Montt, close to the main square and close to the pier. One of the locomotives had the inscription 1906-1977.
These locomotives are on display on the square, no fences around of them and they might be a great place to play for your children.

Directions: These old steam-locomotives are close to the main square of Puerto Montt.

Downtown Puerto Montt

Downtown Purto Montt is a strange mixture of modern shoping-centres and a few remains of the old architecture of the early, mostly german settlers. Except for the cathedral and maybe the old steam-locomotives there are no really interesting places to see there and I would rather recommend to take a tour to the volcanos or the National Parks, when you come to Puerto Montt by cruiseship.

Directions: Downtown of Puerto Montt is in walking distance of about 10-15 minutes from the docks.

Club Aleman

Club Aleman is a public restaurant and a private club of the descendants of the german settlers, a restaurant that will remind you in many ways of restaurants in Germany, they even have small boxes at the wall, where the members of the club will store their private beer-steins, just like in Bavaria.
Together with a passanger from Germany I was lucky to get a guided tour through this building and our guide was the chairman of the club, whose grand-grandparents came from germany with one of the first ships in the 19th century. At the end of the tour I was given a special present : a small-scale model of the monument !

Directions: Club Aleman is opposite of the monument for the german settlers !

fancy, old houses

There is a group of lovely old buildings close to the port and it is worth seeing, when you have a few minutes to spare. It is a great shopping-area as well, because inside of most of these buildings there are souvenirs-shops or handicrafts are offered.
Click on my photographs in order to enlarge them and see the great details of these fancy houses, built in the style of the settlers of the 19th century !

Directions: These lovely houses are just about 200 meters from the docking-station of your cruiseship, walk towards the town and you will pass by it !

the monument for the german settlers

Puerto Montt is a place, where hundreds of german settlers started to cultivate the land around of the Osorno. In 1852 the ship Susanna has taken the first settlers to Puerto Montt and the monument shows the arrival of such a family of new settlers :
On the right there is one of the pioneers showing the direction where to go and at his side a german sheep-dog. On the left side a family of settlers who had just arrived, take a look at my other photographs, also their faces are varied between curiosity, fear and great expectations....

The cathedral of Puerto Montt

The cathedral of Puerto Montt dates back to the year 1856 and it was the very first church built by the german settlers and for the construction of the church they used only wood of mamouth-trees.
It is really worth to take a closer look and also get inside, you can do so freely and without restrictions during daytime, photography is no problem at all.

Address: Plaza de Armas

Directions: The cathedral is at Plaza de Armas, in the very centre of town, close to the monument fo the german settlers.

The giant couple

The giant couple is a strange monument, a bit funny and at the same time a bit strange but at least worth taking a photo. Click on my photos and see the size of these gigantic sculptures in comparison to the people standing there in front of the "monument"

Directions: The giant couple is sitting on a bench along the coastline, in the centre of Puerto Montt.

Osorno & more

Osorno is the name of the scenic vulcano close to Puerto Montt and on a clear day you will be able to see it in a distance even from your cruiseship, anchored off the port of Puerto Montt. The Osorno is 2800 meters high, no eruption for the last 10.000 years and it's peak is even covered by snow in the southern summer-time (November - March).
It is a pity I had no chance to get any closer, because it is situated in the national park, close to these 2 lakes, where many of the german settlers built their houses, it would have been interesting to see them, but unfortunately these tours were fully booked.

Directions: Driving to Osorno and the National Park will take around 30 minutes from Puerto Montt.