Solar Eclipse at Pumalin National Park

The trip begins in Puerto Varas, the gateway to Patagonia, on the shore of Lake Llanquihue. After pickup at Puerto Montt Airport (PMC), take a walking tour of the city, then join an evening trip briefing with Lake Llanquihue and the Osorno and Calbuco volcanoes as your backdrop.

Settle into your hotel for the night and gather for a welcome dinner.

Leave Puerto Varas behind for Pumalin National Park. Board a 30-minute flight from Puerto Montt to Chaiten, taking in aerial views of the Chiloe archipelago, coastal fjords, and the Andes along the way. From Chaiten, transfer to your lodge in the northern sector of Pumalin National Park, where you will spend the next three nights.

Today centers on two contrasting hikes. In the morning, hike to the crater of Chaiten Volcano, where forest is steadily reclaiming ground lost to the 2008 eruption. In the afternoon, you walk the Los Alerces Trail, a soft walk among alerce trees over 3,000 years old, known as the Redwoods of the South.

This is the day the trip is built around. Head to the El Amarillo sector of Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park, positioned within the path of annularity for maximum eclipse duration, to witness the Ring of Fire solar eclipse. Surrounded by rainforest and granite peaks, celebrate the moment with a traditional Patagonian lunch in the field.

Transfer to the Chaiten airfield for your flight back to Puerto Montt, then continue on to Puerto Montt's main airport or to Puerto Varas.