Tours and Activities:

Essential City Tour Guide

Setting out from the Plaza de Armas to both directions, the promenade leads visitors to many of the city attractions which are near each other and accessible by land or sea.

Strolling leisurely on the long waterfront promenade, visitors easily come across the Yacht Club, the local harbor, magnificent cruise liners anchored in the bay and a little bit farther, the Angelmó Avenue, with a handicraft fair and its well-known fish and seafood market.

We visited the most popular and iconic market in Chile, where little fishing boats arrive with their peculiar aromas, and we had the chance to witness the hard work fishermen face every day. Here visitors not only can buy fish and fresh shellfish (mussels, clams, pink salmons, locos , scallops and giant barnacles) but also eat at cocinerías (food stalls) assisted by women who usually shout out their delicious dishes to sell.

Just opposite Angelmó is the Tenglo Island, separated by the channel bearing same name. Visitors can get to its vantage point with a huge cross that is lit at night and taste the typical curanto de hoyo (a typical dish cooked inside a hole in the ground) still offered by some locals. On that channel it is possible to take one of the motorboats or little boats to reach different islands or make a water outing across the Chiloe archipelago.

We left the market behind to reach Chinquihue, a little village of fishermen that live in colorful palafitos (stilt houses) over the surface as a protection against high tides. This is a picturesque housing area which also offers a variety of dishes.

Later, we decided to head eastwards from Puerto Montt for visiting one of the most popular beach resorts known as Punta Pelluco, where hotels and restaurants abound. Here tourists can taste salmons, shellfish and popular curantos de hoyo, traditional dishes from the southern Chile where ingredients are cooked inside a hole in the ground filled with hot rocks and native leaves.

Finally, we were astounded by a 31,800-year-old petrified Patagonian cypress trees that come out of the surface once the tide is low.

The waterfront promenade features several monuments: a brass sculpture depicting a family of German immigrants and a local in honor to the union of cultures in the 1852, the first locomotive, dating from 1906, and a wooden boat which served as a commuter boat for a long time.

To reinforce our archaeological and anthropological background of the area, we visited the John Paul II Municipal Museum, which houses a comprehensive collection of material related to religious themes, typical legends and some weapons. Photographs and written papers give evidence of valuable data of all times.

We were touched by the simplicity of the first Jesuit church, built in 1872. Behind the building stands a bell tower dating from 1894. Near Plaza de Armas we found the cultural center Diego Rivera, which offers important musical events, plays and exhibitions all the year round.

These are the most important spots we visited in Puerto Montt so far, but certainly there are many more activities, nooks and roads that show the spirit of this city.

See also: Hotels in Puerto Montt and other accommodation venues