The rapids
Over basalt.
littletroll — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Nicolás Navarrete Carrasco — CC BY 3.0
Powerful falls and rapids where the Petrohué River surges in clear turquoise and green water over black basalt left by Osorno volcano's lava, cutting narrow channels and roaring in white eddies, with the volcano's white cone rising on the horizon. They lie in Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park, Chile's first national park, created in 1926. Wooden walkways and safe lookouts run along the rocks so you see the water from many angles, including the famous view of the falls before the volcano. Short trails through the surrounding forest pass mosses and ferns and a small green lake. From here the road continues a few minutes to the village of Petrohué on the shore of Todos los Santos Lake, where the boats leave. Swimming is banned and the current deadly, so keep to the walkways and barriers. It gets crowded at midday in summer, so go in the morning.
Over basalt.
Falls and volcano.
Safe lookouts.
Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park, about an hour from Puerto Varas
By car, bus or tour from Puerto Varas in about an hour, usually combined with Todos los Santos Lake.