Quellon - commune in Chiloé, Chile

Quellón is a town of 24,000 people (2015) at the southern end of Chiloé Island. It is a fishing and transportation hub for the area and not a particularly interesting tourist destination, although you might want to experience the thrill of standing at the southern extreme of Chile's longest road, the Ruta 5 (aka Panamericana), which is marked with a plaque and monument just outside of town at Punta de Lapas.

Understand

Climate

Winters are cool and wet but mild with a July average of 7.7 °C (45.9 °F). During this time of the year, precipitation is very high, averaging around 208 to 261 millimetres (8 to 10 in) from June to August and humidity is high, averaging around 85–87%. Few days are dry in winter, since there are 22–24 days with measurable precipitation from June to August. Nonetheless, snowfall is rare and most years will record no snowfall.

Summers are mild with a January average of 15.1 °C (59.2 °F) and during this time, precipitation is lower, averaging 103.3 millimetres (4 in) in February, the driest month. Temperatures can occasionally exceed 20 °C (68 °F) anytime from September to June.

One characteristic of the climate is that Quellón, like the rest of the central and southern parts of Chiloé is exposed to strong westerly winds throughout the year.

Get in

By car

Quellon is the southernmost town on Chiloé Island and is about 50 km from Castro. The Ruta 5 is the only road going here.

By ferry

The Naviera Austral ferry from Chaitén on the mainland is expensive but sometimes the only way to travel the Carretera Austral without the detour into Argentina. They depart on Saturday and Tuesdays at 10:00, and arrive at 13:00. Seat 13,000 pesos, vehicle 71,000 pesos, motorcycle 16,700 pesos, bicycle 9,900 pesos (VAT included) (Jan 2018).

By bus

Numerous buses to Castro every day (13,500-3,300 pesos, 1½-2 hours) (Dec 2017). If you just arrived by ferry, walk one block left and half a block right and there is the Cruz del Sur terminal, from where you can buy tickets and get on board the next bus.

Get around

Taxis are a fixed rate regardless of destination in town. At night the price gets higher.

See

The plaque marking the end of the Chilean Panamerican Highway (Ruta 5) is just outside of town at Punta de Lapas (also a relatively good beach for this far south). Take any bus on Ladrilleros that says Punta Lapas (20 minutes, 250 pesos).

• Museo Inchin Cuivi Anti (the name means "Our ancestors") is a museum explains the culture and the history of the Huilliche
• The Municipal Museum (Museo Municipal) refers to the history of the town.
• The market Feria Artesanal Llauquil and the marine drive Costanera P. Montt offering a scenic view of the beautiful surroundings are worth a visit as well.

Nearby

Close to Quellón there are several interesting villages, e.g. Punta de Lapa (5 km) with a beautiful 5-km-long beach, or Compu (about 25 km to the north) with a wooden church which was built at the beginning of the 20th century. Quellón Viejo (4 km to the southwest), a village with an interesting cemetery and a typical wooden church dating from the beginning of the 20th century is older than Quellón. Yaldad (11 km to the west) is a Huilliche village with about 500 inhabitants (2002) and a wooden church (Iglesia Jesús de Nazareno) representing the typical style of Chiloé which was built at the beginning of the 20th century and renovated in 1990. Trincao (10 km to the southwest) has a sightworthy cemetery and an interesting church dating from 1920.

Do

• Whale watching. There are a few local companies arranging whale tours from November to March. For Ana Maria Jara Millo on the boat "Ana Villosa", call +56 82467340 or 94270380. Alternatively try Ruben Riedel on boat "Nachito", call +56 77138014 or 97881686.
• Every day during summer an authentic curanto (a local specialty: stew of seafood, meat and potatoes traditionally prepared in a hole dug in the ground) takes place at the Turismo Millaguen near the end of the Panamerican Highway (Km 3, email millaguenquellon@surnet.cl). Take any westbound bus on the main street that has "Punta de Lapas" as a destination - Millaguen is on the north side of the road down a steep driveway.
  The curanto is at 13:30 (the excitement starts about 12:30 when the fire gets going - watching the construction of the curanto is as much fun as eating it). Seafood, potatoes, two types of potato-dough bread, chicken, pork, peas and fava beans are buried in a pit and cooked for an hour and half.

Buy

Eat

• Hotel Tierra del Fuego, Pedro Montt 445 (right on the waterfront). Has a very nice restaurant that serves excellent fish dinners.
• Kaffee Rose Cafe, Ladrilleros 135 (next to the Coloso Supermercado). Be sure to stop there. Good pastries, chocolates and the usual Nescafe are available.

Drink

Sleep

Good camping spots on the beach south of town at Quellon Viejo. Beware of the tide.

There are about 8 hospedajes in town. None have kitchen access. The cheapest, Diegos, is 6,000 pesos per person, up from the bus station toward the main road on the left hand side.

Go next

There is a boat to Chaitén on Fridays only (15:00, 16,000 pesos, takes 5 hours). If using public transport, you need to overnight in Chaitén for journeys onward to Futaleufu next morning.

The same company has a boat to Puerto Chacabuco (30,000 pesos, takes 36 hours). Visit their website for details (see Get in).