Things to do
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Cerro Castillo National Park
Standing at the lagoon under Cerro Castillo's black basalt spires gives you a view that walkers compare with Torres del Paine, and the whole climb fits in one day from Villa Cerro Castillo.
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Coyhaique National Reserve
The CONAF reserve begins about five kilometres uphill from the plaza and covers some 2,150 hectares of lenga, coigüe and planted pine on the slopes of Cerro Cinchao. Marked loops reach Laguna Verde and Laguna Venus in two to four hours. The steep gravel access road turns to mud after rain.
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Laguna Cerro Castillo
A milky turquoise tarn sits in the cirque directly beneath the Castillo towers, fed by what is left of the glacier on the north face. The trail up from Villa Cerro Castillo gains about a thousand metres and runs six to eight hours return. It is open only with a certified guide, and it shuts when the weather closes on the ridge.
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Monumento Natural Dos Lagunas
A small protected area about 18 km east of town on the road toward the Argentine border, built around two lakes left behind by the retreating ice. A flat interpretive loop round the water takes about an hour. The wind blows constantly across the open water, so bring a warm layer and binoculars.
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Museo Regional de Aysén
The regional museum occupies the restored sheds of the old Sociedad Industrial del Aysén on the edge of town, arranged around the wool shearing floor and the stone corrals. Its displays cover the colonisation of the region, the fires that cleared these valleys in the 1930s and 1940s, and the estancia system that followed.
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Nomades Hotel Boutique
A small hotel a few blocks from the plaza, built in dark timber and glass with rooms facing the hills behind the city. It stays open year round, which matters in a town where much of the trade shuts out of season, and the desk arranges transfers for the road south.
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Plaza de Armas
This five-sided garden square sits at the centre of Coyhaique, and the main streets fan out from its sides, which makes it the easiest point to take bearings from. Trees shade its paths, with monuments and statues set among them. Start a first walk here.
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Río Simpson National Reserve
The reserve follows the Simpson river gorge along the paved road to Puerto Aysén, about half an hour northwest of town by car. Waterfalls drop straight off the canyon rim, the Cascada la Virgen among them. A CONAF centre near the entrance keeps a small natural history display.
