While it is only open half of the year (the most pleasant spring and summer seasons), this majestic park is a prime objective of many mountain hiking enthusiasts, famous for its turquoise lagoon set against a backdrop of sharp sawtooth peaks dusted with snow and ice.
Getting to the village that sits near the entrance to the park trails is also one of the easiest in this series. If you’re coming from Puerto Cisnes, you would be on a bus to Coyhaique, and then from Coyhaique another bus to Villa Cerro Castillo, and that’s it!
If you haven’t yet read up on some of the foundations of the entire seventeen-park route, go back and check out my overview post so you can get oriented.
If you’re following this park series of articles, and going in the order presented, then the airport you will have gone through already is Puerto Montt.
However, if you’re starting your journey with this park, then you would be better to fly to Balmaceda. This is the airport that serves Coyhaique, Chile. Or, you can fly from Puerto Montt to Puerto Aysén’s airport, and then take the a shorter bus ride from there to Coyhaique to connect to the bus from Coyhaique to Villa Cerro Castillo.
For some odd reason, even though Cerro Castillo is under CONAF management, they don’t take fee payments through the online systems they use for other parks. Instead, you pay directly to a guard at the trail entrance at Laguna Chiguay.
For any trail you choose, the fee is 16,000 CLP per hiker ($17 USD). This is per trail, not for both trails combined. The rangers expect you will not be making the full loop, as it’s not necessary, so when they charge the fees they will ask you where you plan to exit (salidas), giving you two choices: “salida Laguna Castillo” or “salida Estero Parada”. These are not truly exit points, they are more like different unique paths, and both of them exit at Villa Cerro Castillo.
Furthermore, if you intend to camp at Laguna Chiguay that is also part of the park, that camping fee is 11,000 CLP per person ($12 USD).
Coyhaique is the provincial capital and geographic center of the Aysén region, and if you’re following this series you’ll be on your way there from Puerto Cisnes on a bus.
Once in Coyhaique, you get on another bus heading south to the town of Villa Cerro Castillo. There are several lodges and places to eat in this village that is completely built on tourism related to the park for which it’s named. So, expect to find lots of friendly help and advice with the locals you meet there.
In the Villa, there will be several taxis that stand ready to take you the short distance to the main trailhead. The sub-trails are a closed system, so everything will lead you back to where you started, but be forewarned, only one of the trails is easy. You have to be an experienced and fit hiker to take the other two trails.
Open October through April
Topography: Rocky alpine and deciduous forests
Climate: Moderate rainfall and snow at higher elevations.
Mountain-loving mammals like deer, puma, and red fox are especially attracted to living here, but rated as one of the most beautiful hikes in Chile because of the trees, you’ll just as much enjoy the beech, Chilean fire bush, and thickets of barberry all painting the landscape in color.
The main mountain peaks you will get to see several times over are Cerro Castillo (7,605 feet) and Cerro Las Cuatro Cumbres.
If you hike up to the lagoons, you will be amazed by their beautiful azure and turquoise hues that are the gift of hanging glacial drip.
If you are including bird watching on your hike, look for the condors and black-chested eagles soaring over the canyons and summit of Cerro Castillo, or the smaller birds jumping through the forests like the thorn-tailed Rayadito or the Magellanic Woodpecker.
|
Name
|
Distance
|
Hiking Time (round-trip)
|
Difficulty
|
Features
|
Open
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Las Horquetas
|
4 km
|
2 hours
|
Easy
|
Laguna Chiguay, camping
|
All year
|
|
Laguna Cerro Castillo
|
14.5 km
|
7 hours
|
Difficult
|
Turquoise lagoon
|
November to April
|
|
Circuito Cerro Castillo
|
55 km
|
5 days
|
Difficult
|
El Peñon Peak, Laguna Castillo, Lenga forest
|
November through April
|
It’s easily possible to get from Puerto Cisnes to Villa Cerro Castillo the same day, as the bus from Puerto Cisnes leaves early in the morning and only takes 4 hours to get to Coyhaique, so you’ve gotten most of the way and it’s still morning.
Buses from Coyhaique, however, only leave in the morning at 8:00 a.m., so by the time you get to Coyhaique you will miss your connection and need to stay overnight. So for getting the remaining two hours to Villa Cerro Castillo the same day you would need to get a private shuttle.
Now, this is important and bizarre at the same time. The park rangers where you have to register and pay your fees are 30 minutes before you get to Villa Cerro Castillo, at the Laguna Chiguay campground and the main trailhead for the easy hike, Las Horquetas.
What this means is that if you’re going to take the Las Horquetas/Laguna Chiguay trail but stay in Villa Cerro Castillo, it is no problem, a taxi will take you there in the morning, and there will be taxis there to take you back to Villa Cerro Castillo whenever you return from your hike.
But if you’re going to take the more difficult trails that are closer to the actual village, you still have to visit the park rangers back up the road 30 minutes, and then come all the way back to the village to start your hike.
You can deal with this a few ways:
The final strategy is to have your lodging host or staff make those fee payments and registrations for you in advance as part of their own package fees, so you don’t have to do any administrative running around and just think about hiking. Most hotels are used to this kind of request and will be glad to quote you the extra price to have that done.
One more thing to bear in mind, is that your permit that you pay for needs to be taken seriously, because the more difficult trails cross a lot of private land, and many creeks that have no bridges. The permit and fees paid allow you to do that if a private land owner comes across your path and asks to see your permit.
The trail to Laguna Cerro Castillo (difficult trail one) you should plan on all day hiking, and it’s only accessible from November to April.
The trail called the Circuito Cerro Castillo (difficult trail two) you can start either at Las Horquetas (Laguna Chiguay campground) and end at Villa Cerro Castillo, or do it the other way. But this trail takes at least five days, so the most experienced hikers should only brave it, but they will see the most incredible sights!
A single daily bus from Puerto Cisnes to Coyhaique departs at 5:30 a.m. and arrives to Coyhaique about 9:30 a.m.
You would need to stay overnight in Coyhaique, then take the bus the next morning to Villa Cerro Castillo. The departure is at 8:00 a.m. and the bus may say Cochrane on it because that would be the final destination, and Cerro Castillo is just along the way.
Remember to tell bus driver you’re getting off at the Laguna Chiguay ranger station so you can pay your fees and register, and then have the rangers call you a taxi to take you the remaining 30 minutes to Villa Cerro Castillo ($10). You won’t need a taxi if you’re staying at the campground and starting your hike directly from there.
Visit our private transportation page to arrange a private car or van to take you the two hour trip from Coyhaique to Villa Cerro Castillo. This will include a stop at Laguna Chiguay to pay the permit fee and registration, and then the shuttle will take you the rest of the way to to your lodging in Villa Cerro Castillo.
If you’re going to be camping at Laguna Chiguay, then that will just be the end point of your shuttle trip, but it’s the same price as going to Villa Cerro Castillo.
Of the three possible hikes, my recommendation is the one in the middle to Laguna Cerro Castillo. It’s difficult, but still something you can do in a single day, and you get to see the jewel of what most hikers come here to see, the turquoise lake.
To make the most efficient use of time, take the bus from Puerto Cisnes, and then arrange a private shuttle to pick you up at the bus station in Coyhaique and take you the rest of the distance to Villa Cerro Castillo. This way, the shuttle will be at your service to stop at the ranger station along the way for you pay your fee, and then take you the rest of the way into town to your hotel.
It will still be too late in the day for you to start the hike, so you should relax in the village and at your hotel, do the all-day hike the next day with your permit now in-hand, take a nice hot shower when you make it back to your hotel, and then you can depart Villa Cerro Castillo the next day on your way south to Cochrane, your base camp for the next park in our series, Parque Nacional Patagonia!
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