Fly & Ride The Best of Northern Patagonia

Nine nights in a loop from Pucon through the Chilean and Argentine Lake District, ridden self-guided, across a region holding eight active volcanoes and some forty-eight lakes. The hire is included, with a long upgrade list.

Pucon sits below Villarrica, one of the most active volcanoes in South America, which glows at night when it is in the mood. Villa Pehuenia follows in Argentina, with Conguillio National Park and Lago Aluminen, then San Martin de los Andes on Lago Lacar with Lanin on the skyline.

Bariloche comes next on the Seven Lakes Route through Nahuel Huapi, with the Circuito Chico as an optional loop, then Trevelin and Los Alerces National Park with its ancient fitzroya stands.

Chaiten returns the route to Chile in the Futaleufu whitewater region at the start of the Carretera Austral, with Pumalin National Park, then Hornopiren by way of two ferry crossings through the Renihue and Comau fjords, which are the scenic high point of the trip and pass through the salmon farming country of the inner channels. Puerto Varas follows with the Petrohue waterfalls, Volcano Osorno and the Cochamo valley, which gets called the Yosemite of South America for its granite walls, and the loop closes to Pucon by way of Frutillar, a nineteenth-century German settlement with a concert hall on the lake. Prices are quoted in US dollars. Nine nights makes this the shortest Patagonian package the operator sells, and it covers the greenest and most populated part of the region rather than the empty south, which suits a first visit rather better.