Located on Chile’s western edge, near the divide between the Lake District and Patagonia, you’ll find the fascinating Chiloe Archipelago. Its largest island is home to the region’s capital city, Castro, and this remote location has given it a unique personality. With rustic stilt houses along its waterfront and colourful homes spread up and down its many hills, Castro is a city worth visiting.
The main island in the Chiloe Archipelago, Isla Grande de Chiloe, is usually referred to as Chiloe Island. It is the largest island entirely in Chile. Only Chile’s portion of Tierra del Fuego is larger, but that island is shared with Argentina. For perspective, Chiloe Island is almost as large as Puerto Rico, but much more sparsely populated. Two sites bring most visitors to the Chiloe Archipelago: its UNESCO-designated wooden churches and its stilt houses (palafitos), and we planned to see both.
You can read about the churches in our post UNESCO Wooden Churches in Chiloe Archipelago.
Castro
Set on the edge of the Castro Estuary (Estero de Castro), Castro is the largest city and capital of the archipelago. Not only is it the best city to use as a base to see the rest of the island, but it also has a few points of interest itself.
Castro is the most western point in the lower half of the map below. It is an interactive map, so you can zoom-in, or click on a marker for a link to our post from that region.
Stilt House
Sitting on the edge of the water, 19th century, colourful stilt houses (palafitos) add an interesting character to the city. Once home to the city’s fishermen, today, the palafitos are one of the city’s main attractions. Recently, boutique hotels, hostels and trendy restaurants have joined the fishermen by moving into the palafitos.
Palafitos of Gamboa
There are two different stilt house communities in Castro. Gamboa is the most often photographed because you can see it from across the Gamboa River. From there, you have the perfect view of the colourful houses above their wooden piles. Some have boats tied up to the piles, which adds even more charm to the scene.
We first visited when the tide was low so there was mud beneath the houses and fishing boats were resting on the sea floor. During high tide, the scene is quite different because water has replaced the muddy shore. At hightide, seawater flows under the houses, and the boats float on its surface. The pictures below are arranged in pairs so you can see the same area, including boats and houses, first at low tide and then at high tide.
Check tide tables before going, because it is interesting to see both at high and low tides.
Above the stilt houses, is one of the 60 or 70 wooden churches in the archipelago. This one is not a UNESCO-designated church, but we still liked to see the old building.
Palafitos of Pedro Montt
Another community of stilt houses is at the other end of the city along Pedro Montt Street. As we walked along the sidewalk in front of them, we didn’t realize they were all stilt houses. They are colourful and wooden, but otherwise you wouldn’t know they were on stilts. One of them is a chapel, Capilla Palafito Santa Maria de los Angeles. It may be the first stilt church we’ve ever seen.
From their side, though, you can see they are on stilts. At low tide, the muddy land extends far away from the houses, but they looked quite different when the tide comes in. These are also displayed below in before and after pairs.
Part of this community is on the other side of the road around a lagoon. Even at high tide, the lagoon in front didn’t fill with water.
Downtown Castro
The rest of the city has a different look from the stilt houses, mostly because its streets climb the steep hills from the estuary. They are lined by typical Chiloen architecture, which includes boldly coloured wooden houses. Their outer walls are often decorated with larch shingles, called tejuelas, unique to the area. Tejuelas are made in a variety of shapes and add a touch of cuteness to the vernacular architecture.
The people from the archipelago were well regarded for their shipbuilding skills. Their most famous ship was the Ancud. We saw a re-creation of it in Punta Arenas. Those shipbuilding skills were also used to build the wooden homes and churches.
Castro Waterfront
At the base of those hills is a small port and a waterfront promenade. Along the walkway are a number of unexpected finds including wooden art installations and old trains. A railway once travelled the 88 km between Ancud and Castro, but these trains are all that remains.
Plaza de Armas
In the centre of the city is the large Plaza de Armas. It is filled with tall trees, rose gardens and is a popular place for Castro residents to gather. It is also home to a small tourist market with souvenir stalls and tour agency touts.
San Francisco Church
In addition to seeing the stilt houses, we also wanted to see the UNESCO World Heritage wooden churches in Chiloe. The first one we saw was San Francisco Church, located on the side of Plaza de Armas. Although a Jesuit church was built on this spot in the 1500s, the one we see today was built under the Franciscans in the early 1900s.
We’ll talk about the building in more detail when we visit all of the UNESCO wooden churches next. You can read about it in our post UNESCO Wooden Churches in Chiloe Archipelago.
Beside it is an old wooden building that used to be a part of the church’s monastery, but is now an artisan market.
Where to stay and eat in Chiloe
Castro and Ancud are the largest cities and have the most infrastructure in the archipelago. Castro is more central, making it easier to visit other parts of the island. It also has a wide range of accommodations including stilt houses set up as hostels and boutique hotels. Many of these stilt houses are also restaurants and coffee shops. Remember, though, at low tide, the smell coming off the estuary is not the most pleasant. In addition to the stilt houses, many traditional wooden buildings now operate as locally run hotels and apartments. If you have a car, you could stay in one of the smaller villages for a more peaceful stay.
Getting to Chiloe
Most will access Chiloe from the city of Puerto Montt. Queilen Buses frequently travel between Puerto Montt’s bus station and the archipelago, stopping in both Ancud and Castro. The bus even travels across the Canal de Chacao on a ferry, so you don’t have to change buses (3 1/2 hours to Castro). You can buy tickets at the bus stations in Puerto Montt, Castro and Ancud.
Getting around Chiloe
There are several public buses running between the towns on Chiloe Island including Nercon, Vilupulli, Chonchi, Rilan and Dalcahue. You can find their schedules in Castro’s bus station. To visit towns other than these, it is probably best to have a car.
Click on the link to read our Travel Tips For Chile. (Coming Soon)
To read more of our adventures in Chile, click here.
Coming Next – UNESCO Wooden Churches in Chiloe Archipelago.
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