Where to go in Aysen

The Steppe is the dry land that extends from the Andes to the Atlantic. In Aysen, the steppe is rugged, dry and a great place to experience Tehuelche cave paintings and wildlife. The area above Coyhaique, known as Alto Coyhaique, or the Chacabuco Valley, home to Patagonia Park, are both wonderfully wild and beautiful, and contrast completely with the glaciated valleys and forests to the west. Here you will see guanacos, nandu, condors and, if you're lucky enough, huemul deer and pumas.

Close to the coast, the climate becomes wetter and you find yourself in humid, hugely biodiverse rainforest, dominated above all by the enormous leaves of the nalca (rhubarb). The Queulat National Park has a series of day hikes that head off from the road into the forest and up to hanging glaciers. You can explore the forests that descend into the fjords by boat, whether it be in Queulat National Park or further south around San Rafael Glacier, where it is well worth camping overnight and spending a day in the forests, listening to immense hunks of ice falling from one of Patagonia's most dynamic glaciers.