BaltiCCycle 2019 – Patagonia

“The Carretera Austral – on an Ultimate World Road”

02.23 – 04.13

Map | Route day by day | Conditions of Participation

50 days, 2261 km by bicycle!

When you search the Internet for cycling in Patagonia you will definitely run into the Carretera Austral, which stretches along the western Andes over 1200 km and spans 17 national parks and reserves. This region of Chile a few decades ago was accessible only by boat. Blue lagoons with icebergs, hanging glaciers, thick forests and fast rivers attract many adventure seekers and wild nature lovers. No one who visited this land was left indifferent by the charm of gorgeous scenery. Travel reports on the Internet are full of excited emotions.

To cycle the Careterra Austral it is a dream. Many call it an iconic ride. There is much useful info including descriptions of road conditions and sights to visit – therefore to plan the route is rather easy… but not to ride. Unpredictable and often changeable weather conditions as well as corrugated roads make it a challenge.

We will start the ride in Puerto Montt, where the Carretera Austral begins, but at first, we will visit the Isla de Chiloe with famous wooden churches inscribed into the UNESCO heritage list. Then we will take a ferry back to the mainland and continue cycling to the south until Villa O’Higgins, where the Carretera Austral ends. It will take 25 days. The next 19 days we will spend in the Southern Patagonia.  From O’Higgins by boats and a narrow hiking trail, we will enter into Argentina to see the Los Glaciares National Park with the most beautiful Perito Moreno Glacier. Then we will enter Chile again and visit the most popular Torres del Paine National Park. We will finish the ride in Punta Arenas – the southernmost city of Chile on the Strait of Magellan. In additional time, we will take a stunning boat trip to Puerto Williams and, if weather conditions allow, hike at the bottom of the world on the Dientes de Navarino Circuit.

More about cycling in Patagonia read, for example, Guide to Patagonia.