Chiloé is a very cool and interesting island in Chile. It’s mostly famous for its wooden buildings, especially the churches, and its typical local dishes like curanto. There are many beautiful areas on this island, but unfortunately, some are only accessible if you have your own transport. Luckily there are also plenty of things to do in Chiloé that are accessible by public transport. Like the ones I’m going to be talking about in this article.
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Table of Contents - Best things to do in Chiloé by public transport
Where is Chiloé
Chiloe is an island in the Southern part of Chile. The gateway to the island is the port city of Puerto Montt, which is also where Chilean Patagonia and the Carretera Austral start.
How to get to Chiloé
The best way to get to Chiloé is by taking a bus from Puerto Montt. There are several buses a day that go to both Ancud and Castro, the two main cities on the island for tourists. If you are traveling from the south, you can also take a ferry from Chaitén to Castro, but this ferry does not go very frequently, so make sure to plan your journey well in advance.
When to travel to Chiloé
The best time of year to visit Chiloé is from late spring to early autumn. The weather is the best in the summer months, but this is also the busiest time of the year. While Chiloé is still not a frequently visited place by foreigners, it is a popular destination for Chileans. Meaning the island does get busy in January and February.
If you want to see the penguins in Ancud, note that they start arriving in September and they are around until mid-February more or less.
How many days for Chiloé
You can visit these highlights of Chiloé mentioned below in as little as four days. But of course, you can stay longer and visit a few other things on the island.
The best things to do in Chiloé accessible by public transport
Go see the traditional wooden architecture in Castro
Castro is the capital of Chiloé. The city’s most iconic sights are the wooden San Francisco church at the main square and the colorful wooden stilt houses. But you’ll find wooden buildings throughout the city and in the other towns on the island. Castro is also a great place to try some local seafood, there are a few restaurants near the port.
Go hiking in Chiloé National Park
Chiloé National Park is quite a big national park, but only a small part is accessible for hiking. There are several short and some longer trails you can do starting from the town of Cucao. There is a map available at the entrance, where you will need to pay for your ticket too if you haven’t bought it online.
Getting to Chiloé National Park and back by bus – To reach Cucao and the national park, you can take an Ojeda bus from the terminal in Castro. They go frequently throughout the day, especially in the high season. Do confirm the current schedule at the bus terminal and buy your ticket in advance if you want to be 100% sure of a spot. If you buy a return ticket, make sure to book seats for the way back once you are in Cucao. The return ticket bought is an open ticket for the same day and doesn’t include a reservation on a certain bus. If the bus of your preference is full, you’ll need to wait for the next one.
Go hiking in Tepuhueico Park
Tepuhueico Park was my favorite place in Chiloé. But weirdly enough, I didn’t see this place recommended anywhere else online! We stumbled on it just looking at the map and thought it looked cool so we decided to visit and I’m so happy we did!
We were unlucky with the weather and got a rainy and stormy day, but I still loved it. Tepuhueico consists of two sectors: the coastal and the forest sector. Only the coastal sector is accessible by public transport. So this is also the sector that we visited.
The hike from the park entrance to Muelle del Tiempo, looping back via Sendero Tricolor and back to the entrance is about 7 km. If the bus doesn’t go any further than Muelle de las Almas (like in our case), and you’ll need to walk from there, add 3 km one way to the hike, so 6 km total.
The hike goes from the forest to the coast. It’s a really beautiful and diverse hike. The highlight of our hike was seeing pudus (a small deer). We were lucky enough to see three of them!
Getting to Tepuhueico and back by public transport – This is a little more complicated, due to the restrictions of the bus company. You’ll first need to take the same bus to Cucao as to the national park. Then you’ll need to change to another bus (from the same company) with the destination Muelle de las Almas/Muelle del Tiempo. There are only two a day, and there is a matching bus you should take back. So they don’t want you to take the first bus there and the last bus back.
They didn’t tell us until we had already bought our tickets and they told us the bus wasn’t going any further than Muelle de las Almas due to the bad condition of the road. So we explained the hike we wanted to do, and we weren’t sure we would be able to make it back in time for the bus so could we please take the afternoon bus back. They were ok with that, but only if we accepted we might need to stand if all the seats were booked out. Of course, we were happy to do so if needed, so we could do the complete hike.
Watch the penguins in Ancud
This penguin colony is special because it’s the only place in the world where you can see the Magallanes and Humboldt penguins in the same place. The penguin colony is not actually located in Ancud but in Puñihuil, a little outside the city. There is no public transport to the penguin colony, but tours are cheap, and you can also take an Uber. If you split the cost by 4, an Uber is the same as a tour or a little cheaper. It’s easy to contract a tour on the spot; the different companies go at different hours and handle the same prices. The perk of taking a tour is that it will include some viewpoints on the way, the perk of taking an Uber is that you can arrive and leave when you want to.
Besides visiting the penguins, there is not a whole lot to do in Ancud. But we enjoyed drinking some matés at the harbor and were lucky to see some otters here! There seemed to be a nest in the rocks of the pier and every once in a while otters came out to go fishing. You can also visit the San Antonio Fortress. There is not much left of it, but it’s a nice place for a picnic or to have a few mates and watch out over the sea.
Try the local cuisine
If you like seafood, you cannot leave Chiloé island without trying their signature dish: curanto. Curanto consists of seafood, meat, potatoes and vegetables, which are cooked in a pit in the ground, covered by hot stones and nalca leaves. Traditionally this dish is prepared at home, it’s not a food locals would eat at a restaurant. Luckily there are restaurants that also prepare this traditional dish so visitors can try it too. One example in Castro is Palafito Sabores De Mi Tierra. The dish takes quite some preparation and serves many people, so it’s easier to find it during the high season when many people visit the island than in the low season.
Another typical dish from Chiloé is chochoca. Chococa is a dough made of potato, and sometimes also flour, roasted over the fire on a large spit. It’s traditionally filled with chicharrones (normally fried pork rind, although it can be made from pork belly or chicken as well). While Chochoca is traditionally only prepared for special occasions, you can often find it at food fairs.
Other things to do in Chiloé
One popular place on the island of Chiloé that I left out is the Muelle de las Almas. This is a popular place for Instagram photos, but I didn’t think it was quite worth the trip. At least not when traveling by public transport. The hike there was ok, but not as scenic as the hike in Tepuhueico. And due to the public transport schedule, there won’t be much time left to do something else before or after visiting the pier.
If you are traveling by car and you don’t mind the entrance fee of 3.000 CLP, you might as well stop by on your way to Tepuhueico, or back. Or if you have time left after visiting the national park.
Another place you can visit by public transport is the Tocoihue waterfall. It’s a cool waterfall, but the hike walk there is only short and there isn’t much else to visit. So it’s cool if you have some time to spare, but it’s not a must-visit in my opinion. If you do decide to go, you can stop by the town of Dalcahue on the way. This town is famous for its Sunday handicraft market and you can find some delicious local meals here as well. And a wooden church.
This was Best things to do in Chiloé by public transport
We loved the places we visited in Chiloé with public transport, but if we were to return to Chiloé we would rent a car. It just gives that extra flexibility to fit a few more things on the way and there are some very worthwhile places to visit on this island for which you need a car. Like the forest sector of Tepuhueico Park, or Tantauco Park.
