What's on in Puerto Varas, Chile through the year

Peak crowds — Chilean summer season, Summer holidays in Chile

• Season

  Chilean summer season

  1 Jan – 28 FebSchool holidaysCrowdedBook early

  Santiago and Argentina both take their holidays here, so the Petrohue road, the rafting outfits and the lakefront restaurants run full. It is also the only stretch with a real run of dry days.

• Festival

  Semanas Musicales de Frutillar

  25 Jan – 8 Feb · usuallyMajor festivalBook early

  Thirty-odd concerts at the Teatro del Lago in Frutillar, half an hour up the lake, from the end of January. Classical programme, wooden concert hall on the water, and every bed on the shore taken. Source ↗

Still on: Trail season on the volcanoes (15 Nov – 31 Mar (usually))

Peak crowds — Chilean summer season, Summer holidays in Chile

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Chilean summer season (1 Jan – 28 Feb), Semanas Musicales de Frutillar (25 Jan – 8 Feb (usually)), Trail season on the volcanoes (15 Nov – 31 Mar (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Chile, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Trail season on the volcanoes (15 Nov – 31 Mar (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in April.

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Season

  Wet winter, quiet town

  1 May – 31 Aug · usuallyOff-season shutdownClosures

  Rain settles in for months, the volcanoes disappear behind cloud for days at a time, and the tour desks on the waterfront work reduced hours or shut. Rooms are half price and the town is local again.

Busy — Winter holidays in Chile

• Season

  Osorno ski season

  15 Jun – 30 Sep · usually

  The small centre on the volcano's flank runs two lifts when the base holds, an hour from town, with the lake underneath you on a clear day. Clear days are the rare part.

Still on: Wet winter, quiet town (1 May – 31 Aug (usually))

Busy — Winter holidays in Chile, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Wet winter, quiet town (1 May – 31 Aug (usually)), Osorno ski season (15 Jun – 30 Sep (usually))

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Wet winter, quiet town (1 May – 31 Aug (usually)), Osorno ski season (15 Jun – 30 Sep (usually))

Busy — Fiestas Patrias recess in Chile

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Osorno ski season (15 Jun – 30 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Season

  Trail season on the volcanoes

  15 Nov – 31 Mar · usually

  The paths on Osorno and Calbuco and the tracks in the Cochamo valley are walkable once the snow goes off the lower slopes; before and after that they are mud, and the huts are shut.

Busy — Summer holidays in Chile, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Trail season on the volcanoes (15 Nov – 31 Mar (usually))