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Coyhaique (pronounced koy-HYAH-keh) is the biggest city along the Carretera Austral, by far. After weeks of small towns, no phone service, tiny minimarts and terrible coffee, arriving in Coyhaique felt like New York City!
This buzzing little provincial city has a surprisingly great range of restaurants, funky cafes, and one of the only Unimarc supermarkets on the highway.
If you’ve been driving, biking or busing along the highway, Coyhaique is a place to relax and reset. Do some laundry, restock on supplies, withdraw cash, have a few nice meals, and perhaps treat yourself to a couple of nights of decent accommodation.
If you’re using Coyhaique and its Balmaceda Airport as an entry point to the highway or as a base to explore surrounding towns on day trips or shorter overnight hops, then you’ll be much busier here.
Here’s everything you need to know about Coyhaique, including things to do, where to stay and eat, how to get there and around, and amenities in town.
About Coyhaique
Coyhaique is the capital of the Aysen region, which includes the majority of the Carretera Austral highway.
The Balmaceda Airport, the principal air connection to this region, is located 55 km away, making this an attractive place to enter or depart the highway. Coyhaique is also a transport hub for buses, with many routes running both north and south along the Carretera Austral.
Driving into Coyhaique felt like a remarkable change of scenery. The thick forest opened up to vast steppe and farmland, with drier scrub and rocky peaks rising around the city.
We knew Coyhaique was the hub of the highway, and we were looking forward to a proper supermarket, going to the ATM and doing some laundry, but we were surprised at how big this ‘city’ was, and just how much was going on here!
With a population of more than 50,000 people, compared to just 500 at our last stop, Villa Cerro Castillo, Coyhaique was a stark change of pace!
As we dug into the restaurant scene, we ended up with a list of places to eat as long as my arm. We found tons of excellent value accommodations scattered around town, from secluded cabins to boutique hotels. The city centre was vibrant and buzzing, entirely at odds with the sleepy towns we’d encountered along the highway so far.
If you’re like us and Coyhaique is one stop on a broader car/bike/bus trip along the Carretera Austral, the city will be a welcome break. While there’s plenty to do here if you’re looking for it, we found the scenery and attractions not quite as special as other sights along the highway and were very happy to have a few ‘down days’, taking a much-needed opportunity to do some admin tasks and restock for the next leg of our journey.
However, if you’re flying into Balmaceda Airport and using Coyhaique as a base or jump-off point for further explorations of the region, you’ll probably approach your time in the city a little differently.
After driving the entirety of the highway, the attractions and scenery around Coyhaique were the least impressive of anywhere we visited. So even if this is where you are landing or departing the region, don’t hang around too long. The city is super charming, but if you’ve come all this way to remote Patagonia, you don’t want to see a city!
👁️🗨️ Coyhaique was one stop on our road trip along the Carretera Austral in Chilean Patagonia. Don’t forget to browse all our posts about the Carretera Austral for more help planning your trip, including our mega helpful 10,000+ word Carretera Austral travel guide.
Coyhaique map
How to get to Coyhaique
- 🚗 By car: if you’re already on the highway, Coyhaique is a relatively easy drive from either direction. This section of the Carretera Austral is mostly paved. It’s about 1.5 hours from Villa Cerro Castillo if you’re travelling north or 3.5 hours from Puyuhuapi if you’re travelling south.
📍 I’ve pinned lots of miradors and scenic stops en route to Coyhaique from Villa Cerro Castillo (south) or Puyuhuapi (north) on my Carretera Austral map
- 🚌 By bus: being the regional hub, there are buses to Coyhaique from many destinations along the highway. You can easily get to Coyhaique from as far south as Cochrane (with stops in Puerto Rio Tranquilo and Villa Cerro Castillo) or as far north as Chaiten (with stops in Puyuhuapi and La Junta).
Do note that there are multiple bus terminals in Coyhaique, as the different transport companies have their own terminal. I’ve tried to pin the most important ones on my Carretera Austral map, but we didn’t take any buses, so I can’t be sure I’ve got them all!
This is the best website I’ve found for bus information along the Carretera Austral. I’d recommend contacting the transport companies directly to confirm, as public transport in this region of Chile is unreliable and changes seasonally.
- ✈️ By air: Coyhaique is the only destination along the Carretera Austral that you can arrive at via air. The Balmecada Airport (BBA) is 55 km (~50 minutes) south of town. The airport has direct daily flights from Santiago, and less frequent services from Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas.
From the airport, there are multiple public buses per day running into town if you are not renting a car. There are also a plethora of private transport companies that run shared and private shuttles. The airport’s website has more details.
- ⛴️ By boat: you can’t get to Coyhaique itself by boat, but the city is just over an hour away from Puerto Chacabuco, which is a busy port in the region. There are services from Quellon on Chiloe Island, known as the ‘Ruta Cordillera’, run by Naviera Austral. Read more about the Carretera Austral ferries.
How to get around in Coyhaique
Central Coyhaique city is quite big, but you can definitely get around on foot.
The surrounding attractions and parks are the problem.
We had a vehicle, and without sounding like a broken record in every single article, having a car or at least a bike is by far the easiest way to get around in the Carretera Austral.
Coyhaique might have better transport connections than other towns, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to get yourself around within said towns!
There are taxis hanging around the city, and I believe (but cannot confirm) that there is also Uber.
There are multiple bus terminals around the city, all offering different routes to surrounding towns along the highway that can also be helpful in exploring sights on the outskirts of the city. So long as things aren’t too far off the highway, you can basically get anywhere if you’re happy to walk a while.
Where to stay in Coyhaique
🏨 ACCOMMODATION
Coyhaique has an excellent range of accommodations for all budgets. There are some great value options here, and we took the opportunity to stay in a cosy cabin on the outskirts of town with a tinaja (aka wood-fired hot tub) for a very reasonable price.
If you’ve got a vehicle and don’t mind driving in and out of the city, I’d look for a nice nature-based getaway on the outskirts, while still being close to amenities.
🏕️ CAMPING
Besides wanting a rest from our Camper Travel Chile camper, craving a long, hot, hair-washing shower and a washing machine, there weren’t that many good spots to camp around Coyhaique, for free at least.
Being a ‘city’, you have to contend with more crowds for quiet spots to sleep at night, and many of the local parks, lookouts or riverside spots are a popular hangout place for local teens, with music and beer bottles to match.
If you are camping, but you want more amenities (bathrooms, electricity, wifi, etc.) or just happy to pay for a quiet(er) sleep, El Camping and Camping Ammonites are both well-rated and within relatively easy walking distance of the city.
Things to do in Coyhaique
1. Explore the city
Coyhaique is a pretty big city compared to the small villages you’ll pass if you’re doing any other travel along the Carretera Austral, and we really enjoyed wandering around and exploring.
I’d suggest a morning or afternoon just walking aimlessly and seeing what you discover, stopping for a meal, craft beer and coffee along the way.
There is a lot of colourful street art to discover, and we loved all the sweet doggos running around.
Don’t miss the Plaza de Armas (original, I think every plaza in this region was called the Plaza de Armas!). Coyhaique’s version is a big, pentagonal shape with 10 of the city’s main streets branching out from its edges. It was a lovely leafy plaza full of trees and a handful of different monuments and statues. There always seem to be market stalls selling local produce and artisan crafts, and we loved seeing the oldies playing chess.
There are lots of other little plazas, parks and monuments around the city. The Monumento al Gaucho near the southern entrance of Coyhaique is a nice wooden sculpture of a gaucho and his dog, honouring the pioneers of the area. There is another monument to the pioneers, Monumento Al Ovejero, featuring a series of sheep and their shepherd.
If you’re interested in learning more about the history of the region, the Museo Regional de Aysén is located a 10-minute drive from the city. It’s a ~ 4km walk, but ideally you’d visit via car or taxi.
2. Piedra del Indio and Mirador Rio Simpson
We were a little by confused by these attractions, as they’re always listed as popular sights, but there wasn’t really much to them!
The Rio Simpson runs along the edge of the city, and there is a nice elevated mirador above the confluence of the Rio Simpson and the Rio Claro, where you can see the obvious difference in water colour.
It felt like this area should have a nice long malecon accompanying it to soak up the lovely views, but it was kind of just a nice lookout, and then it ended.
The Piedra del Indio is a natural rock formation that is said to be in the shape of an Indian’s (Indigenous) person’s head. Again, it’s always listed as a major thing to do in Coyhaique, but we were a bit confused. You can’t walk on the rock, and obviously, you want a distant view to appreciate the profile of the formation.
We eventually worked out that you wander down to this suspension bridge over the Rio Simpson to see the rock from a distance, and that’s it. It was cool to see, but not really worthy as the town’s top attraction.
3. Reserva Nacional Coyhaique
Coyhaique doesn’t have a national park in its immediate surroundings, but it does have the Coyhaique National Reserve (Reserva Nacional Coyhaique).
Despite not being a national park, the reserve is managed by CONAF (Chile’s parks authority). It is open from Tuesday – Sunday from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm, with last entry at 2:30 pm. The entry fee is 8,900 CLP (~ $9 USD) for foreigners.
There are several trails in the park, with the most popular attraction being the Laguna Verde. If you’re up for a decent walk, you can combine all the trails into this 12 km loop that takes in the Laguna Verde. If you want something shorter, it’s possible to do a shorter out-and-back to the lagoon.
The entry to the reserve is just over 4 km from the centre of town. If you don’t have a vehicle, you could walk, just factor in 8 km above any of the trails you hike. Alternatively, you can take a taxi or Uber, or any bus heading north out of Coyhaique could drop you at the junction on the highway, reducing the walk to about 1.5 km.
4. Reserva Nacional Rio Simpson
From what I’ve read, I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit this reserve as there isn’t much to it, but if you are driving to Puerto Aysen or Puerto Chacabuco, it’s a worthwhile stop.
The Reserva Nacional Rio Simpson is a large protected area, but only a tiny portion of it seems to be open to visitors. This location is where you actually enter the park, don’t be confused by the Google Maps pin for the reserve itself.
It’s also managed by CONAF, and for this reserve, you must buy your tickets online in advance. The reserve is open from Tuesday – Sunday from 9:00 am – 5:30 pm, with last entry at 3:00 pm. The entry fee is 11,400 CLP (~ $11 USD) for foreigners.
From what I understand, there is only one short 3 km trail that winds along the river through the forest. There is an area called Cerro los Huemules (Huemul Hill), which seems like a good place to spot the endangered huemul deer, but I can’t find any further information about it online.
If you’re in the area, make sure you stop at Cascada La Virgen, which is a gorgeous waterfall just up the road. It’s free and easily accessible from the roadside.
5. Climb Cerro Mackay
The first thing you’ll notice when you arrive in Coyhaique is the hulking rock above the city – Cerro Mackay.
It looked entirely different to the black, basalt peaks we had seen just days earlier in Villa Cerro Castillo. This granite mass is made up of a series of columns, giving it a really unique look.
I know it’s possible to follow a hiking trail to the summit, but I wasn’t able to find a map online. I also know the rock is a very popular climbing spot, and it’s possible to join some local guides and rock climb. Try Cerro Castillo Mountain Guides.
6. See condors
I don’t regret taking it easy in Coyhaique and skipping some of the sights, but one thing I do regret not doing is visiting El Condor Park.
I discovered this quite randomly while scrolling around on Google Maps (my secret to finding the best off-the-beaten-track places), and it looks awesome!
El Condor Park is a privately managed nature reserve that’s supposed to be a place for Coyhaique locals to get into the mountains, for hiking or biking. There are several trails around the property, the main one climbing Cerro Negro.
From what I understand, the name ‘El Condor’ is a bit misleading, as it’s not specifically a condor sanctuary or anything like that. However, the chances of spotting condors here are very likely, as it is a high, rocky environment.
We stayed in a cabin in this area and saw dozens of condors soaring high in the sky near the rocky peaks.
You would want your own vehicle to get here. It’s a 25-minute drive from the city, and the road is unpaved. It gets a little sketchy towards the end, but it’s doable.
If you really, really want to see condors, there is another unique experience around Coyhaique that I wish we had time to do. Estancia Punta del Monte is a traditional sheep farm, around 80 km from the city that just so happens to be located in a favoured habitat of the condor.
They offer day tours from the city to explore the estancia and watch the condors from their dedicated miradors, but you can also spend a night staying at the estancia for a true Patagonian gaucho experience.
7. Go skiing at El Fraile
If you’re visiting during the colder months and want to hit the slopes, Coyhaique has a ski centre just outside the city, El Fraile.
I am not a snow gal, so I can’t tell you anything about skiing, snowboarding or the amenities on the mountain. I just wanted to let you know it exists!
8. Take a day or overnight trip
Coyhaique was just a brief stop on our broader road trip on the Carretera Austral, but given that it has the region’s only airport, I know many travellers use it as a base or jump-off point for further explorations of the area.
My recommendation is to rent a car and explore all (or a decent section) of the Carretera Austral independently, staying in different destinations along the way, but if, for whatever reason, you want to base out of Coyhaique, these are some possible day trips, if not overnight trips, to nearby attractions.
- 🥾 Parque Nacional Cerro Castillo (1.5 hours): you can hike the Laguna Cerro Castillo trail in a day from Coyhaique with a car or on the bus.
- ♨️ Termas Ensenada Perez and Puerto Chacabuco (1.5 hours): in Puerto Chacabuco, there is a fancy, well-known hotel called Loberias del Sur that runs day trips to a set of thermal pools called Termas Ensenada Perez. You’ll take a boat ride across the fjord and spend a few hours soaking in volcano-heated springs in a lovely, mystical forest setting.
- 🧊 Parque Nacional Queulat (3.5 hours): this is well past my acceptable length for a day trip, but if you really want to see the Ventisquero Colgante (Hanging Glacier) in the Queulat National Park, I suppose it’s possible in a day from Coyhaique, but overnight in Puyuhuapi would be better.
- 🚤 Puerto Rio Tranquilo and the Marble Caves (3.5 hours): personally, I think this is a ridiculous distance for a day trip, but people do it. You could do it with a car or a bus, but it would be insanely rushed. The Marble Caves only need 1 – 2 hours, but there are lots of other great things to do in Puerto Rio Tranquilo, like trekking on Glaciar Exploradores, which would require a 2-night stay or longer.
Where to eat in Coyhaique
There are so many good restaurants in Coyhaique! As foodies, we were very excited to be back in the ‘city’, as a few weeks of sandwiches and boring home-cooked meals with non-perishables were getting to us.
This list is by no means extensive, there are literally hundreds of cafes, restaurants, breweries and bars all around the city, and honestly, most of them looked really good.
These were some favourites we tried, and a couple we didn’t make it to but heard excellent things about.
- 🥖 La Tranquera Pan y Pizza: this bakery was absolutely delicious! They had fresh, sourdough bread, lots of sweets and bready-style pizza slices, which were a great takeaway lunch.
- 🌮 La Miserable Taqueria: TACOS! Mexican food! We were craving some spice, and these tacos were surprisingly delicious. They were some of the best we’d had outside of Mexico. Highly recommended.
- 🍻 La Esquina Tropera: one thing Chile does very well is craft beer. Having a juicy burger and a tasting paddle of beer in the sunshine was one of our favourite moments in Coyhaique.
- ☕️ La Compañia Cafeteria: there are lots of different cafes to choose from in Coyhaique, but we landed on this one right near the plaza. The coffee was good and they had a huge cabinet full of all kinds of cakes, pies and other sweets. Perfect!
- 🍽️ DaGus Restaurant: this is one restaurant we sadly didn’t try, but have read rave reviews about. It’s fine dining food in a lovely, casual setting with very reasonable prices. They use fresh local ingredients and apparently shake up some excellent cocktails (try the pisco sours!).
- 🍣 Ko Sushi: if you’ve got a sushi craving for whatever reason, this is a highly rated spot.
- 🥐 Cafeteria la Bolleria Francesa: good espresso coffee and authentic French croissants and pastries, need I say more?
📍 All of these restaurants are pinned on my Carretera Austral custom map
Things to know before visiting Coyhaique
- 🌤️ Best time to visit: like all of Patagonia, the best time to visit Coyhaique is generally in the warmer months between October – April. Although you should expect wild weather at any time of the year, with rain, wind, snow and sun always possible – this is Patagonia after all!
In spring (October and November), the weather is starting to warm up, although you should still expect a fair amount of snow around, but things are thawing, and flowers are blooming.
Summer (December, January and February) is peak season, although ‘crowded’ in Coyhaique is hardly busy compared to more popular destinations in the south. Although temperatures are warmer in summer, the famous Patagonian winds are at their wildest.
Early fall (March and April) still has beautiful sunny days, less wind, fewer crowds and stunning autumn colours. Coyhaique was a sea of golden leaves when we visited in mid-April, and we had glorious sunny days.
- 🗓️ How long to stay: it really depends on whether Coyhaique is one stop on a longer route along the Carretera Austral, or you’re basing yourself there to explore other parts of the region. For us, 2 nights was a good amount of time to see a little of the city and have some downtime to reset. If you’re jetting off for different day or overnight trips, you’d want more like a week here.
- ⚠️ Safety: we felt completely safe in Coyhaique, as we did everywhere on the Carretera Austral. These towns are incredibly welcoming, and people are very friendly. Coyhaique is a much bigger city, though, and like all cities, there are always a few odd cats hanging around. We had no problems here and felt entirely safe regardless.
- 🗣️ Language: Spanish is the official language in Chile, and there is barely any English spoken in the remote towns of the Carretera Austral. Chilean Spanish is notoriously hard to understand, so even if you’ve got a decent level of Spanish, be prepared to struggle with their unique vocabulary, fast speaking and mumbling!
- 💰 Currency: the currency in Chile is the Chilean Peso (CLP). While in some more touristy areas of the country, US Dollars are occasionally accepted for tourist activities, this isn’t the case in Coyhaique.
- 💧 Can you drink the water: tap water is safe to drink in most parts of Chilean Patagonia, including Coyhaique. It’s also a good idea to check with your accommodation before you drink, just to be sure.
Amenities in Coyhaique
- 🛒 Supermarkets: I can’t even tell you how enjoyable it was to browse the aisles of the Unimarc supermarket in Coyhaique. The variety! The fully stocked shelves! The affordable prices! Unimarc is one of Chile’s big-brand supermarkets, and Coyhaique has one of just two along the Carretera Austral. Take this as an opportunity to restock on everything! There are also lots of excellent bakeries around the city, butchers, fruit and veg stores, pharmacies and a Sodimac, which is like a general homewares/hardware store, great if you need any travel gear or bits and pieces.
- 🏧 ATMs: there are multiple banks and ATMs in Coyhaique, so definitely take the chance to top up your cash supplies. We think BancoEstado is the best bank to use in Chile with a foreign card, as you can withdraw the highest amount of cash (~ 400,000 pesos) to make the most of the expensive Chilean ATM fees. The withdrawal fee is about 5,000 pesos (~$5 USD).
- 💳 Card or cash payments: we had no problem paying with card everywhere in Coyhaique, given it’s a more developed city.
- ⛽️ Petrol stations: there are multiple petrol stations in Coyhaique, including 3 COPEC branches. They had all kinds of fuel available, and the prices were the best on the highway, but not dramatically cheaper.
- 📱 Phone service and wifi: we had full 5G service with Movistar all over Coyhaique, and I think any other provider would also have very good service here. Wifi in hotels and restaurants should be strong too.
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Final thoughts: Coyhaique
Coyhaique for us was about resting, cleaning, stocking up and eating good, and this lovely little city delivered!
I know we probably didn’t see as much of the surroundings that we could have, but the Carretera Austral is an insanely beautiful place packed with amazing national parks, hikes and natural attractions – you literally can’t see it all!
Whatever you’re using Coyhaique for: an entry point to the region, a base for day trips or a pit stop along a road trip of the highway, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the city as much as we did.
📍 Where to next? If you’re travelling along the Carretera Austral, your next stop will most likely be Puyuhuapi if you’re heading north or Villa Cerro Castillo if you’re travelling south.
MORE CARRETERA AUSTRAL POSTS
- Cochrane, Chile Travel Guide: Patagonia’s New Hiking Hub
- Puerto Rio Tranquilo, Chile Travel Guide: Marble & Ice
- Villa Cerro Castillo, Chile Travel Guide: Hiking & Huemuls
- Puyuhuapi, Chile Travel Guide: Fjords and Hanging Glaciers
- Chaiten, Chile Travel Guide: A Town That Nearly Disappeared
