Cycling the Carretera Austral: Together Against the Wind?

by Julian Bucher

Who am I?

Hi! I'm Julian, a PhD student from Germany, always chasing small and big adventures. I discovered my passion for cycling during a semester abroad in Kyoto, as my bicycle gave me the possibility to explore the country independent from trains, cars, and hotels, together with likeminded students.

What is this blog?

This blog is about a recent trip to Patagonia I took with friends from that. Five weeks of cycling, camping, carrying our gear in backpacks, and following the vague plan of heading further and further south.

When I agreed to write this blog, I honestly thought I’d be describing soaked sleeping bags, freezing nights, and a constant battle against headwinds. Stories of brutal rain, bad roads, and relentless Patagonian storms had shaped my expectations. I imagined something like Iceland 2.0 (a previous trip that still haunts my nightmares).

And yes, there were challenges, but it was nowhere near as bad as I had feared. Actually, it turned out to be pretty close to a perfect cycling trip through almost offensively beautiful landscapes.

Setting off

The first leg of our journey followed the Carretera Austral, originally a remote gravel road stretching deep into southern Chile, now a relatively well-known route through Chile's southern national parks. It is mostly paved (around 75%) with a lot of camper van tourism. We started in Puerto Varas (smaller than Puerto Montt and with more character), roughly 1,000 km south of Santiago.

We had a rough plan: 90–120 km per day on paved roads, less on gravel, and wanted to visit the national parks along the route. However, that plan was thrown out on day one as the ferry we wanted to take on day two was fully booked. So we detoured via Chiloé Island, which was lovely.

Most of the time, our days started early, which helps me a lot with with motivation, since by midday we’d usually done most of the distance already for that day. When the sun rises slowly behind the Andes, and you’re in your still warm sleeping bags, you realize that mornings are honestly the hardest part. Packing up the tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, cooker, food & clothes… Every single day…. Eventually we got into a rhythm, but it was never fun.

Then, once we were back on the bikes, that stress faded fast. Those early morning hours cycling were magical. Empty roads, crisp air, and stunning Patagonian landscapes. We took most of our photos in the mornings as by the afternoon we were so saturated with impressions that we often just left our phones in our pockets.

Finding the Pace

The kilometre markers along the Carretera were a subtle but constant source of motivation, as every few minutes you noticed that you already travelled one more kilometre. Riding as a group of five is great as you can rotate positions, take turns pulling in the front, and gain distance without exhausting yourself. If everyone just rides 4 km up front, that’s already 20 km total. In the evenings, we cooked mostly by ourself. (500 g of pasta = 2 people is a great rule). And don’t worry – we ate more than just pasta.

The days passed. We cycled through the giant ferns of Pumalín National Park (highly recommended), hiked to the hanging glacier in Queulat (a bit of a tourist trap), visited the lagoon at Cerro Castillo (amazing), the marble caves at Puerto Río Tranquilo (pretty cool), and saw guanacos at the edge of Patagonia National Park, where I wished we’d had more time.

Only twice did we have to give up on the day's distance target. Once the headwind was so strong that going forward felt impossible – we gave up and turned back to town. Quitting because you're “too weak” isn't easy, but sometimes nature just wins. The second time, one of my friend’s rims cracked. Despite having a decent toolset and some repair skills, that was beyond what we could fix. So he hitchhiked and took a bus to the nearest town with a bike shop, losing three days in the process.

Reaching the end?

After Cochrane, I felt my motivation drop. It started to feel more like “We’ll just ride until it ends” rather than a journey of discovery. So when we reached Puerto Yungay, I wasn’t too sad. There we split up into two groups: some continued to Villa O’Higgins and crossed into Argentina via remote trails, while the rest took a two-day ferry ride directly to Puerto Natales... But more about that in part 2...