The region around Malalcahuello, Chile is breathtaking. We spent five days hiking and exploring the mountains and volcanoes in the area with our kids and we were barely able to scratch the surface of all there is to do! Hiking in Malalcahuello is a “must” if traveling in Chile.
Malacahuello is located in the Andes Mountains in the Araucania Region of Chile. The landscape is dominated by the two volcanoes Lonquimay and Llaima and is known for the araucaria forests that cover the landscape. There are endless hiking trails traversing the mountains and volcanoes that are easily accessible and managed by CONAF (National Forest Corporation of Chile). We visited two national parks in the area: Malacahuello-Nalcas National Park and Conguillio National Park.
We were traveling in the spring (mid-November) and were unfortunately limited in what trails we could access due to snow still covering some of the trails and access roads. The CONAF offices at each of the parks and trail heads have excellent information on the conditions of the trails and will suggest alternate routes if trails are closed. This information is given in Spanish, so come prepared to do some translation! Every CONAF ranger we met was more than understanding and helpful and always slowed down their speech to ensure we fully understood the safety situation before heading out on the trail.
Even with the limitations of snow, we were still able to hike some amazing trails and enjoyed the regions breathtaking landscape!
We based ourselves in the small town of Malalcahuello which is located less than one kilometre from the entrance to one of the Malalcahuello-Nalcas National Park entrances and ten kilometres from Volcan Lonquimay and the Corralco Ski Centre. But, we need to talk about where we stayed! We found an Airbnb that was a TREEHOUSE! Two kids’ dreams suddenly came true!
Crater Navidad
From our home 14 metres up in the trees, we headed out on our first adventure to see Crater Navidad. Lonquimay volcano is in Malalcahuello-Nalcas National Park. The volcano last erupted out its north-east flank on Christmas Day in 1988 . The resulting crater is aptly called Crater Navidad. Since the eruption is on the flank of the volcano it is easy to access without a daunting ascent to the top of a volcano. Its perfect for kids! After looking at so many volcanoes from afar, we were super excited to get to look down into the crater of an active volcano.
The access road to the crater is carved into a mountain of volcanic gravel and sand. It is an otherworldly, lunar landscape with views of Lonquimay along the way. To be honest, the drive along this road was worth the journey alone! This ended up being a good thing, since mother nature was uncooperative and snow blocked the final stretch of road to the crater. Unfortunately, we had to abandon our quest and make a hairpin turn to head back. We took advantage of the time to enjoy the views and climb the volcanic slope. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade right!
One day, I would love to go back to finally see this famous crater!
Coloradito Trail
Our second hike was on the Coloradito Trail in Malalcahuello-Nalcas National Park. This trail is 30km long, so we did not complete the whole trail with the kids. We started by hiking along the base of the mountain toward Volcan Lonquimay to get up close to a 1,000 year old Araucaria tree. It needed a hug!
We hiked up the slope of the mountain and were rewarded with amazing views of Volcan Lonquimay and the valley in the distance. Once little feet had reached their hiking threshold for the day we headed back down the trail.
A little story about this hike. Purple Pixie was not feeling her finest on this day and was struggling to keep up with the heat and the steep ascent. We tried to motivate her by letting her take the lead. She suddenly started freaking out and saying that there was a tarantula! Naturally, I didn’t believe her and thought she was just overreacting…until I saw the tarantula myself! I still can’t believe that I was able to hold it together long enough to snap a picture of him as he started climbing the nearest tree! We had no idea there were tarantulas in this region, or if this is even technically a tarantula (I’m calling it one anyway!). Let’s just say that tarantulas on the trail did NOT motivate our little hiker to keep trucking up the hill! You can’t win them all!
Conguillio National Park, Volcan Llaima
Before our trip to Chile we read a lot of articles, saying that hiking the Sierra Nevada trail in the Conguillio National Park is spectacular and a “must do” when you are in the area. We had marked this hike as a highlight for our trip and were super excited about it. Alas, the snow foiled our plans again!!!! The access road had not thawed and was impassable. We drove as far as we could, but would have had to add an extra 8 km walk post holing through the snow just to get to the trail-head. The trail alone was already going to be a challenge for the kids. We just couldn’t tack another 8km on to an already tough hiking challenge. So, what was that we said about lemons…when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! We seem to be making a lot of lemonade, but man, I love lemonade!
We decided to make the most of our location and headed up the trails that led up Volcan Llaima instead. Honestly, this turned into the best day! That’s the way it goes most of the time. The unplanned and last minute activities turn out to be highlights of the trip.
What made this hike great?
- The views, the views, the views! The Andes mountains one way, Volcan Llaima the other and Araucaria trees dotting the skyline at every turn.
- Being visited by two Andean Condors. We are a family of full-on bird nerds and when a male condor glided up the ridge to come inspect our lunch we were blown away! He was SO close! And HUGE! Of course I had a sandwich in my hand and not a camera. Sigh. Not to be outdone though, a juvenile came and found us as well. He decided to put on a show and flew in circles over our heads for about 5 minutes. Awesome!
- The kids learned how to “plunge step” through the snow and how to look for potential avalanche paths. Lessons only their father could teach them!
What did we learn from visiting this region?
- It is Breathtakingly beautiful and worth the trip to visit
- We could have spent a lot longer here and done way more hiking!
- Come later in the season when the snow has melted from the higher altitudes. December or January would be awesome!
- It would make a great winter destination if you wanted to ski. Volcan Lonquimay has an excellent ski hill!
- We will be coming back!
Thanks for sharing! Heading there in a couple of weeks with hubby and 8 month old baby. Ready for some hiking.
Just one note about the “tarantula”.In Chile those are called “arana pollito” which translates to “chick spider” and its completely harmless. Some kids might play with them and even hold them with their bare hands. I think your kids might feel better knowing this (for the next trip?), I am not a fan of spiders myself… but I liked the idea of being called “chicks”.
I missed seeing this comment until now! Thanks for your response! And great info about the chick spider! I think this absolutely will put our daughters mind at ease. Thank you for sharing. I hope you enjoyed your trip there! We still talk about returning to Chile! It is such a beautiful country!