Shore Excursion: Petrohue Waterfalls, Frutillar & Puerto Varas
Description
With over 20 years of experience, this tour is designed for cruise passengers looking for a smooth, well-paced day. You’ll travel with an experienced local guide and professional driver, ensuring safe transportation and a timely return to port. The experience includes a delicious traditional Chilean empanada, freshly made the same morning, along with tastings of local Chilean wine and a traditional pisco sour. This is one of the most complete shore excursions in the Chilean Lake District, visiting the Petrohué Waterfalls in Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park and the historic German towns of Frutillar and Puerto Varas, with all park entrance fees included. You’ll travel along Lake Llanquihue throughout the day, enjoying sweeping views of the Osorno and Calbuco volcanoes. Our fully authorized vehicles carry all required permits, insurance, and documentation, offering a reliable and worry-free way to experience the best of southern Chile in one day.
Tour Options
Itinerary
After your ship docks in Puerto Montt, you will ride onboard your air-conditioned private vehicle and begin your journey to Petrohue Waterfalls located in Vicente Perez Rosales National park. Once we get to the national park where the Petrohue River Waterfalls are, you'll then embark on an easy walk with your guide to a pathway that leads to the falls. You will see waterfalls tumbling over a lip of volcanic rock, with waters turning beautiful shades of blue and green. Surrounded by a thick forest, the falls stand against the gorgeous backdrop of Osorno Volcano, making for amazing photo opportunities.
You will head back south to the town of Puerto Varas. Puerto Varas was colonized by German settlers and is known for its German traditions, beer seafood, natural scenery and luxurious hotels. This town is located on the shores of Llanquihue Lake and the perfect cone of Osorno Volcano and the snow-capped peaks of Mt. Calbuco and Mt Tronador are visible from the lakefront. You can enjoy having a German beer (madein Chile) or walking around town filled with fragrant roses and historical statues that represent the history and founding of the town. If you enjoy shopping for souvenirs to take back home or simply enjoy looking at the local crafts this is a great place to do it.
You will border this enormous, breathtaking lake all day long during your tour!
Breathtaking Volcano Osorno will be in view all day long if the skies are clear. You will be able to get pictures at every stop (weather dependent).
This all wooden pier offers a scenic lookout of the lake, volcanoes and the town.
After you have walked around town accompanied by your expert guide, head to the van where you will go see the monumental “Theatre of the Lake” of Frutillar.
You cannot leave this town without trying a German dessert known as kuchen and is very popular in this part of the country.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Hello and Welcome! We're excited to have you join us for your tour of beautiful Puerto Montt! Meeting Instructions We will meet you outside the main entrance/exit gate of the cruise port, about a 5-minute walk from the tender dock. After stepping off the tender, continue through the terminal building and exit toward the right. If you reach the buses and vans, you've gone too far. If needed, simply ask port staff for the main exit ("salida principal"). Our team will be waiting just outside the gate holding GV Tours signs. To avoid confusion with other tour operators, please ask for the port exit rather than GV Tours. We'll confirm your reservation by your name and party size when you arrive. Meeting Time We plan to meet one hour after your ship's scheduled arrival. Examples: 7:00 AM arrival → 8:00 AM meeting 8:00 AM arrival → 9:00 AM meeting 9:30 AM arrival → 10:30 AM meeting If possible, please take one of the earlier tenders. If the tender process is delayed, don't worry—we're experienced with cruise schedules and will adjust as needed. We always ensure you're back at the port with plenty of time before the last tender. What to Bring Dress in layers. Bring sunscreen. Let us know in advance if anyone in your group is vegetarian or has dietary restrictions. Need to Reach Us? During the busy cruise season, calling us is the fastest way to reach us for anything urgent. We'll also respond to emails and messages as quickly as possible. We can't wait to show you the beauty of Puerto Montt! Warm regards, Annie & the GV Tours Team
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
- A moderate amount of walking is involved, comfortable shoes are recommended
Reviews(603)
A really worthwhile, interesting and scenic trip - in a small group of only 8 and a comfortable bus. Our guide provide lots of information along the route and the timing was perfect. We saw all the intended sights in a relaxed manner, with plenty of opportunities for photos and also doing you own thing, at your own pace when we were at the sights. It was a very enjoyable day and fortunately we were not caught up with the much larger groups on the trips organised by the cruise line, which covered the same points at a much higher price. Definitely recommend this trip with GV Tours!
The excursion was outstanding – thanks to our great guide Eric and the driver Mr. Roberto. The organization was perfect, and we learned an incredible amount about Chile. Especially the waterfalls were very impressive, and Frutillar also delighted us. Highly recommended!
really efficient booking process and kept us up to date with meeting at port etc. Only real feedback was would have like much more time at Varas, 30 mins is not long enough..
The falls were great, also the visit to the German museum. All in all a good day...dodging the rain. Ignacio was very knowledgeable and passionate about sharing his knowledge of his country's history and sights. Cristian, the driver, was very careful. A small, intimate group....very enjoyable.
Lets start with Eric and our driver Roberto. If I was scoring on them alone it would be 5 stars all the way. They did an excellent job from keeping us informed of Chilean culture and the area we were in to serving us Empanadas and wine. Bravo to both of you. The itinerary was great to. The waterfalls were spectacular as were the vantage points along the way for photographs. The highlight though was Frutillar. What a lovely peaceful and calming place. The german influence in the architecture was clear to see. So what let it down. Well it was the pink bus that was not up to the job. The air con was lacking which meant the windows got steamed up so we could not see what Eric was telling us about. In the end we had to open the windows and suffer the cold. The bus barely coped on hills and shook and rattled at low speed. First world problems perhaps but when you are on a tour at the very least you expect to see in comfort. Thanks Eric and Roberto and as tourist season closes I wish you the very best in finding those ‘fill in Jobs’ till it all starts again in 8 months time.
Great tour with Eric and Mr. Roberto, that was very informative and well organized! We can highly recommend the tour
Good tour, great guides and yummy food , the driver brought Empanadas and several wines and drinks 🍾🍾
We just had an excellent day with GV Tours out of Puerto Montt. Ignacio led us to Petrohue Falls, Puerto Veras and Frutillar. He was most informative throughout our day, not just what we were seeing but also local insights. His skills at communicating are terrific. We had a great day.
Very good tour would highly recommend, ticked all the boxes of what we wanted to see, our guide gave us enough time and was very informative. Had a fantastic time.
The Lake District in Chile is a great destination with many impressive sights. Orsono Vulkan,....
