Pucón: Getting there & around

Several companies provide bus transport to/from Santiago including Tur Bus (tel: 443 328; Av O'Higgins) east of town, Buses Jac (tel: 443 693; cnr Uruguay & Palguín), Cóndor Bus (tel: 413 436; Av Colo Colo 430) and Buses Power (tel: 444 507; Palguín 550), the cheapest (and least comfortable) option.

Tur Bus also goes to Puerto Montt daily (5hr). For Temuco (1hr), Tur Bus leaves every hour, and Buses Jac leaves every half-hour. For Valdivia (3hr), Buses Jac has five daily services. Buses Jac and Minibuses Vipu Ray (Palguín 550) have continuous services to Villarrica and Curarrehue.

Buses Jac also has services to Caburgua, Paillaco and Parque Nacional Huerquehue. For San Martín de los Andes in Argentina (5hr), Buses San Martín (tel: 441 965; Av O'Higgins) in the Tur Bus terminal has daily departures stopping in Junín on the way.

A number of travel agencies rent cars; prices can be competitive, especially in the low season, though they tend to climb on weekends. Pucón Rent a Car (www.puconrentacar.cl) is recommended, as is Hertz (www.hertz.com).

Although you can get around town on foot, there are several colectivos (shared taxis) that run up and down Av O'Higgins, and taxis that will negotiate prices to outlying areas such as the hot springs. Radio Taxi Araucaria (tel: 442 323) can prearrange trips, but if you speak some Spanish you should be able to negotiate on the street.

Mountain bikes can be rented all over town. Some of the small unnamed bike shops along the side streets (Arauco, for example) have good bikes and better prices than the larger agencies on Av O'Higgins.