Valdivia to Puerto Varas by JAC bus, a drop off on the motorway
Day 4 | Taking JAC bus, an indirect route between Pucón to Puerto Varas, one stop in Valdivia.
JAC bus company is the only company that operates a direct route from Pucón to Puerto Varas. One departs in the morning and another one in the afternoon. However when we tried to buy the ticket yesterday they were sold out. We had no choice but to go for the 2nd best option, to take the JAC bus to Valdivia first then change to another bus that goes to Puerto Varas. And… no one told us that the bus will only drop passengers off on the motorway instead of the actual terminal in Puerto Varas.
Do you know? The antipode of Valdivia is almost exactly on the city of Wuhai, China.
Our bus departed 8.40am from Pucón. We had 1 hour to kill in the Valdivia bus terminal. When we were back on the 2nd bus that goes to Puerto Varas we were told by the bus conductor that we would be dropped off on the highway.
At around 4pm, we arrived in Puerto Varas – but on the highway! Luckily we were with 2 other locals who we walked with together to catch a minibus on the opposite side of highway. The wait for the minibus was quick enough and the ride from highway to Puerto Varas town centre was just 5 minutes.
Our hostel 5 Adobes was located just around the corner where the minibus stop is. After a quick rest in the room, we went out again to explore little town in the rain.
We booked and paid 25,000 pesos per person for our day excursion to Osorno Volcano and Petrohue in one of the tour agency around the main plaza.
Transportation around the lake district in Puerto Varas
As just mentioned we get into centre town of Puerto Varas from the highway, our host in 5 Adobes told us that there are minibuses you can take to go anywhere you want around the lake region. The minibus fare costs as little as 500 pesos per journey regardless the length of you travelling. You can easily access other towns near Puerto Varas or Puerto Montt by using these mini buses in the region. They are usually a blue coloured mini van, a bit like Mexican Colectivo that connects between little towns near Cancún.