Chile Ferries: Routes, Ports & Operators

The gateway to Chiloé: roll-on ferries shuttle 24 hours a day across the Chacao Channel between Pargua on the mainland and Chacao on Isla Grande de Chiloé, a 30-minute crossing on Route 5.

The sea leg of the Carretera Austral: Naviera Austral’s barges carry cars and foot passengers overnight from Puerto Montt’s Angelmó waterfront to Chaitén in northern Patagonia, calling at Ayacara.

The shortcut from the southern tip of Chiloé to the Carretera Austral: Naviera Austral’s barge Klio sails from Quellón to Chaitén in about four and a half hours.

A weekly Sunday link between Chiloé’s capital Castro and Chaitén on the Carretera Austral, taking about six hours each way.

Navimag’s ferry Esperanza sails the Patagonian fjords between Puerto Montt and Puerto Natales, the gateway to Torres del Paine, on a four-day, three-night voyage with full board for up to 244 passengers.

Across the Strait of Magellan to Tierra del Fuego: TABSA’s ferry Pathagon links Punta Arenas with Porvenir, capital of Chilean Tierra del Fuego, in about two hours.

The state-subsidised lifeline from southern Chiloé to Melinka, the only town of the remote Guaitecas Islands, sailed by Naviera Austral’s Jacaf and Queulat across the Gulf of Corcovado.

A long Patagonian barge passage from Quellón on Chiloé to Puerto Cisnes on the Aysén coast, giving drivers a sea route onto the Carretera Austral’s Puyuhuapi–Coyhaique section.

Naviera Austral’s Ruta Cordillera threads the Aysén channels from Chiloé to Puerto Chacabuco, the port for Coyhaique, calling at fishing villages such as Melinka, Raúl Marín Balmaceda, Puerto Cisnes and Puerto Aguirre on a 28-hour voyage aboard the Queulat.

The "Ruta Bimodal" is the Carretera Austral’s northern ferry link: a 34-mile barge voyage down the Comau Fjord from Hornopirén to Leptepu, a short drive to Fiordo Largo, and a second barge to Caleta Gonzalo on the edge of Pumalín Park.