The Seven Lakes Route

The Seven Lakes Route, also known as Seven Lakes Road, is one of the most famous touristic circuits in the Argentinian Patagonia, located in the area known as the “Lake District”. It is a 110 Km. stretch of route, that links the towns of San Martín de los Andes and Villa La Angostura, both in the Neuquén province, covering the south sector of Lanín National Park and the north of Nahuel Huapi National Park. The route passes by lakes Lácar, Hermoso, Falkner, Villarino, Traful, Correntoso, Espejo and Nahuel Huapí, as well as by other minor lakes. Together with the lakes the other big attraction of the route is that it goes through the beautiful Andean-Patagonian forest, dominated by native species like the different Nothofagus (Roble Beech, Antarctic Beech, Chilean southern Beech and South American Beech) and others like the Cordilleran Cypress and the Radal.

The route can be covered within one day, starting from San Martín de los Andes, or the other way around from Villa La Angostura, leaving early in the morning and returning back in the evening, with enough time to do several stops and also to have lunch. It is advisable to do the excursion with a local guide or a travel agency, as they know well the route and the best places to stop. This way we can concentrate exclusively on enjoying the road and the landscape. Another way to do the excursion is by bicycle; that can take from 2 to 4 days, depending on your fitness. In that case it is very important to plan well places for provisioning and resting, apart from taking the right equipment, food and drinks with you. At the moment only a little more than half of the route is asphalted, from San Martín de los Andes to Lake Villarino and from Lake Espejo to Villa La Angostura. There are works in progress to asphalt the central part, although those are going slowly due to the terrain being very rough. During winter (July and August) the road can be temporarily closed due to the snowfalls.

Starting from San Martín de los Andes the road gains altitude with amazing looks at Lake Lácar. After passing by the accesses to Catitre and Quila Quina beaches, the road moves away from Lake Lácar direction south to reach Pil Pil viewpoint, from where you can see part of Lake Lácar and the hills around. Then, after passing the exit to the Chapelco Ski Resort you arrive to the peculiar Arroyo (small river) Partido, which diverges to drain partially towards the Atlantic Ocean through Lake Hermoso and partially towards the Pacific Ocean through Lake Lácar. Then, after passing the exit to provincial route 63, that takes to Lake Meliquina and paso Córdoba, the road reach lakes Machónico and Hermoso.

There is a nice viewpoint over Lake Machónico, while Lake Hermoso can only be reached walking; it has a park ranger post, camp site, cafeteria and even a small Bead & Breakfast, being and ideal place for fishing and horse riding. After Lake Hermoso the road abandons Lanín National Park and enters Nahuel Huapi National Park. The next interesting place is the viewpoint to Vulligñanco, a waterfall of 35 meters buried deep in the beautiful Andean-Patagonian forest. A little further Lake Falkner appears on the left and Lake Villarino on the right. Lake Falkner (named to honor Thomas Falkner, an English Jesuit who was one of the firsts westerners to explore Patagonia) has an excellent camp site over the beach, with all the basic services and exceptional views over the lake and cerro Buque.

After passing Villarino Lake the asphalt ends and the road turn into a dirt road, what in Argentina is known as “ripio”. This part of the route is sinuous but very wide and generally the visivility is good, altough that will depend a lot on the weather conditions. Crossing Pichi Traful River the road goes round one of the arms of Lake Traful, to later turn direction south towards Lake Correntoso. Just before that there is an exit to provincial route 65, that takes to the small town of Villa Traful. It is a 27 Km. ride, so if you have enough time it’s worth to pay a visit to the town and to the amazing viewpoint over Lake Traful, located 5 Km. away.

Then the Seven Lakes Route passes by the old Ruca Malen hotel, nowadays closed, to reach Lake Correntoso, where regional products can be bought from the members of the native mapuche community. Going around Lake Correntoso by its north arm the road reaches Lake Espejo Chico (“little mirror”); you can go down the lake by taking a short walk of around 2 Km, where there is a small camp site with only basic services. Following the route and after crossing Ruca Malen River you reach Lake Espejo, which has an splendid viewpoint where the lakes honors it name (espejo means mirror).

After Lake Espejo the road goes down to the crossroads with route 251, that leads to the international border crossing of Cardenal Samoré (Paso Puyeue) that links Argentina with the Puyeue National Park and with the city of Osorno, both in Chile. Following route 234 the arm “Última Esperanza” (Last Hope) of the huge Nahuel Huapi Lake appears, which takes us to Villa La Angostura. There, multiple activities can be done, like visiting Los Arrayanes National Park in Quetríhue Peninsula, sailing Nahuel Huapi in one of the boats that depart from the different piers, or take a walk downtown, where there are excellent shops and restaurants. You can book this excursion with us in a private group and 4×4 vehicle by entering our excursions section of getting in contact with us here.