
In a 5 day journey I have visited the Chiloé archipel with some friends with whom I have rented a car in Puerto Montt. With full insurance its quite expensive. We´ve paid around 76€ per day for the car but with 4 people it was worth the effort. The ferry to Chiloé costs 16€ for a car one way. We followed also the recommendations in this group that visiting all the churches without car will be quite complicated. In the end we visitied 14 out of 16 world heritage churches of which we could enter 8. We did not make it to the two more remote islands to which the ferry only goes once per day which means that you need to sleep there or organise a private ferry. Apparently there are 160 churches of the wood style with more or less Jesuit origin of which the more or less biggest communities and churches are the world heritage sites. We stayed 5 nights in Castro from where we visited all the churches which is easily possible as they are all within a 1 hour drive from the islands capital sometimes with ferry transfer in between.
Below follow the details I could find out about the churches as well as my opinions on them. Generally I must say a lot are quite similar and the joy of visiting many is more in driving around the island and discovering new places than being stunned by the new churches as many are very comparable to each other. Only some are quite outstanding. Additionally to the churches I have visited the other bigger town Ancud in the north which has two museums to offer, one on the churches and one on the islands in general, which I can recommand and from there we drove to the Pacific coast to see the penguin colony which failed though because of the boat not going out only for a handful of tourists. However we saw some penguins with binoculars from shore on the island in front of the beach (very small though). On another day we have visitied the parque nacional de chiloé which has nice forests and beach and dunes to offer near to the stunning pacific ocean waving in. Close by is also Muelle de las almas from where the souls make their final transit into the ocean and for the less mystical people it is a nice viewpoint of the cliffy shoreline.
Back to the churches here is my feedback and tips and tricks on each of them that I have visited. Generally the season for visiting the churches is january and february and everything outside of the season is more luck and willingness of the people with the key to let you in during their freetime. Some churches have their opening times on google maps but that counts for high season. Also the churches really need renovations- some of them obtained it recently. I found striking as European that no church had a organ. The fun of having a car was also bigger as without car I would have been much more annoyed by the rain that was present on more than half of my visit to the island which is quite a normal frequency for the rain here. Here are the churches in the order that I have visited:
Rilan
Only church on this peninsula
Beautiful light blue colouring
Was my first church and I really liked it in the middle of this village at the water
The key is in the café next to the church where there are also bathrooms
Did enter my name in the visitor book. Feel greeted when you open the book yourself :)
Nercon
Nice world heritage site wooden sign in the garden in front
Graveyard right next to it
Couldn´t enter and a woman told us only possble from 11 to 16 o´clock as according to Google. Another woman told us only possible to visit in high season
Villupulli
Key is with the woman living in front of the church on the boundaring property.
She works rather before lunch. Best is to visit in January and February
Nice wooden church however not special. I liked the very small town feeling
Chonchi
Service when we arrived therefore open
Bigger town and therefore also bigger church
Worth a visit but not fantastic
Ichuac
On the island of Lemuy to be reached by very regular ferries
Unpainted wood and closed. Not very special
Closed and no one there whom we could have asked for the key
Detif
On the island of Lemuy to be reached by very regular ferries
Very remote on the island. The neck of the island is quite spectacular which is just 100m wide and which was articifally craeted for 20m of length (I read that it´s not visible). Nice views of surrounding islands and nice drive here
Supposingly the key is with a person in close by Punta Lima but the people in the village didn´t have it with them.
Nice unpainted wood church.
Needs a renovation
Aldachildo
On the island of Lemuy to be reached by very regular ferries
Nice unpainted wood church. Closed and no one there
Next to the (ugly) beach. It´s fun to walk on the pier a bit into the water
Dalcahué
Bigger town
Was service when we entered
Beautiful church
Mercado artesanal every day apparently best sunday with local island products. Nice to stroll around.
Nice information signs on the plaza in front of the church about the island
Good café in the hotel at the plaza
I had a curanto next to the mercado artesanal and I think with mustard it tastes quite fine with the mussels, meat and some other stuff in a net. However the mussels were very sandy in this canteen style restaurant place. So partially need to disagree with Nan. It´s an experience.
Achao
On the island of Quinchao. Frequent ferries from Dalcahué
Woman with expert sign welcomes us in the church
Stunning interior- I can recommend visiting this church
Oldest church of the whole country of Chile
Quinchao
On the island of Quinchao. Frequent ferries from Dalcahué
We could cruise with the car around it but couldn´t enter
Woman in the green house with two levels next to the graveyard has the key but did´t want to open us the church as she had worked already on the day before.
Castro
Stunning cathedral especially from the inside. Also out of wood but very different.
At least double the size of all other churches
Very different style to the other churches. Also originally a Franciscan church whereas the other churches were first jesuit churches and after they have been expelled became franciscan.
Tehaún
Beautiful exterior in blue with some big, white stars
Unfortuantely closed and the people in the village that we have met didn´t have keys.
San Juan
Nice fishing village in which we saw how people constructed a wooden boat. Originally the church building style was based on boat building style in Chiloé.
Nice church.
The woman in the house with the red cars in front at the corner (4th house on the left from the church) stopped her lunch sleep for us and opened us the church. Visit is normally just in January and February.
Colo
Nice, unpainted wooden church
Guy in the hospedaje next by gave us the key. We even let some other tourists in
Could climb up the second level to get nice views of the church interior
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