Beyond Patagonia: Take the road less obvious to Chile’s Lake District

Namrata Bhawnani heads to the startling lakes and Chile’s answer to Mount Fuji

Llanquihue Lake is the second largest in Chile (Sernatur/Turismo Chile)

You have a gorgeous Lake District at home. Why travel halfway around the world to see lakes?” a helpful American friend asks. “I’d spend more time in Patagonia.”

Chile’s Lake District, two-thirds of the way down this long and skinny country, separating the otherworldly Atacama in the north and the south’s dramatic Torres del Paine, often gets the middle-child treatment. But after all that ruggedness at the extremes, this verdant region’s postcard-pretty landscape is easy on the eyes. Think snow-topped volcanoes, startling blue lakes and oddly enough, even a German town or two.