PUERTO MONTT: Frutillar-worth the extra driving?

[Greek50]

For those of you who have been to Puerto Montt do you recommend a stop in Frutillar? The tour we are looking also includes Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas, Lake L, views of the Osorno volcano if it is not too cloudy, the possibility of a stop at Emerald Lake depending on road conditions, lunch, Vicente Perez National Park, and the Petrohue Rapids. Frutillar sounds great to me but another tour operator I am considering is trying to talk me out of it saying it's not worth it.

[Cruzin Terri]

For those of you who have been to Puerto Montt do you recommend a stop in Frutillar? The tour we are looking also includes Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas, Lake L, views of the Osorno volcano if it is not too cloudy, the possibility of a stop at Emerald Lake depending on road conditions, lunch, Vicente Perez National Park, and the Petrohue Rapids. Frutillar sounds great to me but another tour operator I am considering is trying to talk me out of it saying it's not worth it.

 

Those towns are very nice and certainly worth it. May I ask who the operator is. We went with GV tours and they did a wonderful job taking us to all those places.

Terri

[pmacher61]

I thought Frutillar was a nice visit and suggest you include it in a tour of the area.

If you choose GV I also suggest you inquire whether they have insurance for the vehicle and are licensed in other repects.

[Cruzin Terri]

I thought Frutillar was a nice visit and suggest you include it in a tour of the area.

If you choose GV I also suggest you inquire whether they have insurance for the vehicle and are licensed in other repects.

 

Has there been a problem with them regarding insurance and licensing?

Terri

[pmacher61]

Yes, there has been a problem.

When I toured with them (the dad), I also booked a night in their B&B (their home). The house was in a state of disrepair because they had failed to maintain insurance on it (after a motor vehicle had slammed into it). I wonder whether they are as lax about maintaining ins coverage for other types of accidents or maintaining such minimum requirements as the law may mandate for a tour operated vehicle.

[Greek50]

Yikes! Yes it is GV Tours - thanks for the insurance information - something else for me to worry about! What ended up happening with regards to your accommodations? Sounds awful!

[pmacher61]

Yikes! Yes it is GV Tours - thanks for the insurance information - something else for me to worry about! What ended up happening with regards to your accommodations? Sounds awful!

 

As fate would have (thankfully) we had a delayed flight missing a connection to Puerto Montt so the airline put us up in a Santiago Sheraton at no cost. When we got to Puerto Montt we nevertheless were required to pay a huge % of the B&B price. We were glad to do so as we would not have liked sleeping in the quarters set aside for tourists..

The father who took us on a tour the next day drove like a cowboy and was hardly bilingual. I understand he was filling in for another family member so others may have had a better tour experience than we did.

The front of the house was damaged quite a bit and the reason given was the absence of insurance coverage for the repairs.