Welcome to Pucon

Welcome to Pucon, Kayak Mecca of South America and an integral part of our Chile Kayak Adventures.

The sun had been scorching all along the journey down from the Bio Bio and finally as the sun was setting, our journey was coming to an end, we were hitting the outskirts of Pucon and there was just one thing on the everyones mind…..FOOD!!
We caught up with the other truck and headed to one of our favourite restaurants in the town of Pucon, Patacon. Patacon has great food, and it is a great place to hang out with the drinks highly recommended as well.

We got stuck into the great food that was arriving at our table, the drinks were flowing and before long it was finally time to make a move up to our house just outside of Pucon.

It was a 15 minute drive up to the house and we managed to get there before it was dark. I showed everyone around, explained a few things about the house and we made a plan to rest the following day. Some of the team decided to go to the hot springs to relax those aching muscles while the rest went into town, to grab a coffee and go and check out the town of Pucon.

After a well earned rest day, we were heading back to the river on our Chile Kayak Adventure Road Trip and for the first day we head to the Rio Trancura.

Rio Trancura

Upper Trancura
The plan was to run the Upper and Lower sections of the Rio Trancura for the day. The Upper Trancura has more drops, horizon lines with pools between each rapid and it is just a 10 minute drive from our house to the put-in of the Upper Trancura. Our plan was to spend the whole day on the river, so with lunch packed we said our goodbyes to Fran and we paddled off. There are some nice flowing moves at the start of the Upper Trancura, followed by a wave train where there are places to surf, after which we come to the first rapid.

We scouted on the river right and David started to explain the possible lines on this little drop. Everyone decided to play it safe for the first drop and we all took a line just right of a flared rock sticking out. David showed them the line, I was on the side of the drop with my throw bag and camera to get a few shots of everyone.

They all got nice lines down as we continued to a more technical rapid. Again we scouted on the river right side and while explaining the line, a raft came down and we watched a client fall out the raft near the bottom, headed straight to the syphon. With their safety kayaker set up by the syphon he managed to hold onto the rafter so that he did not go and plug the hole in the rock below. David and I rushed down and helped drag the big guy and out of the river, well away from the dangerous syphon. The rafter had no idea how close he was to a real situation and a problem, instead just laughing and saying how much fun rafting was. I think the look on the safety kayaker was saying something else!!

Anyway, so while this was all happening the team realised that there was a line to make and so the scout became a little more important to them all. David was going to lead anyone who wished to follow his line, some of the others were going to wait for me to lead them and a few decided to run it themselves. Either way, I was by syphon rock with my trusty Peak PS throw bag just incase someone messed up their line and David provided cover for the 3 of us. Needless to say it all went smoothly. A couple of fun waves to surf were had afterwards before we got to the biggest drop of the river that the team would run.

It was called Salto de Feo with feo meaning ugly in this part of the world and yes, the drop looks ugly. However, there are a couple of clean lines at todays river level. We were scouting on the river right side again, talking lines and reading what the water was doing between the entrance and the pool at the bottom. The lines were chosen and David showed the line working right to left for those who wanted to kayak that, then I would show the line on the left side.

Jim, Will, Brittany, Becky and Mikenzie took the same line as David with varying degrees of success. I must mention Mikenzie’s line because as she ran the slide she hit the diagonal hole and started to flip her kayak over to the right. She was already one step ahead with her body and paddle position so when it did happen she put in a powerful, deep right stroke that not only prevented her from flipping over, it made for a great show and move from the riverbank. It was amazing to see that some tips, practices and techniques on the rivers down to Pucon were paying off. There were some big smiles all around, this is what kayaking in and around Pucon, Chile is all about.

Arwyn and myself went for the left line and though technically easier to paddle, you had to get the entrance exactly right and with no markers or help it was extremely difficult to come in correctly. We both made it through, with Arwyn bringing out a new line. It was the rapids of Mariman and Last Laugh downstream. We portaged on the left side of the river and while having lunch we watched David run the Mariman once on his own and then the second time with Lucas who caught up with us while we were eating. A quick lunch in the shade, followed by the second part of the portage of Last Laugh and we were back on the river cruising down playing along the way as we paddled until the Menehue bridge both the finish of the Upper Trancura and the start of the Lower Trancura.

Lower Trancura

The character of the Lower section of the Rioi Trancura is very different to that of the Upper. The Lower Trancura iis more river running, big waves, great wave trains and some nice waves to surf.

We were moving faster now on the Lower section with the longer rapids and shorter pools in-between. We had a quick scout of Pescador Rapid to make sure everyone had the line and we just kept on heading down, through the waves, punching a few holes, boofing a few rocks and surfing anything that could be surfed! The volcanoes were now becoming more prominent, providing a classic Pucon background to a great river that is the Rio Trancura.

What a great day! Everyone was buzzing and with smiles across our faces, we headed back up to the house for a curry and a few well earned drinks.

Rio Fuy

Today we were heading to the stunning Rio Fuy. Unfortunately, the weather was not playing its part, it was cold, raining and thick clouds had blanketed all the vistas of the volcanoes on the way to the river. I love kayaking on the Rio Fuy, the colour of the water is stunning and there is plenty of whitewater action on the way down the lower section.

The Lower Fuy starts with a bang and the rapids are big and somewhat continuous, culminating in a sweet move pushing right to left and literary dropping into an eddy right by the kamikaze hole. From there onwards the Rio Fuy delivers the goods with air to be had off various shoulders of rocks, waves to catch air on, waves to surf and plenty of eddies to make the classic slalom S moves in and around.

We took out at Christian’s rafting base on the banks just a couple of km upstream of the lake. With the Lower Fuy quite a short run, we decided to immediately go for a second lap rather than having lunch and sitting around getting cold from all the excursion after playing so much on the first run.

Everyone was loving the Rio Fuy and It may take just under a couple of hours to get there from Pucon, it is well worth it and everyone who has kayaked this section with us on one of our Pucon Kayak Trips, will say it is totally worth while! Time to head to Patacon on the way back home.

Upper Palguin

This is the day we were heading to the Rio Palguin. The Upper Palguin is on pretty much every whitewater kayakers list to paddle and is a core part of our Kayaking Trips to Pucon, Chile. The footage you see on social media channels speaks for itself and though sometimes that can make people get nervous we had a solid crew and Kayak School Arlberg’s Chilean guides were ready to show them one of their favourite sections of river, not only in Pucon but in Chile!

I would not be on the river today as my back cannot take the hits and landings of the waterfalls on the Rio Palguin. It is just one of things and as my body has taken so much abuse I have been trying to look after it and one of those things is to stop running waterfalls and big drops.

However, what that meant is that we had Yiyi with us. This girl is amazing, she is a teacher on the university of Pucon’s outdoor education programme, a sweet kayaker with such good flow and technique and no-one can say a bad word about her. When I told kayaking friends in Pucon that Yiyi was going to working for us for a couple of days, everyone was super happy for her. She is so well liked within the Pucon kayaking community. It also meant that as we had a majority of female kayakers on the trip, they could see how Yiyi ran the drops on the Upper Palguin and she was kayaking using great technique and could relate to it. David kept the team at the double drop, the first one on the Upper Palguin and for me the best drop as it is the most technical. Everyone was doing laps of the double drop, getting their lines dialled, working on being proactive in the body and blade while the guides would give them feedback and ideas of ways to try it the next time.

They spent the day running the Upper Palguin, including its bigger drop further downstream and by the time me and Fran got back to everyone from an admin run in Pucon, the smiles on their faces said it all.

Now it was missing get Mikenzie to Madd Goat in Pucon where she would be catching the transfer to Temuco.

It was a bit of a mad dash to get her from the Upper Palguin into Pucon but with just 5 minutes to spare and time to get a coffee, I said goodbye. She had a great time and was leaving Pucon super happy.

Tomorrow was Chile’s national elections and with all Chileans needing to vote by law, we took a well earned days rest.

Rio Liucura

The team were still a bit tired from kayaking over the past 10 days so we headed to another local Pucon river, the Rio Liucura. It is a mellow class 2 that has some great features where you can make more technically challenging moves so it is a nice over to improve technics and skills plus there is a nice wave to surf on the Rio Liucura.

The weather was still cold and rainy but with everyone being offered a hot and wet cup of English tea, morale was good. David came back with Fran from the doing the shuttle and we sealed launched in!

We spent a while surfing the wave, some where just enjoying the surfing, while others were really working hard on technique.
The Rio Liucura gives us a great opportunity to coach and for those to enjoy the surf wave will we spend a while in one place on the river. We continued down the Rio Liucura until we joined the Lower Trancura and then it was surf central followed by kayaking through and over some big wave. A great day with zero stress and now it was back up to the house on the flanks of the Villarrica Volcano!

Back to the Upper Palguin…

We met up with Yiyi along the way then Fran and I said goodbyes.
David and Yiyi spent a long time at the double drop, everyone was running it numerous times. They were getting a range of feedback and advice about their line, body position, paddle placement and boat edges and angles. With everyone achieving their goals and aims for the double drop, David and Yiyi continued to lead them down the other waterfalls. We got the message that they were having a late lunch close to Bens house. When we got there, the smiles were again saying it all.

Everyone was buzzing kayaking another day down the waterfalls of the Upper Palguin.

Once the weather had calmed down, we headed up to the ferry crossing and put in on the last part of the Rio Bio Bio. What was once a mighty river carving out gorges has been damed at numerous sights upstream However, it still has some nice sections that are worth a paddle or just to explore the upper regions.

Rio Maichin

Today, is my favourite river in and Pucon.

The Rio Maichin is a sweet river, set in a beautiful gorge, it has pool drop rapids, where you keep coming to a horizon line before finally seeing the line down the rapid. The river is so pristine and the final canyon must be seen to be believed. So with stunning scenery and great rapids we showed everyone just why I rate this river just outside of Pucon so much. The Rio Maichin was pretty low, like all rivers this year they are suffering from a lack of snow. This means the top parts can be a little rocky, though as there is a lot of moss on the rocks, making them slightly better to slide over therm and slowing you down I hit one such rock by a real sticky hole. I said to my group that if someone should get stuck in the hole, I would keep my line and kayak over them. So as I was stuck upside down in the very sticky hole I felt Jim’s kayak bounce on me, I was waiting for the other 2 to come but as I managed to close off the left line, they just paddled through without any troubles. However, for me, I was still upside down in the hole wondering when they both would be coming. I was running out of air as I had been under (as anyone will know who has ever capsized a kayak) for what seemed a long time. I braced myself up to catch a breath and as I did I could see the bow of David’s kayak racing towards me. I went back under water but with a good reach I found the bow of his kayak, rolled up, while he was back paddling like a monster to pull me out. Yep, that hole is sticky! The rest of the day went smoothly for a Rio Maichin descent.

The rapid had a crux section in the middle and unfortunately because of the low water, the line was not runnable. We all kayaked the first part, portaged the middle bit before kayaking the last 2m drop, a boof down the middle!! We stopped for a late lunch in the incredible final canyon, it is like a scene from Narnia and it has impressed me ever since!! I really do enjoy kayaking and leading the Rio Maichin in Pucon.

Rio San Pedro

I first paddled the San Pedro over 10 years ago. The weather was grim, dark clouds and rain, sometimes driving, made us question why we were kayaking on the Rio San Pedro, especially for the first half of the river!

The next time I kayaked the Rio San Pedro the weather could not have been more different with clear, deep blue skies and glorious sunshine. Now I could finally understand why everyone loves kayaking this special river. The clearness of the river water is unbelievable and I have never kayaked a river close to that of the Rio San Pedro. With vegetation all around, once you pass the last settlement on the right, you have the feeling of being deep in the jungle with the turquoise colour of the water making for a stunning vista!

The first part has a few longer pools between the rapids, with the rapids themselves nice wave trains. However, it is the surf wave on the first rapid that makes the first part of the Rio San Pedro worth it. It is a slightly greener wave and with a half slide kayak such as the Waka Steeze or the Spade Slick you will be carving left and right, in-fact you will be surfing so much you will find it hard to come off the wave. We spent a long time there, it just a fun wave with great eddy access.

Halfway down the river, the first big rapid arrives. We were all lined up ready to go, with David’s group kayaking first followed by my team. The line was bang down the middle through the big big waves! The height of them was impressive and you could really feel the power of the water. Jim was certainly happy as he ended up rolling on the huge boils that followed the rapid as the river got boxed in! The water keeps entering the river and it gets a much more big water feel. You feel it under your kayak and you notice that you are needing to put in a bit more effort and paddle strokes in to move across the river. We stopped for a quick lunch, then we as we continued down we got to the biggest rapid of the river. A HUGE hole in the middle of the river and another further downstream on the left. I was leading and pushed from middle towards far left, easily avoiding the massive intimidating hole in the middle. Looking back upstream I could see the team perfectly on my line, I gave Jim a move to the river right signal and as I turn to look where I am heading I hear him shouting “Great Line”. We kayaked back into the middle of the river and enjoyed the wave train all the way to the bottom. Happy Days!!

After the 2 big rapids, it was now a matter of staying switched on and enjoying the big waves, avoiding the holes and trying to surf as much as possible. The final wave before the take out, I am still dreaming about now.

The take out is a short, steep hike up out of the Rio San Pedro, now a señora who has a trailer serving food and drinks is there. The deep fried chips tasted so good after kayaking.

Upper Trancura

The final day we headed back to the Upper Trancura for a quick blast before an asado (grill) for our final dinner. It all went smoothly down the drops and as we headed back up to the house we were looking forward to some meat and veggie skewers.

After dinner we were all chatting about the trip and I asked their 3 favourite rivers. It was great to hear that everyone had a river on the way down to Pucon from Santiago in their list. The Rio Nuble stood out, some liked the Rio Teno, a lot enjoyed the Rio Bio Bio and of course every river we kayaked in Pucon, someone from the team put it in their top 3!

It had been a great trip with everyone super happy and kayaking way more variety of rivers than they had originally planned!

Kayak School Arlberg’s Chile Kayak Adventures

We love organising, leading, guiding and coaching on our Chile Kayak Adventures, be it the Road Trip from Santiago to Pucon, Pucon Kayak Mecca or the Futaleufu and Patagonia. Showing the best rivers Chile has to offer, the people, the culture, food, wine and scenery just makes for a truly memorable kayak adventure!

Our 2026/2027 trips, dates and prices will be online shortly.

We will be planning something big for next season in Chile, a trip unlike no other. Our Kayak Road Trips, Rio Claro and Pucon white water trips will be also be available. If you would like to be kept updated about Chile and Austria, just drop us an email or sign up to our newsletter. You can also follow us on social media here: Instagram and Facebook

Kayak Mecca Pucon | Kayak Adventures in Chile