Pucon Mecca Class 4 Kayaking
Pucon has built a reputation as a Kayaking Mecca. Situated on the side of Lake Villarrica, with the snowcapped Villarrica Volcano towering over the town the quality and variety of the surrounding rivers is unrivalled! One day you can be creeking on a remote river set in jungle style terrain, the next day you could be dropping off a 7m waterfall and the following day kayaking drops with some of the most spectacular background scenery on the planet.
This is our ultimate Pucon Kayak Mecca Class 4 an integral part of our Chile Kayak Adventures.
Kayak Tour Overview
We organise your transfer from Temuco airport to Pucon where we will meet you at Madd Goat Coffee Roasters in the centre of town. We then take you to your accommodation and let you settle in. Either later that day or the following morning, we fit out our kayaks and go through equipment. As we have previously mentioned, the variety of rivers in and around Pucon is World Class. The Lower Trancura is a great river to warm up on, with some big hits and moves to make throughout, this section certainly gets rid of the cobwebs! We spend another morning working on our boof technique at a sweet feature/drop on the Lower Palguin and after lunch we continue down the Lower Palguin to run drops like auto-boof! The Upper Palguin is probably the most well known section of river in Pucon. It is waterfall heaven and you get the opportunity to run it 2 or even 3 times in one day! The Rio Maichin is a sweet technical little river set in a beautiful and lush forest where you get the feeling of being somewhere in the Amazon, it is Steve’s favourite river around Pucon. The Upper Trancura has nice pool drop rapids with some dramatic backdrops of the Villarrica Volcano. It is a great place to spend time running a couple of the drops more than once to get that sweet shot so that you have just more than a memory of your time kayaking in Pucon.
Within a days drive of Pucon you can find some fantastic whitewater. The Truful Truful gives us the option of kayaking the un-relentless rapids on the upper section, something that most kayakers have never experienced. The mellower Lower Truful Truful starts with a punch as you put-in right below a waterfall. There are continuous rapids for the first few kilometres before chilling out with great views of the valley and the snowcapped Llaima Volcano. The Lower Fuy provides some HUGE waves and rapids in the Spring and if the energy levels are good we can do a couple of laps! The Rio San Pedro is often regarded as a mini Futaleufu. It has probably the clearest water we have ever encountered. You can just roll over and see the volcanic rock, river bed and fish as you float on bye. The action soon picks up and we kayak some big waves and rapids with the feeling that we are in the middle of nowhere.
Practicalities
Why us
We have been running kayaking trips to Chile for the past 10 years and our commitment to planning and preparation is second to none. We have an extremely strong and professional team comprising of David, Steve, Fran and Yiyi. All of our river leaders are qualified through British Canoeing and have years of experience, guiding, coaching and leading trips in Chile. We have 4x4 private vehicles which means we can drive safely on dirt roads and tracks and Fran our driver stays with one vehicle during the day.
To find out more about our leaders, instructors check out our Team page.
Experience Required
You should have plenty of experience of kayaking Class 3 and Class 4 whitewater such as the Sanna, Landeck Gorge and the Lower Oetz in Austria at good levels. Your roll should be solid but you do not need any experience kayaking waterfalls as we gradually build you up in Pucon. Chile’s river classifications tend to be solid so if the majority of rivers you are kayaking are Class 3(4) then we suggest you check out our No Stress Class 3 Kayaking Trip to Pucon. We will be kayaking for around 4-5 hours a day so though you do not need to be an Olympic athlete, you should have a certain amount of paddle fitness and stamina.
Chile Kayaking Season
Of course we are in the Southern Hemisphere so everything is the opposite.
Spring in Chile is October/November, Summer is December/January/February and Autumn is March/April.
Expect higher water levels and maybe ½ a grade harder in October and November. December and January are medium water levels and then by mid-February/March the levels have dropped and so have the strength of the river and holes etc!
To find out more about when the best time to kayak in Pucon is, check out our blog.
Group Composition
Our ratios are extremely low be it in the Kayak School, India or Chile! The ratio of the group is no more than 1 guide to 3 clients! We will also not take more than 6 clients on this trip! This gives you plenty of whitewater action with the opportunity to become a much more all rounded confident kayaker! This is why we like to keep our group sizes small!
Accommodation
You have the option of either staying in the town of Pucon, where we would come and pick you up in the morning and drop you back off after kayaking that day. Alternatively you can stay at our beautiful house on the flanks of a mountain in Pucon. The big differences between the two, is that if you are staying in Pucon, you can go for a walk, go out for a drink in a local bar or cafe and you get to see and absorb the vibrant adventure town of Pucon. If you stay up at our house, it is fully in nature, quiet and a beautiful place to chill and relax after a great days kayaking.
Food & Drink
Food can be a real highlight in Chile. Markets are full of vegetables and fruits of the season. There are some great restaurants in Pucon serving Spanish and German influenced cuisine.
Check out our Blog about our favourite restaurants in Pucon.
If you are staying up at our house, then food is included. Here we serve you Chilean and European meals, with options for meat eaters and vegetarians. Steve is pretty good at making an authentic Indian curry, nothing too spicy but full of flavours that open up your senses and taste buds!! Our coffee is roasted in Pucon by Madd Goat and tastes amazing and of course Chile produces some quality red wine, our favourite is the local Carmenere.
Equipment
Included in the price is a kayak and paddle, we currently stock a wide range of Waka kayaks and a few Zet kayaks. We will be updating our kayak store in Chile for the 26/27 season with Spade kayaks and a few more Waka’s. Our paddles are from Striebel Designs, all of our paddles are Right Handed with a 30 degree feather and we have different lengths for you to choose. If you would like more information about our kayaks and paddles, just drop us an email.
Non-Kayakers
If you would like to bring your spouse, partner or friend and they are not a kayaker then no problems. We would suggest you stay in Pucon as when you go kayaking, your non-kayaking partner has plenty of options for a day out. This can be hiking, visiting a hot spring, going to the beach by the Villarrica Lake to climbing the Volcano Villarrica! Our team know some great places to explore, visit and have good contacts if you need a guide or equipment rental.
Extensions
If you would like to extend your trip then just let us know. There are plenty of options, be it spending more time in Pucon or heading south to Patagonia kayaking rivers such as the Rio Petrohue on the way to the Rio Futaleufu.
Dates & Prices
Course dates
No dates to suit your plans? Just let us know through the contact form, we are pretty flexible here at the Kayak School giving you a more of a chance to make that dream trip to Chile!