Capital of Patagonian Aysén — world-class fly-fishing, Carretera Austral midpoint, and one of Earth's cleanest dark skies
Coyhaique is the regional capital of Aysén, the most sparsely populated region of Chile, and the largest town on the Carretera Austral — the 1,240km road connecting Puerto Montt in the north to the roads' various southern ends. At 310m elevation in a natural amphitheatre of Andean foothills, the city is the practical base for the whole Aysén region: Cerro Castillo National Park (50km south, arguably the most dramatic trekking in Chilean Patagonia for visitors who aren't looking for Torres del Paine crowds), the Simpson and Baker rivers (world-class fly-fishing for wild trout), and Laguna San…
The Aysén Region was among the last places in the world to be formally settled — indigenous Tehuelche and Kawésqar peoples inhabited the region but built no permanent settlements, and non-indigenous presence was limited to occasional maritime expeditions. The first Chilean colonists arrived in the 1890s, primarily from Chiloé island. Coyhaique was formally established in 1929 as a company town for the Sociedad Industrial Aysén, a livestock concession that held monopoly rights over the entire region. The concession's fire-clearing of old-growth forest (burning 100,000+ hectares) remains visibl…