Get in
By plane
There are flights north to Santiago (1 hour 40 minutes) and south to Punta Arenas (2 hours).
By bus
Buses pull in at the large and bustling termnial in the middle of town close to the harbour. Many departures to cities in the north, as well as services to Chiloé Island. Cruz del Sur are the fastest, since they own many of the ferries crossing the strait and the bus bypasses the waiting line. Buses to Bariloche in Argentina takes five hours.
By ferry
Navimag has boats to and from Punta Arenas and Puerto Chacabuco. The latter costs Ch$ 38000 pp, Ch$ 100000 for a car. Other companies whose name and routes change frequently have ferries to Chaiten on the carretera austral. Many departures in summer, but often only one per week in winter. The ferry to Chiloé Island leaves about 50 km south west of town, takes 30 min and cost Ch$ 1000 pp and Ch$ 8300 for a car.
Get around
The thousands of taxis and colectivos that bounce like ping pong balls across and along the streets are a fast and usually cheap way of travelling across town. Although you'll find that your feet will take you to most places. If walking, take extra care when crossing streets in this city. Colectivos appear out of nowhere!
See
The area along the beach near the bus station is pleasant for a walk with things along the way to entertain you. Walking east you'll get great views, especially at sunset, from the hills there.
Eat
A good place to have some seafood is at the fishing community of Angelmó. Along with the seafood market there are some restaurants. There are also a lot of options for shopping Mapuche craftworks.
Sleep
Puerto Montt is a port city in southern Chile located by Reloncavà Sound and is the capital of Llanquihue Province and the Los Lagos Region, at . The city has approximate 176,000 inhabitants in an area of 1.673 km².
History
Originally, the site was covered by a thick forest and was called Melipulli (Means Four hills in Mapudungun), meaning four hills. It was selected as an entrance to Lake Llanquihue when its proximity to the open sea was discovered. In the summer of 1851, an expedition arrived from Chiloé to begin the clearing of the area and the building of houses for the new inhabitants. The city itself was founded on February 12, 1853, after government-sponsored immigration from Germany that began in 1848 populated the region and integrated it politically to the rest of the country. It was named for Manuel Montt, Chilean president between 1851 and 1861, who set in motion the German immigration.
On March 4, 1969, approximately 90 landless families decided to settle on otherwise unoccupied farmland — without any title, right, or payment of rent — belonging to an absentee landlord. The families received advice from Socialist member of parliament Luis Espinoza due to the local authority never granting them any land needed to build houses. Five days later, local Police Chief Rolando RodrÃguez Marbán reassured the squatters that they would not be disturbed and could proceed with their home construction. However, new orders received from the ministry of the interior the following day led to a change of plans: At midnight on March 9, Espinoza was charged with breaking the law, arrested, and moved to the city of Valdivia. At dawn, 250 policemen launched an assault on the unarmed families, following direct orders from Interior Minister Edmundo Pérez Zujovic. The final result was that all newly-built homes were burned to the ground and 11 squatters were shot dead.
The massacre of Puerto Montt and the public outcry that followed were major factors contributing to the fall of Eduardo Frei's government, which was succeeded by Salvador Allende's Unidad Popular in the next year's elections. The events were described by singer-songwriter Victor Jara in his song Preguntas por Puerto Montt.
Economy
The city's economy is now based upon agriculture, forestry, fishing, and salmon aquaculture in the surrounding islands and fjords. It is the fastest-growing city in southern Chile, mainly because of the explosive growth of salmon culture. Puerto Montt is also the gateway to Chiloé Island and the many other smaller islands in Chile's inland sea.
Puerto Montt has one airport, El Tepual, where three airlines have regular flights from Santiago, Punta Arenas, Balmaceda, Concepción, Temuco, and Bariloche (Argentina). The airlines operating at the airport are Lan Chile (the country's largest), Sky Airlines, and AerolÃneas del Sur. The flight to Santiago takes two hours.
Puerto Montt has the southernmost train station in the country.
Image:Puerto-montt 500.jpg|The city of Puerto Montt in 1895
Image:Puertomontt2006.jpg|Coastal stroll of Puerto Montt
Image:Angelmo Puerto Montt1.JPG|Angelmo, Puerto Montt
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