City Tour around Caviahue

The City of Caviahue is ideal to manage deep relaxation but also to enjoy the area to the utmost.

Surrounded by mountain valleys, ancient cliffs bordering rivers and creeks, and resting on the shores of a lake that generally appears to be still as if it was a mirror, there lies the fine-looking City of Caviahue, a unique place in Argentinian Patagonia. Caviahue is famous for its winter ski resort and for lying close to the City of Copahue, whose volcano has given origin to the most important hot spring resort in the area, both due to the excellent healing properties of its waters and to the highly qualified professionals who provide assistance in the venue.

Beautiful and Natural

Caviahue is a city that has it all but it unveils each one of its attractions with quietness and subtlety for visitors to incorporate its codes at a slow pace, feeling relaxed, and in a very natural way. And it succeeds, to such an extent that whenever someone asks what this nice city is like, answers always take their time, they are carefully thought and analyzed. The point is that Caviahue is different from everything already known.

In the winter, the snow tinges everything in white, including the thousands of monkey-puzzle trees that give life to the Pehuenía Valley both inside the city and in the surroundings.

When Winter Comes

Its ski resort summons thousands of skiers and snowboarders who go up to the base of the hill to have fun and reach the trails using the modern lifts at this winter center. The chimneys at hotels and cabins contribute with enough heat so that tourists feel willing to walk its streets, all of which lead to the mirror of Lake Caviahue.

Its beautiful inns and impressive hotel venues have made this destination known throughout the entire country. Hotel Apart Lago Caviahue, Farallón, Arquímedes, Melewe, hotel Nevado, Caviahue and hotel Nieves del Cerro stand out. There are many inns, cabins and tourist resorts bearing Mapuche names and built in stone and wood, which grants a Patagonian mountain atmosphere to the village as visitors walk along its streets.

Short City Tour

The most representative buildings include the Town Hall, the Cultural and Conventions Center, Buta Piren Mahuida Library, the local radio station called FM Volcánica 92.9 and the church, along with some union hotels which have been representative icons of Caviahue for years. The street names deserve a special mention: Mapuches, Avutardas, Lengas, Esquiadores, Pehuenes, Ñires, Volcán Copahue, Michay, Piñones, Las Cascadas and others clearly show that the origin of the city has always been tourism and that, as a result, everything has been wisely integrated. The most popular attractions for visitors from the city are low difficulty hiking tours, which enable them to come close to lagoons and cascades of singular beauty.

One of them is called La Escondida (the Hidden Lagoon), which lies meters away from the ski resort access. This place is reached through a trail after hiking for an hour and a half amidst forests of lengas and monkey-puzzle trees. There we find a stunning lagoon which displays a matchless panoramic view of the entire shire of Caviahue. In the background, the Copahue Volcano watches over each of the natural elements in this region: from the ancient monkey-puzzle trees to the freshness of its creeks or the birds’ song in each corner of this paradise. According to those who know the mythical volcano, “The Copahue smokes all the time”, and its sulfurous smell gives evidence of its presence. When they learn about this, visitors usually want to reach its mouth to see what is inside. This is another very popular tour. Multifaceted Caviahue has everything for visitors. There is no doubt about that.