From Puerto Panuelo on the Llao Llao peninsula it’s possible to take a boat trip to Isla Victoria, where there are beaches, rock paintings and arrayan trees. There is also a chairlift to the top of Cerro Bella Vista which offers stunning views. The boat continues to the Quetrihué Peninsula home to the Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes and its fabulous forest of myrtles (luma apiculata), a tree native to Argentina and Chile. Their powdery orange trunks twist and turn in an almost surreal fashion. They grow slowly and live for hundreds of years. For further information the Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes has an office on San Martín 24. Tel: +54 (0) 294 442 3111.  For more detailed maps of the numerous treks and forests in the area see www.guiasendasybosques.com.ar/ which are available in newspaper stands (kioscos) as well as book shops in cities in the provinces of both Rio Negros and Neuquen.

An all-day boat excursion leaves from Puerto Panuelo to narrow fjord-like Puerto Blest west to the bottom of the Cordillera de los Andes. From here the tour continues with a short bus ride to Puerto Alegre on Lago Frias where you walk through beautiful native Valdivian rain forest to the Cascada los Cantaros. Both Turisur on Mitre 219 (tel: +54 (0) 2944 426630) and Catedral Turismo on Palacios 263 (tel: +54 (0) 2944 423918) run boat trips to Puerto Blest and Isla Victoria. For more detailed information, visit the tourist office in the Centro Civico on the main plaza in Bariloche.