El Mirador de Guadal

Lake General Carrera fills the view here, its water running turquoise against the mountains of Chile's Aysén region. The lodge sits off the road to Chile Chico, its ten rooms and suites built in cabin style along the shore, each with its own terrace and direct access to the lodge's beach. Three classic doubles run 32 square metres; five superior doubles, at 38 square metres, sit slightly higher on the slope, among trees named for the birds that pass through them — a woodpecker, a bandurria. Two family suites of 60 square metres, El Coigüe and La Lenga, take their names from native trees and sleep up to four across two bedrooms. Rooms come without kitchens but with wood-burning stoves, minibars, and tea and coffee makings; daily cleaning is included. San Valentín, one of the superior rooms, looks straight across the water at the snow-capped peak it is named for. It is a quiet stretch of shoreline. Guests use the lodge as a base for the Marble Caves nearby, carved smooth by the lake's blue water, and for the Baker and Nef rivers, which meet in a contrast of turquoise and glacial white. Patagonia National Park lies within reach too, home to huemul deer, puma and condor; guanaco often wander onto the lodge lawn itself. Dining is on-site, at the property's own restaurant.