In the Winter Center of Ski, a 80 kilometers of the city, you can find restaurants, pubs, discos, hot swimming pools, cafes, first aids, instructors and rentals of ski equipments.

History

The city was founded in 1579, by Martín Ruiz de Gamboa, captain and governor of Chile, that had named the city San Bartolomé de Chillán.

Older than 400 years, the city has developed, grown and suffered with earthquakes and with the fury of the volcanoes. The city has passed through different problems, being attacked during wars, abandoned and reconstructed in several occasions.

In 1751, Chillán had been removed from its original place by Ortiz de Rozas. In 1835, a big earthquake destroyed the city, that was forced to be back to its first location, which created finally the new Chillán. In 1939, almost 100 years after, another earthquake destroyed almost 90% of the town and again it was reconstructed.

Today, Chillan is growing in a fast pace and is the capital of the Nuble State (VIII Region). The constructions of the modern Chillan are made according to the region characteristics: anti-earthquakes, strongs and resistants.

Activities

The Market of Chillán is one of main attractives for tourists. There, works in ceramic are exposed, woven in wool, works in wood, embroiders and blankets, ponchos, among other typical cloth pieces of the Andes. The building was recovered in 1991, when they modified the inner facilities and they remade the spaces reserved for the commerce.

The convent of San Francisco was the center of the jesuits missionaries. Today, the convent is a museum that exposes religious objects of times of colonization. The cupola of the building is opened to visitor, where a good panoramic view of the city can be had. In the Monumental Park Bernardine O´Higgins, the visitors can know the mural stone of 60 meters, where the life of the O´Higgins Liberator is narrated, who was born in Chillán in 1778.

The School of Chillán was constructed in 1939. Their walls have murals of Mexican painters David Alfaro Sequeiros and Javier Guerrero. They count the history of Chile and Mexico, with the use of strong colors that mark and give expressivity.

Termas de Chillán

One of the main attractions of Chillan are the thermal waters. Near 80 km of the city is the hotel and tourist complex. The tourist can take advantage of baths in swimming pools heated by an inactive volcano, where the temperatures are around 36 to 38 degrees. There is also volcanic medicinal mud (mud therapy), spas and other activities of relaxation. The swimming pools usually are busy at the end of the day, when skiers and snowboarders decide to rest in the mineral waters, on chairs that are around the swimming pools.

In the region, there is a complete infrastructure for visitors. Excursions and tours are offered throughout the year. The road that takes you to the Spas crosses a native forest that raises by curves surrounding the beautiful natural vegetation.

Ski Tracks

At 1600 meters of altitude there is the more extensive field of ski of South America. There are a total of 29 fields distributed in an area of ten thousand hectares. All of them are located next to Chillán Volcano, whose summit is covered with snow the four stations of the year. The tracks, by being extensives and to present a good infrastructure, attract sportsmen worldwide, but great part of the visitors is people who never have practiced ski or snowboard. They spend the day playing and trying to balance in the snow. There are tracks for all levels: from difficult to average, that demand experience of the skiers and for beginners, who are ideal to learn and to play without having experience.

In addition to ski, Chillán offers tours of sleigh pushed by dogs of the race husky, snowmobiles, cross country and snowpark. The tours cross valleys and the forests of the region. Thus, it is possible to appreciate all the landscape of the locality, mainly the Volcano and its snow.

Volcanoes

All Chile was constructed around volcanic activities. Their cities, routes, mountains and territories are formed and surrounded of volcanos, but in Chillán, the volcano is vital part of the city. The ski tracks are formed from him, the thermal waters run by the subsoil and end at the swimming pools, in addition the therapeutic volcanic mud is very well taken advantage of by the tourists.

Truely, it´s not only a single volcanoe in Chillán, but a volcanic complex formed by two main volcanos that are the Old Chillán (greater) and the New Chillán (smaller). Both are seen by all the city and raises to 3000 meters of altitude. Although smokes can be seen from the peaks, nevertheless, they are not active and one does not have to be worried, since they do not enter in eruption long ago. The greater one had its last eruption at 1890 and the minor had a small activity in 1974.

Whoever goes to Chillán has the privilege to find in a same day different activities like beautiful landscapes, extreme sports, thermal water therapy and to have the fantastic experience to see and touch the edges of a volcano.

Tips

The tracks of skis are located on the edges of the Snow-covered Peak of Chillán, at the borders of the volcano, that communicate with the faldeos of New Chillan. Using the chairs of the ski tracks, you can raise until the Snow-covered Peak high point, and, from there you can continue walking more two hours to arrive at crater of the New Chillán Volcano. This ascent is advisable only for people used to practise treking and walking in virgin snow.

In these borders, it is possible to practice the modality of skiing outside the official tracks, which is to get down on snowboard or on skis by wild lands, not monitored by the Ski Resort.

A moderate ascent is possible also to visualize the set of geysers, located in the beginning of the edges of the Snow-covered Peak of Chillán.

In the summer, there is another type of activities and the hotels are open for tourists who love long walks, raids by horseback, trekking and baths in swimming pools.