Chiloé Island

Chiloé Island is the largest island of the Chiloé Archipelago in southern Chile’s Los Lagos Region, known for its distinctive wooden architecture, seafaring culture and island landscapes. The island’s set of wooden Catholic churches is a UNESCO World Heritage cultural ensemble.

The island offers colourful port towns, stilted houses along sheltered bays and numerous wooden churches built in local carpentry traditions; the UNESCO group comprises 16 churches distributed across the archipelago. Local museums, boat trips, artisanal markets and seafood cuisine are common visitor interests.

Colonial-era Jesuit and later Franciscan missions combined European timber-building techniques with local materials and craft traditions, producing the island’s characteristic churches and wooden civic buildings. Settlement patterns and maritime livelihoods have shaped the island’s culture from the colonial period to the present.

Chiloé lies off the southern Chilean Pacific coast within Los Lagos Region; principal towns on the island include Castro and Ancud, which serve as access points for visitors.

• UNESCO churches: Sixteen wooden churches from Chiloe are inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage for their unique carpentry and blended indigenous-European building traditions.

What to See #

• Chilote wooden churches: A network of wooden churches across the island - 16 of these churches are recognised on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their timber construction and local craftsmanship.
• Castro and Ancud: The towns of Castro and Ancud feature distinctive stilt houses (palafitos), wooden market buildings and local museums that showcase island culture and history.