If you’re in Chile, one must do on every tourist’s list is climbing the volcano in Pucon. Pucon is a little touristy (read: expensive) town about 10 hours to the South of Santiago. But, it’s worth it. Aside from the volcano there are tons of things to do. You can visit hot springs, do canopy (like zip-lining in the forest), white water rafting (Level IV, or V/VI), horse back riding and more.
But, I’ll get to those things on another post. For now let’s just focus on climbing Volcan Villarica. I’d give you a price, but it varies so much by season that’s it’s hard to say. Just as an approximate figure you should probably plan on paying between $35-70 dollars during Chilean summer (December-Feb). But when you arrive, it’s easy to compare prices and what each agency has to offer. When we visited, I just walked straight down the main street, visited about 5 different places, listened to what they had to say and how much they were charging and then made my decision. It took me all of 5 minutes per agency and when I was done I went back to the first and bargained based on other agency prices.
The actual climb takes between 4-5 hours depending on how fast your group goes. But the agency will general pick you up to get you to the mountain by 7am, so be prepared for an early day. A guide normally takes the pace of the slowest person in your group. I went once with a fast group and we finished in just under 4 hours, and I went once with my family and I think we finished in about 5.5 hours 
Any person with a reasonable amount of physical fitness shouldn’t have a problem making it to the top. Any person without a reasonable amount of physical fitness can make it if he/she really pushes himself.
You should pack a lunch to take with you. I actually consumed an entire Sahne-nuss bar and nothing else. I felt a little sick, especially after breathing in the sulfur coming out of the crater at the top.
Which brings me to the best part…hot lava! The first time I went you could see the lava shooting out of the crater. Yes, Volcan Villarica is active. But, ask before you go up if there are little explosions that day (not that will burn you or anything like that, just explosions so you can see the lava). The second time I climbed with my family, all we got was a great view from the top. No lava. Everyone was pretty disappointed.
For more pictures, keep reading.
To get there, just hop on a bus!
