Vira Vira

On a private estate above Lake Villarrica in the Chilean Lake District near Pucón, Vira Vira occupies a position in one of South America’s most volcanically active landscapes, where the Villarrica volcano — an active stratovolcano whose crater emits a constant plume of volcanic gas above its summit — dominates the eastern horizon and the lake’s thermal influence moderates the Araucanía region’s otherwise rainy Andean climate. The eight suites and villas are designed in a contemporary Chilean farmhouse aesthetic of local wood, stone, and wool textiles from the Mapuche weaving tradition, with the outdoor thermal pool fed by the property’s own geothermal spring giving the wellness experience a direct connection to the volcanic geology of the region. The surrounding native coihue and araucaria forest provides habitat for the Chilean forest birds and the puma that uses the lake district’s corridors.

Horse riding through the coihue forest and across the volcanic ash plains of the Villarrica National Park, fly fishing for brown and rainbow trout in the lake’s crystal streams, white-water rafting on the Trancura River, and guided ascents of the Villarrica volcano with the guide team’s crampons and ice axes are among the most distinctive activities in a region whose combination of active volcanism, deep-blue lakes, and ancient Araucaria forest makes it one of South America’s most compelling adventure destinations. The kitchen’s menus draw on the Mapuche culinary heritage of the Araucanía region and the exceptional freshwater and freshwater-adapted Atlantic fish of the lake district’s rivers and streams.

Vira Vira’s relationship with the surrounding Mapuche community is expressed through cultural programmes that engage with Mapuche traditions of weaving, herbal medicine, and the spiritual cosmology of the indigenous Araucanía people, whose ceremonial connection to the Villarrica volcano as a place of power gives the landscape a human and spiritual history that extends well beyond the geological drama of the volcano’s recent activity.