Chile 
In numbers.
145m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jun–Sep
Best months
121m
Elevation
The water at Petrohué Waterfalls, month by month
It roars from June to August.
The fullest months: from June to August. The thinnest: from January to March.
- 60 m³/sJan
- 51 m³/sFeb
- 67 m³/sMar
- 106 m³/sApr
- 179 m³/sMay
- 233 m³/sJun
- 246 m³/sJul
- 246 m³/sAug
- 183 m³/sSep
- 141 m³/sOct
- 105 m³/sNov
- 78 m³/sDec
From about 51 m³/s in the lowest month to 246 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from June to September.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfalls in Chile
Petrohué Waterfalls is a waterfall in Chile. It lies within Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park.
Getting there.
- La Ensenadanearest town · 8.6 km in a straight line
- Parking 370 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- El Tepual International Airport (PMC)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 62 km in a straight lineCar hire at PMC airport (Puerto Montt)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From June to Septemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 46 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 29 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 6viewpointsSaltos de Petrohué, Área de Contemplación, Mirador Volcán Calbuco and 3 more
- 1waymarked walking routesSendero Saltos del Petrohué (acceso universal)
- 3car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 2information boards and visitor centres
- 2bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 kmCascada de los Enamorados
- —caves
- 2campsitescamping Petrohue
- 3hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmPetrohué Lodge, La Nueva Carintia, Cabaña Pie Grande
- 2restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- La Ensenada8.6 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 22 | 23 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 20 |
| Night °C | 11 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 10 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 50 | 44 | 65 | 92 | 143 | 167 | 154 | 146 | 80 | 82 | 67 | 56 |
| Wet days | 9 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 18 | 18 | 15 | 14 | 12 | 11 |
| Sun h/day | 10.1 | 8.9 | 7.1 | 4.9 | 3.0 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 5.4 | 6.0 | 7.4 | 9.0 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (121 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 95% | 77% | 58% | 172% | 95% | 139% | 130% | 34% | 34% | 28% | 18% | 42% |
| 2021 | 15% | 16% | 24% | 30% | 37% | 48% | 28% | 67% | 23% | 6% | 35% | 23% |
| 2022 | 64% | 57% | 72% | 81% | 28% | 45% | 73% | 32% | 55% | 24% | 13% | 19% |
| 2023 | 11% | 10% | 42% | 39% | 31% | 61% | 96% | 49% | 88% | 35% | 50% | 8% |
| 2024 | 2% | 7% | 44% | 78% | 50% | 95% | 17% | 18% | 138% | 11% | 116% | 26% |
| 2025 | 56% | 51% | 77% | 82% | 85% | 156% | 40% | 36% | 83% | 58% | 24% | 22% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Petrohué Waterfalls
Chile
- —Height
- 145 m³/sAverage flow
- Jun–SepBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q430990) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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