Other than the lake and its inspiring views toward Volcán Osorno, Puerto Varas’s main attraction is its Germanic colonial architecture. The most imposing single structure is the Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón (1915), a national monument whose steeple soars above the town from the corner of San Francisco and María Brunn. When lit at night, it’s best seen from the corner of Imperial and Santa Rosa.

Numerous private residences are national monuments; they and many others appear in a map brochure entitled Paseo Patrimonial; despite repeated assurances, there have been no reprints, but it’s still worth asking about. The monuments, mostly in residential neighborhoods northwest and west of downtown, include the Casa Kuschel (1910) at Klenner 299, the Casona Alemana (1914) at Nuestra Señora del Carmen 788, the deteriorating Casa Maldonado (1915) at Quintanilla 852, Casa Angulo (1910) at Miraflores 96, Casa Opitz (1913) at Terraplén 861, Casa Gotschlich (1932) at Dr. Otto Bader 701-05, and Casa Yunge (1932) at San Ignacio 711. A couple of impressive nonmonuments are hospedajes: the Casa Schwerter (1941–1942), at Nuestra Señora del Carmen 873, and the Casa Hitschfeld (1930) at Arturo Prat 107.

For some years after the Santiago–Puerto Montt railroad closed, the former Estación del Ferrocarril (Klenner s/n) sat empty, but it’s been recently revamped into the Centro Cultural Estación, a gallery and events center. Since the railroad revived in 2005, it’s once again a train station—but with more style than before.