The story
Festival Costumbrista de Calbuco in Calbuco
On its own small archipelago near Puerto Montt, Calbuco holds a February costumbrista festival built around its identity as a fishing and shellfish town, with curanto, seafood dishes and craft stalls lining the waterfront. Smaller and less touristed than Chiloe island destinations, it offers a grounded, regional introduction to the wider Chiloe-adjacent coast's food and craft traditions.
Calbuco sits on its own small archipelago at the mouth of the Reloncavi estuary near Puerto Montt, a cluster of islands connected by bridge to the mainland rather than part of the larger Isla Grande de Chiloe to its south, though the two share close cultural and maritime ties.