Lake · Chile
Villarrica Lake
Lake in Chile
- Area
- 172km²
- Average depth
- 49m
- Elevation
- 215m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 71km
- Volume
- 8.5km³
Villarrica Lake is a lake in Chile. It covers 172 km². On average it is 49 m deep. Its surface lies 215 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Villarrica Lake?
The water is warmest in February, around 20 °C at the surface, and coldest in July, around 8 °C. It rarely averages 20 °C, but it stays above 17 °C from December to March: brisk, refreshing swimming.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 21 °C on average in February and 6 °C in July. The driest month is January (32 mm of rain), the wettest June (176 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (72 readings). Shallow bays and beaches are often warmer.
From above
The whole lake from space
Month by month
The year at the lake, month by month
Not a forecast: these are averages over many years. Water is the 2013–2021 average; air, rain, sun and wind are the 1991–2020 average.
Water: 2013–2021 averageClimate: 1991–2020 average
| Month | Water°C | Water high°C | Air high°C | Air low°C | Rainmm | Rainy daysdays | Sunh/day | Windkm/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19 | 20 | 21 | 8 | 32 | 5 | 11.9 | 7 |
| February | 20 | 20 | 21 | 8 | 32 | 5 | 11.1 | 7 |
| March | 18 | 19 | 18 | 6 | 48 | 8 | 9.2 | 7 |
| April | 15 | 17 | 14 | 3 | 72 | 11 | 6.7 | 7 |
| May | 12 | 14 | 10 | 2 | 127 | 16 | 4.3 | 8 |
| June | 10 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 176 | 19 | 2.8 | 8 |
| July | 8 | 9 | 6 | -1 | 162 | 18 | 3.4 | 8 |
| August | 8 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 139 | 17 | 4.1 | 8 |
| September | 9 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 87 | 13 | 6.2 | 8 |
| October | 12 | 13 | 12 | 2 | 84 | 12 | 7.6 | 8 |
| November | 15 | 16 | 15 | 4 | 63 | 10 | 9.5 | 8 |
| December | 18 | 19 | 18 | 6 | 47 | 8 | 11.1 | 8 |
Water: LakeTEMP (Landsat 8, 2013–2021). Air, rain, sun and wind: NASA POWER, 1991–2020 averages. A rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. Sunshine hours are derived from measured solar radiation.
Size & depth
How big, how deep
- On average, water stays in the lake for about 23 months before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 2,945 km² of land.
- About 139 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Villarrica Lake
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 22beaches and swimming spots
Playa Linda, Playa Grande, La Puntilla Villarrica, Playa Pucará, Playa Blanca and 17 more
- 10campsites
Camping La Poza, Camping Las Rosas, Camping Aynoa, Huimpalay Lemu, Camping MC and 5 more
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 7marinas and slipways
Ski Acuático y Wakeboard Pucón, Club Náutico Puerta del Sol, Marina Pucón, Canto Del Lago, Enbarcadero Villarrica and 2 more
- —ferry piers
- 9viewpoints
Lago Villarrica / Costanera, Cementerio Pucón, Mirador Canela, Vista de Pucón y volcán Villarrica, Vista Panorámica and 4 more
- 182hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Hospedaje Sonia, Pucón-Hostel, Ruca-Malal, Hotel del Volcan, Elementos Bed & Breakfast and 177 more
- —fishing spots
- 158restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Villarrica49,184 people
- Pucón26,953 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: La Araucanía International Airport (ZCO), 62 km in a straight line.
Car hire at ZCO airport (Temuco)Discover Cars · Affiliate linkOpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Recent years
How each month compared
Afternoon high on the shore. The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years below show the difference from it: warmer in orange, cooler in blue.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–2020 average | 20.8 | 21.1 | 18.3 | 13.5 | 9.8 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 7.0 | 10.0 | 12.3 | 15.1 | 18.1 |
| 2020 | +1.8 | +0.7 | +3.2 | +2.1 | +1.0 | −1.6 | −1.6 | −0.5 | +0.5 | +1.3 | +2.4 | +0.1 |
| 2021 | +0.6 | +3.6 | +4.4 | +2.3 | +0.7 | +0.7 | +1.9 | +1.3 | +1.1 | +1.7 | +2.5 | +5.8 |
| 2022 | +1.2 | +1.5 | −0.8 | −1.6 | −0.3 | +0.1 | −1.3 | +0.9 | +1.2 | +1.8 | +6.4 | +4.4 |
| 2023 | +4.1 | +3.4 | +1.8 | +3.1 | +2.0 | +2.0 | +0.5 | −0.1 | −1.7 | +0.5 | −1.2 | +2.9 |
| 2024 | +4.9 | +4.7 | +0.1 | −1.5 | −4.2 | −0.4 | +0.8 | +0.8 | −2.0 | +4.3 | −0.3 | +2.7 |
| 2025 | +3.7 | +1.4 | +0.5 | −0.3 | −1.2 | −0.2 | +2.6 | +2.6 | +0.5 | +0.4 | +2.9 | +1.3 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
ArgentinaAbout these numbers
| Outline, area, depth, volume | HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Water temperature and ice | LakeTEMP v1 (Korver et al. 2024), Landsat 8 2013–2021 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Air, rain, sun, wind | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · public domain |
| Names and description | Wikidata (Q1800412) · CC0 |
| Around the shore | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
