Fuerte Bulnes & Puerto del Hambre
Fuerte Bulnes / Parque del Estrecho de Magallanes
The first wooden fort Chile built in the Strait of Magellan in 1843, combined with the nearby Port Hunger, the site of a failed 16th-century Spanish colony, into a strait park.
Fuerte Bulnes is on Cape Santa Ana, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) south of the city. In 1843 Chile sent the Ancud here to establish the fort and assert sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan. Today the reconstructed wooden stockade, chapel and barracks remain. Nearby is Port Hunger, the site of “Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe,” founded by the Spaniard Sarmiento de Gamboa in 1584, where almost all the colonists starved to death. The two sites are now part of the Magellan Strait Park, with a visitor center, trails and strait viewpoints, as well as a monument marking the Geographic Centre of Continental Chile. Admission is about 20,000 Chilean pesos. Most visitors come on half-day tours or drive themselves.
Opening hours
Approx. 09:00–18:00 (shorter in winter)
Nearby sights
- Costanera del Estrecho
- Plaza Muñoz Gamero & Magellan Monument
- Magallanes Regional Museum (Braun-Menéndez Palace)
- Palacio Sara Braun
- Cerro de la Cruz Viewpoint
- Salesian Museum Maggiorino Borgatello
- Sara Braun Municipal Cemetery
- Monumento al Ovejero