andBeyond Vira Vira America – South America – Chile

The Lake District reveals itself gradually to those who arrive from the north – the landscape softening from desert & steppe into something greener & more insistent, until suddenly the volcanoes appear & the scale of the place becomes clear. Villarrica, active & snow-capped, is visible from the lodge at almost every hour of the day, its plume of smoke a quiet reminder that this is a landscape still in the process of being made.

The suites do not compete with their surroundings – they extend them. Local wood & stone, hand-woven fabrics in the colours of the lake & the forest & the generous proportions of a hacienda built for long stays rather than quick visits: the design speaks a language that is unmistakably of this place.

The garden feeds the kitchen, the dairy supplies the cheese & the river provides the trout. This is not a marketing proposition – it is the actual logic of the food, where the distance between soil & plate is measured in footsteps rather than supply chains.

Water defines this property as completely as the volcano defines the skyline. The outdoor hot tubs along the riverbank offer a particular kind of pleasure – warmth against the cool Andean air, the Liucura moving below, the forest on the far bank entirely indifferent to your contentment. The lagoon, still & reflective, holds the surrounding landscape in miniature: the perfect conditions for doing nothing with great intention.

The Lake District has been drawing people in search of restoration for generations – the thermal springs, the forest air, the particular quality of silence that only active volcanic landscapes produce. The spa does not try to improve on this inheritance. It draws from it: treatments informed by the region’s botanical & mineral richness, spaces designed to extend the calm of the outdoors rather than replace it & a pace calibrated to the unhurried rhythm of a property that has no interest in rushing its guests toward anything.

The andBeyond philosophy of care for the land, wildlife & people extends, into an approach to hospitality that feels genuinely personal rather than professionally managed. The guides who lead the volcanic ascents & the river expeditions bring the same quality of knowledge & enthusiasm as the best wilderness guides anywhere in the world.

After a day on the volcano or the river, the library performs a quiet act of restoration: a fire, a glass of Chilean red, a book chosen from the shelves that someone else has clearly loved before you. It is one of those spaces that earns its place in a stay by making everything else feel more complete. The Quesería – the lodge’s own boutique dairy – offers something rarer: the cheese wheel turning slowly in its cave, the process explained by the hands that manage it, the tasting that follows as honest & direct as the landscape outside.

The activity offer is, in the simplest terms, one of the most comprehensive available anywhere in South America & what elevates it above a catalogue of options is the quality of access the lodge provides. The helicopter opens the Andes in a way that no road ever could: depositing a guest on a remote river bend for a morning of fly fishing, or at the snowfield of a volcano accessible to no one without this particular kind of key.

Children do not experience a diluted version of the adult stay. They experience their own, entirely distinct version of the same landscape – through the WILDchild programme, which moves between the vegetable garden, the river, the stables & the snow with an intelligence that mirrors andBeyond’s broader philosophy: that the natural world is best understood by engaging with it directly, at whatever age you happen to be.

The Lake District delivers a different gift in each season. Summer brings long days, warm river swimming & the full activity calendar at its most expansive: the volcano accessible, the rivers at their most inviting, the evenings long enough to delay every decision. Winter transforms the property into something else entirely: Villarrica cloaked in deep snow, the heli-skiing & snowmobile excursions coming into their own, the hot tubs & the library earning their place with new urgency.

andBeyond Vira Vira has rightfully earned its place among the world’s Top 1000 hotels, where art, design, service & setting converge in rare harmony to create an experience that feels profoundly luxurious yet unmistakably human. Rooted in its pristine natural surroundings, sustainable farm-to-table living is elevated to a refined expression of place, transforming each meal into a celebration of origin, seasonality & craft. Days unfold as carefully curated journeys, shaped by the rhythm of the landscape & tailored with thoughtful precision – invigorating the spirit through adventure while indulging the senses with understated elegance.