Los Muermosthe town born of the train

Where Los Muermos is, what it is built on and why its soil matters.

3.1 Location

The commune's capital lies in the central valley, between latitudes 41°15′ and 41°30′ south. It is not on Route 5: it is reached by road V-60, which links it with El Tepual airport and with Puerto Montt, about 47 km away. From the city, the Municipality records Cañitas at 10 km, Río Frío at 12 km, Palihue at 30 km, Estaquilla at 45 km and Hua-Huar at 54 km.

3.2 Terrain and setting

The territory has two halves. The eastern one is a plain at roughly 100 to 200 m elevation where the city (elevation close to 150 m), Cañitas (81 m) and Río Frío (124 m) are located. The western half rises into the Cordillera de la Costa (Coastal Range), in the hills known as the Cordillera del Sarao, with peaks of about 500 m in the north-west. According to our own grid of 345 points on a digital elevation model, half of the commune lies below 115 m and only one in ten samples exceeds 300 m.

3.3 Hydrography

3.4 Soils

According to the municipal PLADECO (Plan de Desarrollo Comunal, the commune development plan; an old document, from around 2006-2008), 44 % of the commune is trumao soil of volcanic ash and 40 % is metamorphic soil of the southern coast. Ñadis occupy 7 % (about 8,500 ha) and alluvial soils 1 %. Land-use capability comes from the 1975-76 study by INDAP (Chile's agricultural development institute): class VII, suited to forestry and livestock, covers 54,419 ha (43 %), and class III, suited to cultivation with limitations, 39,565 ha. There is no more recent verified soil survey.

• Advantage: trumao supports pasture and potatoes, the historic vocation of the valley.
• Limitation: the red clay soils of the coastal hills have severe limitations for cultivation; they suit forestry and extensive livestock farming.
• Risk: ñadi, with a hardened layer that blocks drainage, floods in winter; it should be visited between May and August and the water table checked.
• Real estate implication: two lots of the same size may be worth the same in the listing and perform differently depending on whether they lie on trumao, ñadi or hillside: soil is judged on site, not on the plan.

An oceanic climate with a long, rainy winter and a short, mild summer: water sets the calendar.

The commune has a temperate oceanic climate, Köppen classification Cfb. There are no 1991-2020 climate normals from a station inside it: the INIA Los Canelos station (DMC 410036) has operated within the commune since 2009, but the Dirección Meteorológica de Chile (DMC, the national weather service) does not publish normals for it. The figures in this section are those of El Tepual, about 30 km east of the city and outside the commune; on the coast, exposed to the Pacific, the climate is windier and wetter, although there are no verified figures to measure it.

The El Tepual normals show a trend toward less rain: 1,844.7 mm in 1931-1960, 1,802.5 mm in 1961-1990, 1,615.4 mm in 1981-2010 and 1,565.6 mm in 1991-2020. This coincides with the summer drought and the dry wells that residents describe.

A town with no founder and no founding charter, born of timber and of a railway line that did not reach where it was meant to.

1. Before the 19th century

   Huilliches and cuncos

   According to the Municipality, the central valley was inhabited by huilliches and the coast by cuncos. The commune is not among the population centers of the Spanish colony.

2. Late 19th century

   The alerceros

   Families arrive in search of alerce and build temporary logging hamlets. Stable settlement would come much later.

3. 1914

   The railway is decided

   During the government of Ramón Barros Luco, a branch line is proposed from Río Negro to the banks of the Maullín, to improve communication with Chiloé.

4. 1929

   Construction begins

   Works begin on the Corte Alto–Los Muermos branch line. The junction was fixed at Corte Alto, and not at Río Negro as had been planned; many workers followed the line from the north.

5. 1933-34

   The first residents

   The Municipality dates the settlement of the first residents from 1933. In 1934 the Comité Pro-Adelanto (a local progress committee) is formed, and the Carabineros post and school No. 24 arrive.

6. 1936-37

   Chapel and schools

   The first chapel is built, the origin of the San Pedro parish, and school No. 30 opens. According to the Plan Municipal de Cultura (municipal culture plan), the post office had already been operating since 1935.

7. 1940

   The train arrives

   The branch line opens its last station at Los Muermos, around September 1940. The project to continue to Maullín was dropped; the town ends up at the end of the line.

8. 1943

   Civil Registry, fire brigades and football

   The first Registro Civil (civil registry) office opens, and the Club Atlético Independiente and the fire companies are born.

9. 1952-56

   School, electricity and milk

   In 1952 the Hermanas de la Caridad del Sagrado Corazón (Sisters of Charity of the Sacred Heart) arrive and the Ramón Ángel Jara liceo (secondary school) is founded. Electricity arrives in 1953 and in 1956 the Chiprodal dairy industry is established.

10. 1960

    The earthquake that barely touched it

    The earthquake and tsunami of 22 May caused serious damage at Quenuir, today in the commune of Maullín. In Los Muermos the damage “was not significant”; the American Red Cross financed 36 homes in the población Minnesota.

11. 1962

    The commune is born

    On 1 January the commune is constituted; for almost 50 years it had been a municipal delegation of Maullín. The legal instrument creating it is cited differently depending on the source, so only the date of constitution is given.

12. 1960s-80s

    Paved road, railway in retreat

    The paving of roads V-60 and V-46 reduces use of the railway, which ends its operations in the 1980s. The old station warehouse is preserved, next to the municipal library.

13. 2012-2022

    A zoning plan that was not approved

    The plan regulador (zoning plan) project begun in 2012 proposed an urban limit of 623.9 ha. On 11 August 2022 the Municipal Council suspended and ended the environmental procedure: the commune remained without a plan.

14. 2022

    Maullín Wetlands Nature Sanctuary

    Decree 2 declares a wetland of about 8,100 ha, shared by five communes including Los Muermos, a nature sanctuary; it is managed by the Municipality of Maullín.

15. 2025-2026

    Two plans under way

    In June 2025 the environmental assessment begins of an update to the zoning plan for Los Muermos, Cañitas and Río Frío; in August 2026 the Regional Government starts the Plan Regulador Intercomunal de Llanquihue (Llanquihue intercommunal zoning plan), which includes the commune.

In the 2002 Census, 393 people declared themselves as belonging to an indigenous people; in 2024, 2,698.

According to the 2024 Census, 15.7 % of the population declares belonging to an indigenous people (2,698 people), below the regional average (26.6 %) and above the national one (11.4 %). The series is striking: 393 people (2.3 %) in the 2002 Census, 2,753 (16.1 %) in 2017 and 2,698 in 2024. Almost all of the jump occurred between the first two censuses, and most of those who identify do so as Mapuche (15.4 % of the population in 2017).

The mix is visible in the calendar: the Festival de Los Muermos and the twelve summer country festivals sit alongside the patron saint festivals, and the Plan Municipal de Cultura recognizes Mapuche roots in food, rites and dress. The name itself refers to a tree of the area, the muermo —a common name for the ulmo (Eucryphia cordifolia)—, although no municipal source documents that the town was named for that reason.

7.1 Population and growth

7.2 Age structure (2024 Census)

Los Muermos is aging without growing. The commune added 94 inhabitants between 2017 and 2024 (+0.6 %), against 7.4 % in the region, and its older adult index rose from 74.6 to 106.9: there are now more people aged 65 or over (3,087) than under 15. The masculinity index is balanced (100.9), above the regional (96.5) and national (94.3) figures.

The population is mostly rural: 9,278 people live in the countryside and 7,884 in urban areas. The city of Los Muermos lost inhabitants (8,106 in 2017 against 7,876 in 2024, −2.8 %), while the commune as a whole gained 94 inhabitants.

8.1 Poverty and social indicators (Casen 2024 and Registro Social de Hogares)

Casen 2024 (Chile's national household survey) uses a new methodology and is not comparable with 2022: the previous edition of the commune report showed 11.6 % income poverty and 29.2 % multidimensional poverty, and concluding from this that income poverty doubled would be a mistake. What can be read clearly is the relative position: Los Muermos is above the region and the country on both measures. The most revealing indicator is basic services: more than a third of people (35.6 %) live in households without complete basic services, compared with 22.8 % regionally. In a commune with a 54 % rural population, this points to water, sanitation and electricity.

8.2 Economic activity (SII) and municipal finances (SINIM)

Almost two of every three pesos of the municipality's revenue come from the Fondo Común Municipal, that is, from redistribution from richer communes. The own revenue base is modest: commercial licenses total $120 million and municipal property tax $516 million. For a buyer, this matters because the municipality's ability to improve roads, rural water or services depends on transfers.

The value of Los Muermos land rests on a small-scale agrarian economy, with no anchor agribusiness within the commune.

9.1 Dairy and livestock

The main activity is milk production, followed by cattle breeding and fattening, according to the municipal PLADECO (from around 2006-2008; no later verified instrument exists). That document counted some 100 cooling tanks and some 300 small producers, with five collection centers that shipped to plants in Llanquihue, Frutillar, Nueva Braunau and Valdivia. There is no dairy plant or livestock fair in the commune: cattle are sold at the fairs of Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas. In those years the commune held 1.85 % of the regional area and 3.58 % of its cattle.

The reading is of an agrarian commune by businesses and by tradition, but with a chain that closes outside it: milk and cattle leave unprocessed. This limits local added value and leaves producers exposed to the price paid by whichever plant is buying at the time, as well as to transport costs.

9.2 Potatoes and crops

The potato is the emblematic crop. In December 2023 the SAG (Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero, the agriculture and livestock service), when calling in Los Muermos for registration of potato plantings, described it as “a commune that stands out nationally for potato production”. Llanquihue Province has more than 3,000 producers and some 10,000 ha of potatoes according to the 2021 Agricultural Census. It was not possible to obtain the commune-level figures of that census, so they are omitted from this guide.

9.3 Other economic pillars

• Artisanal fishing and gathering on the coast: the Estaquilla cove had about 646 inhabitants and 34 boats (Plan Municipal de Cultura, 2019-2020), with loco fishing and port infrastructure delivered in October 2017. The PLADECO listed management areas and one aquaculture concession for molluscs; today the commune receives no aquaculture license revenue.
• Native forest and alerce: the 1997 diagnosis included in the PLADECO counted 47,390 ha of native forest, with alerce at Hua-Huar, Quillagua and Estaquilla. In 2023 residents reported deforestation caused by rural subdivisions and unregulated extraction of pompón (peat).
• Commerce and services: commerce employs 420 dependent workers, education 330 and public administration 313: education and public administration together account for more than a quarter of dependent jobs.
• Employment outside the commune: many residents work in Puerto Montt and travel daily. The PLADECO already warned of the risk of becoming a “dormitory town”.

10.1 Available properties and property types

Supply is almost entirely rural land. On Yapo (a Chilean classifieds portal; queried on 10 November 2026) the “lots and land” category for Los Muermos had 151 priced listings, of which 79 are parcels of between 4,500 and 6,500 m². Farms of more than 3 ha are less than a quarter, and there are only 5 listings in the “fincas” (farm estates) category. Produncan Lands markets more than ten properties within the commune boundaries.

10.2 Average price by property type (indicative, November 2026)

These are asking prices, not closing prices, and Yapo mixes old and recent listings with no visible date. In the same query, the ~5,000 m² parcel has a median of 532 UF in Fresia (35 listings) and 1,937 UF in Puerto Varas, 3.2 times higher than in Los Muermos (in the latter commune only 120 of 534 listings were reviewed, so it is not a random sample). That is, Los Muermos is much cheaper than Puerto Varas and somewhat more expensive than Fresia.

As for the cycle, applications to subdivide rural properties fell 62.4 % in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period of 2022 (Diario Financiero, 2025). The same report quotes experts who speak of the end of the parcel “boom”, of oversupply and of falling prices, in an adjustment of two to five years.

10.3 What determines the price in Los Muermos

What the planning instrument of this commune permits and prohibits: strictly speaking, almost nothing, because there is none in force.

Los Muermos has no plan regulador comunal (PRC, the commune zoning plan) in force. The explanatory report (memoria) of the 2013 draft zoning plan, published on the Municipality's website, says so: there is no regulatory territorial plan in the commune, so the Ley General de Urbanismo y Construcciones (LGUC, the general urban planning and construction law) and its ordinance for rural areas apply throughout its territory. The only thing in force is an urban limit for the city of Los Muermos, set by Decree 253 of the Ministerio de Obras Públicas (Ministry of Public Works, 31 January 1963) and modified by Decree 1063 (13 August 1971), of about 170 ha. The report considers it “out of use” and calculates that the real consolidated area already exceeded it by 20 ha in 2013. Cañitas and Río Frío have no instrument in force.

The 2013 draft identified two types of risk within urban areas: zones prone to flooding from overflowing watercourses and waterlogging (30.1 ha in the city) and landslide zones (34.0 ha). The areas indicated were the east of the city, the south-west of Cañitas and the west of Río Frío. Because the draft was never approved, these areas are not regulatory, but they do indicate where flooding occurs.

Outside the urban limits —that is, across all of the countryside, the coast and Estaquilla— rural land rules apply. There is no heritage zone (zona típica) or declared national monument in the commune (Plan Municipal de Cultura, 2021); the protection that does exist is that of the Humedales del Río Maullín Nature Sanctuary (2022), shared with four other communes, and that of native forest (Law 20,283), which requires a management plan approved by CONAF (the national forestry corporation) before it can be intervened. No tsunami flood map was found for the coast.

The commune is not organized into neighborhoods but into a center and a constellation of rural localities, each at a different distance and along a different road. The city holds 7,876 inhabitants; most of the rest live in hamlets and scattered areas. The 2017 Census showed seven rural census districts, the largest of which, Palihue, had 2,076 inhabitants.

Practical information that rarely appears in descriptions of a commune but that nonetheless determines whether any property is viable.

Los Muermos has no hospital: all medium- and high-complexity care takes place in Puerto Montt.

The commune belongs to the network of the Servicio de Salud Reloncaví (Reloncaví Health Service), and its primary care depends on the municipal Departamento de Salud (DESAM). According to the BCN's Reporte Comunal (July 2026), the commune has seven facilities: one family health center, one primary emergency care service and five rural health posts. The mayor himself said as much in 2017: “we only have a Cesfam”.

Those registered in primary care (20,521 in December 2025) exceed the census population (17,162), a common over-registration in the public system. No local SAMU (emergency medical service) base was verified: the nearest is in Frutillar.

15.1 School education

In 2025 the commune had 3,847 students and 25 schools: 12 subsidized private and 13 dependent on the Servicio Local de Educación Pública (SLEP) Llanquihue, to which the municipal schools were transferred. No municipal schools remain. In 2011 there were 41 (26 municipal); the drop reflects closures and mergers of rural schools, so that year's list is not valid as a current list.

The pattern is clear: in grade 4 the commune is on a par with the country, but in grade 8 and grade 10 it falls between 9 and 14 points below the region (and up to 22 below the country, in grade 10 mathematics). The average schooling of the adult population, 8.5 years against 9.8 in the region, points in the same direction.

15.2 Higher education

No campus of a university, professional institute or technical training center was found in the commune. The PLADECO noted that those seeking higher education go to Puerto Montt, and it is reasonable to assume this is still so, although the current data is not verified.

Los Muermos is not a commune of lakes or volcanoes: its natural setting is the Pacific. Almost 60 km of open coast, with rocky shores, dunes and a fishing cove, lie an hour from the commune capital and between an hour and a half and two hours from El Tepual airport (estimate from map).

As for protected areas, there are no national parks or national monuments within the commune. The Maullín River sanctuary is shared and managed by Maullín, so it should not be presented as an attraction of Los Muermos itself.

17.1 Road network

Los Muermos is not on Route 5 South: its main access is road V-60, which is paved, passes El Tepual airport and reaches Puerto Montt and Route 5. The V-46 runs north to south, and the V-60 and V-510 east to west.

The pavement condition of the V-46, V-50 and V-510 comes from a 2013 municipal study, so it must be verified with Vialidad (the roads directorate of the MOP) before deciding. In Cañitas and Río Frío only the V-46 and V-50 are paved: the internal streets are gravel or dirt.

17.2 El Tepual Airport

Puerto Montt's airport, El Tepual, lies in the commune of Puerto Montt, about 35 km from the city of Los Muermos and on the road that links it with Puerto Montt. It is the gateway airport for those arriving in the commune from other regions.

17.3 Road and urban transportation

• Bus terminal: there is a terminal in the city. In 2010, six companies served the route to Puerto Montt, with departures every 10 minutes on weekdays (99 daily); the fare rose from $2,000 to $2,500 in February 2025.
• Railway: the Corte Alto–Los Muermos branch line arrived in 1940 and ended its operations in the 1980s. There is no passenger service.

18.1 Tourism development

In 2021 the Municipality commissioned a Tourism Development Plan, financed by the Subsecretaría de Desarrollo Regional (the regional development undersecretariat) ($16 million); the then mayor spoke of fishing, native forests and almost pristine beaches. The published document was not found. The appeal is mainly coastal, and the country festivals are concentrated in summer.

18.2 Tourist attractions in the commune

• Estaquilla Cove: wooden walkways with viewpoints over rocky shores, a waterfall and caves on the beach; the cove has port infrastructure delivered in 2017.
• Hua-Huar Beach: dunes, beach and river near the mouth, 54 km from the city.
• Cañitas and Río Frío: heritage houses from the 1930s, used as hotels and inns, and the Río Frío church, built with donations from residents whose names are engraved on the pews.
• Punta de Rieles themed plaza (2016): a tribute to the railway station, next to the old warehouse.

18.3 Museums and culture

• “Manuela Sánchez” School Museum (2011): at the Colegio Ramón Ángel Jara; it tells the story of the railway and of the Sacred Heart sisters. It received about 500 visitors in 2019.
• Cultural Center: opened in 1998 and expanded in 2010, next to the Plaza de Armas (2011).
• Municipal Library: opened in 2013, next to the old station warehouse (Bernardo O'Higgins street).

18.4 Food and dining

The cuisine blends the sea of Estaquilla with the vegetable gardens and pastures of the valley. Dishes from the cove include chupe de loco (a loco stew) and caldillo de mariscos (seafood broth); in the valley, the potato has its own festival, “Rayando la Papa”.

• Asado Muermino: a festival born in 2013, held in late January in the Plaza de Armas; it drew more than 12,000 attendees in 2019.
• Loco of Estaquilla: the harvest season starts in March and lasts about six months; the Fiesta del Loco is held in July, organized by the fishermen's union (2022 date).

18.5 Nature and the outdoors nearby

• Estaquilla and Hua-Huar coast: coastal walks, dunes and sea watching.
• Cordillera del Sarao: coastal hills with native forest, harder to reach.
• Maullín River wetlands: bird watching on the southern boundary, an area shared with Maullín.

18.6 Calendar of events and traditions

What anyone who will live in Los Muermos, and not just visit it, needs to know.

19.1 Sport and identity

• Club Atlético Independiente (CAI): founded in 1943, the same year as the Civil Registry and the fire brigades; it is the city's historic club.
• Club de Leones (Lions Club): since 1963, among the oldest civic institutions of the town.

19.2 Shopping and supplies

The city covers everyday needs: in 2024 there were 404 commerce businesses and 120 transport businesses. For what is missing —higher education, hospital, large stores, major paperwork— the reference city is Puerto Montt, about 50 minutes away.

19.3 Where to handle paperwork

19.4 Cost of living and practical considerations

• The bus fare to Puerto Montt has been $2,500 since February 2025; for those who travel daily, it is a significant fixed expense.
• On rural parcels, a backup power supply (generator or panels) and a well with a proven flow are part of the real cost, not an extra.
• For more complex health care, higher education and large purchases, the cost and time of the trip to Puerto Montt must be taken into account.

An honest reading of the territory. A sound investment decision also requires knowing what doesn't work.

22.1 Sources consulted

22.2 Methodology note and data currency

• Casen 2024 uses a new methodology: its poverty figures are not comparable with those of Casen 2022. SIMCE 2025 is preliminary. The figures of the BCN Reporte Comunal were checked against the official page on 10 November 2026.
• The PLADECO (around 2006-2008), the study of facilities and road capacity (2013) and the land-use capability study (INDAP, 1975-76) are old documents: they are used only where there is no more recent data, and this is indicated.
• Left out because they could not be verified: the 2021 Agricultural Census by commune, the assessed fiscal value per hectare, the costs of extending the electricity grid and of a well, local higher education, the 2024 population by locality, and the commune's own climate normals.
• Road distances and times are estimates based on OpenStreetMap, not official figures. Elevation is our own calculation on a digital elevation model.
• The price ranges for the real estate market are indicative and do not constitute an appraisal: they are asking prices in listings, and some listings labeled “Los Muermos” correspond to areas of neighboring communes. Each property must be assessed individually.
• This document does not constitute legal or tax advice.
• Closing date of this edition: November 2026. It is recommended to review the indicators in sections 7, 8 and 10 annually, as well as the progress of the zoning plan and the intercommunal plan (section 11).