If you do take the gravel branch road, after a couple of kilometers, you’ll see at the side of the road a huge, ancient Coihué tree with a plaque on it. Then the road continues on a few kilometers to the locally famed Colonia Suiza, an arts-and-crafts-oriented community located next to a little promontory and bay in Lago Moreno Este.
Situated next to a peninsula and bay in Lago Moreno Este, the Colonia Suiza has campgrounds and is the home of an arts-and-crafts community originally founded by Swiss immigrants from Chile in 1908
The Colonia Suiza was originally founded in 1908 by Swiss colonists who emigrated to Argentina from nearby Chile, where they had previously been immigrants. Being of Swiss descent, the inhabitants of the Colonia Suiza still make nice chocolate, preserves, dulce de leche and alfajores, Argentina’s favorite cookies, which you can buy on site or at the colony’s shop in Bariloche.
After you retrace your steps to the Circuito Chico road to continue your way round the circuit, you’ll head left (west) uphill up the lower slopes of Cerro Lopez. At the highest point of this mountainside pass is a lay-by on the inner side of the road with a sign saying ‘Punte Panoramico’. You simply must stop here. Across the road, in another cleared space about 50 or 60 yards long and a few yards wide, local artisans gather to sell shawls, crafts, pastries, preserves and art, and semi-tame small hawks sometimes wander around a few feet away looking for meaty hand-outs.
However, the main attraction at the ‘Punte Panoramico’ is the view. There is an incredible vista out over Lago Moreno Oeste to the five-star Hotel Llao Llao ― which sits on a half-mile-wide isthmus between Lago Moreno Oeste and Lago Nahuel Huapi ― and beyond, right along the length of Lago Nahuel Huapi itself to the distant snow-covered mountains that rise to the north of the huge lake.
From the 'Punte Panoramico' on the Circuito Chico road high above Lago Moreno Oeste, there is a stunning view of Hotel Llao Llao and beyond along Lago Nahuel Huapi to the snow-covered mountains to the north of the lake
You can appreciate why, in 1937, Hotel Llao Llao (pronounced “Zhao Zhao” in Argentinean Spanish) was built where it was. Although the original all-wood building promptly burned down, it was just as promptly rebuilt again, this time with more stone although it retained its Swiss chalet look, and Llao Llao survives today as one of the best (perhaps the best) resort-and-spa hotels in South America.
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