Llao Llao Peninsula

According to Spanish Wikipedia, the peninsula is about 4 km long and 3.8 km wide and lies within both Nahuel Huapi National Park and the Llao Llao municipal park. The national park itself conserves more than 717,000 hectares (over 7,100 square kilometres) across Río Negro and Neuquén provinces, according to Argentina's national parks administration. English Wikipedia describes it as Argentina's oldest national park, with roots in the Parque Nacional del Sud of 1922 and created as Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi in 1934, after Francisco Perito Moreno donated land to the federal government in 1903. Nahuel Huapi comes from Mapuche words usually translated as jaguar island, and the lake surrounding the peninsula covers about 544 square kilometres and reaches a depth of 425 m.

The peninsula has a gently rolling relief with hills no higher than about 300 m, the most notable being Cerro Llao Llao. Its Andean-Patagonian forest is mainly coihue, cypress and arrayán. Native animals include the huillín (southern river otter), huemul, pudú and red fox, while boar, hare and several deer species were introduced by Europeans during the 20th century. Before Europeans arrived, the peninsula and surrounding areas were inhabited by the Mapuche. Only a small settlement, Villa Llao Llao, and some private estates are found there today.

The hotel sits on a hill between Moreno Lake and Nahuel Huapi Lake. Its name comes from a fungus very common in the region that grows on ñire and coihue trees. The original wooden hotel, designed by the architect Alejandro Bustillo, opened in January 1938, was destroyed by fire in October 1939 and reopened on 15 December 1940, according to English Wikipedia. A year later Bustillo built a new hotel of reinforced concrete and stone, with the help of the German landscape architect Hermann Botrich. Bustillo, born in Buenos Aires in 1889, also designed the Banco de la Nación headquarters in the capital and other well-known buildings across Argentina. After a long closure, the hotel was renovated and reopened in 1993. It hosts the annual Semana Musical Llao Llao classical music festival and, since 2012, the Llao Llao Forum, a gathering of business and public figures that arose after the 2011 Puyehue volcano eruption.

The San Eduardo Chapel, built in 1938 to a design by Bustillo, is a small chapel in a mountain style with neo-Gothic features. It stands on a slight rise about 300 m from the hotel and Puerto Pañuelo, funded by a donation from Juana G. de Devoto. The walls are stone, the roof is covered with alerce shingles, and the front uses rough-cut cypress logs. In 1973 it received a frieze called Retablo donated by the painter Raúl Soldi, illustrating scenes from the life of Saint Edward the Confessor. Spanish Wikipedia describes the chapel as a regional architectural landmark at the centre of the peninsula.

Puerto Pañuelo, on the peninsula's north coast, is the departure point for many boat excursions across Nahuel Huapi Lake, which also contains Isla Victoria, a natural reserve reached by boat. Part of the Circuito Chico scenic route runs through the peninsula. A private guided visit suits the area because the hotel, chapel, port and viewpoints are spread along a short loop and a guide can explain the architecture and history at each stop.