Marble Caves, Chile

It is considered the most beautiful cave network in the world, but you'll have a long journey to reach it.

This spectacular Marble Cathedral, an intricate system of water-filled caverns, is set in the General Carrera lake in Chile's Patagonia - the second largest freshwater lake in South America.

But to reach this remote place, located in the far southern tip of the country, visitors must fly from the capital Santiago, 800 miles to the next nearest large city, Coyhaique, and then drive on challenging dirt roads 200 miles south to the lake.

Marble Caves are little known internationally but those tourists, who come here, are very impressed. Tourists can rent boats in Puerto Tranquilo and take a guided tour to the marble peninsulas and islands. In some places boats go under the ground, through marble tunnels. Naturally, in bad weather boats can not drive near the caves.

Throughout the year the lights and colors in the caves change. In early spring the water is low and the caves have more natural-looking color. But in summer, when the level in the lake rises, the caves are partly inundated and get their eerie blue color. This area has much sun - bad weather stays in the other side of Andes.