EQUIFASE 2027

Venue

EQUIFASE 2027 will be held in Pucón, a small lakeside town in the Araucanía Region of southern Chile, set on the shores of Lake Villarrica and in the shadow of the Villarrica Volcano, one of the country's most active and most photographed peaks. Long established as Chile's premier center for outdoor and adventure tourism, Pucón offers an unusually rich setting for a scientific gathering: participants can go white-water rafting on the Trancura River, hike or climb to the crater rim of the volcano itself, explore volcanic caves, ride on horseback or by mountain bike through the surrounding araucaria and native forest, and unwind afterward in one of the many natural hot springs and thermal complexes scattered through the hills nearby. The lake itself, framed by forested slopes and the volcano's near-perfect cone, gives the town a dramatic backdrop that changes with every season, from wildflowers and pleasant temperatures in the austral spring to opportunities for skiing on the volcano's slopes in winter. Beyond its natural attractions, Pucón has developed a full complement of restaurants, cafés and craft-focused shops, giving delegates plenty to explore during breaks between sessions or on free afternoons.

The conference itself will take place at Hotel Enjoy Pucón, one of the town's best-known hotels and a longstanding host to conventions and corporate events in the region. Overlooking Lake Villarrica with direct views of the volcano, the hotel combines classic architecture with the amenities expected of a full-service resort: 139 guest rooms across standard, superior and suite categories, several restaurants offering both international and traditional Chilean cuisine, a spa and wellness center, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, and an on-site casino and entertainment complex that has long made it a social hub for visitors to the area. For the conference program, the hotel provides five dedicated meeting and event rooms totaling over 1,100 square meters of function space, with a combined capacity for well over a thousand attendees, along with business-center services, high-speed wireless connectivity throughout the public areas, and an experienced events team accustomed to coordinating conferences of this scale.

Taken together, the lake, the volcano and the surrounding forest make Pucón one of the most striking settings the EQUIFASE series has visited, while Hotel Enjoy Pucón's combination of ample meeting space, comfortable accommodation and recreational facilities under one roof offers participants the same fusion of business and leisure that has characterized past editions of the conference — a fitting environment in which to bring the Ibero-American thermodynamics community back together for its fourteenth meeting, forty years after the series began in neighboring Concepción.

Travel

To get to Pucón from Santiago you can choose between:

Plane + transfer

LATAM, Sky Airline and JetSMART all operate several daily flights from Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport (SCL) in Santiago to La Araucanía International Airport (ZCO) in Temuco, with a flight time of around one hour. From Temuco airport, the easiest way to reach Pucón (about 100 km, roughly 1–1.5 hours by road) is a door-to-door shuttle or transfer service, several of which operate directly from the arrivals hall; taxis and rental cars are also available. Travelers on a tighter budget can instead take a local bus into central Temuco and connect there with a JAC bus to Pucón, departing roughly every 30 minutes.

Direct bus

Several companies — including JAC, Turbus and Condor Bus — run direct long-distance coaches from Santiago's southern bus terminals (Terminal Sur / Terminal Alameda) straight to Pucón's own bus terminal. The journey takes roughly 9–11 hours, often overnight, and is the most economical option, with reclining "semi-cama" or "cama" seats available for extra comfort on the longer ride.

Once in Pucón, the town center, its restaurants, shops and lakeside promenade are all easily reached on foot, and Hotel Enjoy Pucón is within short walking distance of the main street, O'Higgins. For excursions further afield — the volcano, hot springs, waterfalls and surrounding national parks — taxis, organized tours and rental cars are readily available in town.