Close to this city are the waterfalls of Petrohue, take the bus to Ensenada, some of them continue via Parque Nacional Vicente Perez Rosales until to Lago todo los Santos from where you could take a boat. Or walk back for about 6km to visit the waterfalls. in January there are annoying but harmless insects in that parque
Another place to visit is the small city Frutillar; it has a museum of the first colonists in that area. (the city has to parts the part close to the lake is for most visitors
Puerto Varas is a great base for Volcano Climbing, there are numerous volcanoes in the vicinity including Osorno & Calbuco, a guide to climbing them can be found here (http://www.trekchile.com)
