Dalcahue is a town located in the central area of Chiloé Island, with a population of approximately 7,200 inhabitants. Its name, derived from Mapudungun, means “place of dalcas”—traditional three-plank boats used by Indigenous peoples and later adopted by the Spanish.
The local economy is based on commerce, tourism, fishing, agriculture, and the salmon farming industry. Among its main attractions are the handicraft market, the Historical Ethnographic Anthropological Museum—built on a palafito and housing collections related to agriculture, crafts, and fishing—and a scale replica of a dalca, a symbol of the town’s maritime heritage.
The Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, built in 1858, is a National Monument and has been designated a World Heritage Site since 2000.
