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A holiday designed just for you to suit your tastes and budget.
Fabulous experiences to inspire young minds
Something amazing to look forward to, something wonderful to look back on.
Read what our clients say about their trips to Ecuador
The classic combination.
A few days on the mainland before a Galapagos cruise.
Discover the very best.
Get to know Quito like a native.
Wonderful nature experiences in comfortable style.
The people at the heart of Pacha Mama.
Ride on the 'world's most difficult' railway.
Relax and explore.
Time in the Andes.
Join a group of like-minded travellers to experience Ecuador's classic highlights.
Choose your cruise in the Galapagos Islands, a short flight from mainland Ecuador.
Plenty of action for lively couples, friends and active families.
Great walking, staying at rural guesthouses.
Explore and get fit on leg-stretching day walks staying at comfortable hotels.
Trek to the summit of the highest active volcano in the world.
The best 2 weeks of birding you may ever have.
An essential second visit.
7 days birding in the north east with stunning birding around Wild Sumaco.
Notable birding sites on the western slopes of the Andes, with some key extras.
A great way to round off a birdwatching trip to Andes or Amazon.
Helpful advice and expert knowledge is just a phone call away
Best times, busiest times, and times to avoid.
Getting the best from the options available.
Options for getting about.
We can book your flights, or you could book your own if you prefer.
Destinations that combine well.
What our customers say about their trips to Ecuador
Ecuador's spectacular capital and historic centre.
Volcanoes, wonderful scenery and colourful communities.
Cloud forests, prosperous haciendas, busy traditional markets.
Cuenca, craft villages, and the Valley of Eternal Youth.
Introducing the mighty Amazon Rainforest
Ecuador's Pacific coast is busy with trade, fishing and farming.
'The closest thing to Eden on Earth'. Plan your trip to the islands that inspired Charles Darwin.
The Equator crosses Ecuador 20km north of the capital, Quito.
Colourful local markets and handicrafts.
Visit many of the highlights of Ecuador with the rich hospitality of the country’s most characterful haciendas and fine hotels. Some guided touring is included.
Quito's historic centre of cobbled streets and white washed colonial buildings is one of the most important in Latin America. Wander through the narrow streets, watch lively events in the plazas and visit historical landmarks.
Cotopaxi Volcano rises gracefully from the beautiful high plains of its National Park. An ideal location for walking, stay here in one of the characterful haciendas with years of history to tell.
In the untouched green hills surrounding the town of Banos lies the Spa Hotel Luna Runtun. Relax in luxury with spectacular views and a range of soft adventure activities if you choose.
An outstanding accomplishment of engineering, the Devil's Nose railway descends an impossibly steep rock face. One of the world's great railway experiences.
Cuenca is one of Ecuador's most attractive colonial cities and surprisingly home to the Panama hat. Explore the city, its museums and be sure to buy a hat before you leave!
A small market town deep in the Andes, one of Otavalo's main attractions is its Saturday market, widely reckoned to be the best for textiles and traditional handicrafts in all of South America.
You are met on your arrival at Quito airport and driven to Hotel Patio Andaluz or Mansión del Angel. This is your base for your first 3 nights in Ecuador, allowing you to discover Quito while acclimatising to the altitudes of the Andes.
An experienced local guide meets you at your hotel to introduce you to Quito and Ecuador in the course of a leisurely morning’s walking tour of the historic quarter. The streets of the Old Quarter are closed to traffic on Sundays, and there are often colourful events in one or other of the principal plazas. In the afternoon you might like to continue exploring the city on your own (within a very short walk of Hotel Patio Andaluz are the City Museum, the delightful House of María Augusta Urrutia and La Compañía church), or relax in your hotel.
A free morning in Quito. As today is a Monday, you will be able to get a better look inside Quito’s churches to appreciate their breathtaking gold and silver altars, and perhaps to ride the cable car to the top of Mt Pichincha with its extensive views over the city and to the Avenue of the Volcanoes. In the afternoon your guide takes you to other parts of the city and its surroundings, including a visit to the Equator monument.
Today you are driven south along part of the Avenue of the Volcanoes to Cotopaxi National Park. You visit the beautiful Limpiopungo Lagoon at 3,800m and enjoy the high páramos vegetation, with miniature asters and crocus-like flowers nestling amid lichens and mosses. If you are responding well to the thinness of the air there is the option of walking up to the volcano’s glacier. Then continue to your choice between Hostería La Ciénega or Hacienda San Agustín de Callo for a two night stay.
Free day for walking, riding or relaxing at Hostería La Ciénega or Hacienda San Agustín del Callo.
Today you will be driven along the Avenue of the Volcanoes to Baños where you stay for 2 nights at Hostería Luna Runtun.
Free day to enjoy the hotel and spa.
After a leisurely morning free at Hostería Luna Runtun you will be transferred to Riobamba where you stay for one night at Hotel Abraspungu, a comfortable country inn style hotel just outside the town, ready for an early start next morning for the Devil’s Nose Train.
The engineers who constructed the Trans-Andean Railway between Guayaquil on the coast and Quito in the mountains faced incredible challenges of terrain. Their most outstanding accomplishment was the section completed in 1902 known as the Devil’s Nose, where the track descends an almost perpendicular wall of rock in a tight switchback–one of the great railway journeys of the world. To make the trip even more memorable it used to be the thing to travel on the roof of the train, but in these days of health & safety precautions you will be sitting inside. At present the favoured rolling stock is the ‘Chiva Express’ – a traditional Latin American bus mounted on the chassis of a diesel powered rail coach. You leave from the small station at Riobamba. The single track journey twists and turns through Andean villages and pretty valleys, carrying you over bridges and across steep ravines as you descend to the village of Alausí. From here you descend the Devil’s Nose switchback, pause, then ascend and return to Alausí. You are met off the train to be driven by shared small coach to Cuenca, with a stop to visit the Inca ruins of Ingapirca en route. At historic Cuenca, the principal city of the southern Andes, you stay for three nights in the historic quarter at Mansión Alcázar or Hostería Santa Lucia.
You are collected from your hotel for a morning tour of Cuenca. In the afternoon you are free to relax at the hotel or perhaps to explore some more of the city by yourselves. Don’t forget to buy a Panama hat!
A free day in Cuenca. Though there is plenty to see in the city, you could choose to arrange an optional excursion, eg to Cajas National Park or nearby villages famous for their crafts.
Today you will be transferred to the airport at Cuenca for the short flight back to Quito. On arrival, you will be driven to Otavalo and your choice of one of four distinctive hotels: Hacienda La Zuleta, Hacienda Pinsaqui, Hacienda Cusín, or La Mirage.
A free day at your chosen hotel near Otavalo. Optional excursions can be arranged locally.
Morning visit to Otavalo Market. On Saturdays all four separate markets will be in full operation–the early morning animal market, the handicrafts stalls, fruit and vegetables and the Indian market where the locals buy their unique items of dress. In the afternoon you are transferred to Quito airport for your onwards flight to the Galapagos, or home to the UK.
Recent reviews are shown here from holidays based on this initial design. In each case the itinerary may have been modified (a little or a lot) to suit the individual traveller.
Max °C figures are the average daily maximum temperatures for the month. Rainfall is the average precipitation for the month.
Average rating 4.5 (41 ratings)
A sensible, Upper-range hotel that has recently been sympathetically converted from a colonial mansion and is arranged around three internal courtyards. Well located just a few steps from the Plaza de la Independencia, it is extremely convenient for sightseeing among the impressive colonial buildings, museums, ornate churches and romantic plazas of the Old City. The rooms are very spacious with heavy dark wood furnishings and ecclesiastical overtones. There is a restaurant on-site, though many more options on the doorstep in the city.
Average rating 4.1 (16 ratings)
Hostería La Ciénega is a characterful hotel converted from one of Ecuador’s oldest haciendas, dating from 1580. Set in extensive grounds it is approached along an avenue of fragrant eucalyptus trees. Its well regarded restaurant, 34 guest rooms and suites are set around a series of attractive courtyard gardens, some of which are recent additions. La Ciénega offers rooms with colonial and 19th century furnishings and has many other reminders of its past, including a private chapel. Horse riding is usually available for guests.
Average rating 4.4 (19 ratings)
Abraspungo is a renovated and much extended hacienda just outside Riobamba and set in pretty rose filled gardens. The hotel has 38 spacious and well-appointed en suite rooms, smartly decorated with samples of Ecuadorian art and weaving. The hotel has an good restuarant run by a Peruvian chef, who cooks up Peruvian influenced cuisine as well as Ecuadorian and internatinal dishes.
An elegant boutique hotel in a lavishly restored large town house dating from the turn of the last century when Cuenca was at its most well-to-do. The hotel offers a taste of the luxury of that era, with many chic touches. It is decorated grandly, with crystal chandeliers, antique furniture, sumptuous furnishings and delightful objet d’art. There is a courtyard patio fountain and a charming small garden.
Average rating 4.8 (17 ratings)
Hacienda Cusin is a restored 17th-century Andean hacienda. It is located close to Otavalo, next to the San Pablo Lake, and has attractive and extensive gardens. All rooms have private bathrooms some with their own fireplaces, whilst there is Wi-Fi throughout. In reception there are hot-water bottles available and there are over 20 activities, tours and expeditions available including horseriding to book locally.