Ecuador | Independent travels | Suggested itineraries | Active and adventure | Day walks in the Andes

Ecuador walking holiday:
Day walks in the Andes

Explore the countryside of Ecuador's Andes - a blend of walking and touring in spectacular scenery.

This Ecuador walking holiday combines day walks and touring to take you into the heart of the Andean countryside in an intriguing mixture of scenery and habitats.

You are in control of how far you walk on any day and each night is spent at a pleasant lodge with private facilities.

The walks include a circuit of the rim of a crater lake, a mountain pass where condors fly overhead, self-guided trails in subtropical forest, a country walk between remote farming villages, and a high altitude hike with the last of the ‘hieleros’—the men who fetch ice from the glaciers of mighty Chimborazo.

Arrival

Day 1 You will be met on arrival at Quito airport and transferred to a 3* hotel.

Quito

Day 2 BL Morning tour of the Old City, including lunch, and a visit to the Equator in the afternoon.

Papallacta Hot Springs

Day 3 BD The morning is free for sightseeing in Quito, or perhaps a ride on the cable car up Pichincha volcano. In the afternoon you are collected for a short visit to the bohemian suburb of Guápulo, which has a very pretty church, then driven to Papallacta (1½hr) where you stay 2 nights at a 3* hotel and spa on the Andean páramos at 3,300m (10,800ft). Outside each room is a thermal pool—perfect for a dip beneath a starry sky.

Antisana Ecological Reserve

Day 4 BLD Today you can choose a leg-stretching day walk over the páramos in the Antisana Ecological Reserve, where it is possible to see Andean Condor. Or take the easier short trail behind the hotel (a good place for hummingbirds) before indulging in the optional treatments available at the hotel’s spa. These include five open air thermoludic pools kept at different temperatures some with pressured water or hydrojets, plus massages, treatments and body wraps.

San Isidro

Days 5-6 BLD Today you are driven down to Cabañas San Isidro lodge in a picturesque valley at 2,000m (6,800ft), your base for the next 2 nights. The lodge is set in large tracts of subtropical forest with clearly marked, self-guided trails from 1 to 6 km. Some lead through a forest of large hardwood trees draped with lush mosses that support great numbers of different orchid and bromeliad species. Others pass through vast bamboo stands and river edge forests. Each habitat supports its own complement of flora and fauna: one trail leads to an Andean Cock of the Rock lek. Rarities such as Spectacled Bear, Mountain Tapir, Oncilla and Puma are reported from time to time.

Otavalo

Day 7 BLD Towards late morning you will be collected and driven to Otavalo, to stay at Hacienda Las Palmeras—your base for the next 3 nights. This 150 year old hacienda is set among towering palm trees and features garden cottages with log fires. The ‘perpetual spring’ climate ensures a continual flowering of hibiscus, bougainvillea, other flowering plants and fruit trees, attracting hummingbirds, vermilion fly-catchers and a profusion of other native birds to the grounds.

Day 8 BLD A short downhill stroll in the early morning to Otavalo’s animal market. Return for breakfast. You will then be driven into town for the main market, now in full swing selling crafts, fruit and vegetables, and traditional clothing for local Quichuas.

Cuicocha circuit

Day 9 BLD Cuicocha (‘Guinea Pig Lake’) is a deep blue-green crater lake in the caldera of a dormant volcano. Make an early start for the best views on an exhilarating 5hr circuit around the crater’s rim. As well as great views of the lake’s two islands there are panoramas of nearby Cotacachi and Imbabura volcanoes. The circular walk is 12km (7½ miles) at an altitude of 3,070-3,400m (10,000-11,300ft). There are steps on steeper parts of the trail and handrails on the more precarious sections.

Look out for hummingbirds amid the lupins, puyo with bright green flowers, wild orchids and even condors. Avoid the tempting, but poisonous, blueberries.

For this trip it may be possible for your guide to hire a llama from a local farmer to carry your lunch!

Cotopaxi

Day 10 BLD This morning you will be driven south to Hacienda La Ciénega for 2 nights. This route takes you on the first section of the Avenue of the Volcanoes. Rest of the day free to relax at the hacienda or in its gardens, or go horse riding (optional).

Day 11 BLD A full day exploring Cotopaxi National Park. Visit 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 touch the ice of the volcano’s glacier. You could ride back down on a mountain bike (let us know in advance if you will want to do this and check your travel insurance cover).

Lake Quilotoa to Chugchilán

Day 12 BLD With an early start you are driven to Lake Quilotoa, a second crater lake which is the starting point of today’s walk. The trail down the outside of the volcano leads through a remote rural area of subsistence farming, canyons, and rivers to reach the Quichua-speaking village of Chugchilán. Goats, sheep and llamas graze, and crops include potatoes, corn, broad beans, lupins, squash, and quinoa. Local crafts include primitivist paintings on leather, and wooden masks.

The trail is 12km (7½ miles), starting at 3,900m and ending at 3,200m (12,800 – 10,500ft ). The final section makes an abrupt 800ft descent into the Río Sigüi Canyon and back up the other side before arriving in Chugchilán village. This can be avoided by curtailing the walk in Guayama, about 6 miles from the start.

Stay overnight in Chugchilán at a simple guest house with private bathroom.

Saquisilí Market and Riobamba

Day 13 BLD A visit to Saquisilí Market this morning. One of the largest in the highlands, it fills seven plazas, each specialising in different merchandise. You will then be driven south via Salasaca (where you can stop to see back strap loom weavers at work) to Riobamba where you stay for 2 nights at a 3* tourist lodge.

Riobamba is close to Chimborazo, an extinct volcano which rises 6,310m (20,703ft) above sea level. It is the highest mountain in the world if measured from the centre of the earth. (The bulge in the planet at the equator gives Chimborazo an advantage over Everest.)

Los Hieleros (The Icemen)

Day 14 BLD An early start to join Baltasar and Gregorio, the last of ‘Los Hieleros’, who each week maintain their family’s tradition of walking up to the glacier on Chimborazo to cut blocks of ice to sell in Riobamba. This is a wonderful hike offering great views of this impressive mountain and across a wide expanse of the central highlands. Baltasar and Gregorio earn very little from the ice they collect, so your walking with them helps to keep alive this extraordinary way of life.

At first you drive up through fields of maize, potatoes, carrots and lima beans. At the end of the track the walk takes you on hillsides covered with mixed clumps of cushion plants and tussock grasses—enough to supply a thousand years of garden make-over programmes. This area is home to vicuñas, llamas and alpacas.

Around 3,380m Baltasar and Gregorio use scythes to cut some of the longer grasses which they deftly twist together to make 6ft lengths of rope. Armfuls of grass to insulate the ice are then cut and tied to their mules using the rope. The trail continues to ascend. Vegetation gives way to volcanic scree before you eventually arrive at the snow line. It takes around 4hrs to reach the glacier, at around 4,500m. You should find that your time in the highlands has acclimatised you sufficiently to cope with this altitude if you walk fairly slowly.

At the face of the glacier, Baltasar and Gregorio use axes and spades to hack out large blocks of ice, as they have done from this spot for the last 50 years. They wrap the ice in the grass and tie it to their mules with their handmade ropes. Their descent starts around midday and lasts 2 hours. You rejoin your vehicle while they continue to their home in the village, where they store the ice in underground pits to preserve it for Saturday’s market in Riobamba.

Riobamba Market

Day 15 B Make a short visit to Riobamba’s San Alfonso market this morning, where you can try Baltasar and Gregorio’s ice mixed with fruit in snow cones called ‘raspados’. Then you are driven back to Quito (4hr) for your chosen overnight flight home.

Guide price £1,355

15 days / 14 nights Starts and ends in Quito

The guide price is per person based on 2 people travelling together and sharing twin/double accommodation.

It includes all travel in Ecuador, services of a private English speaking local guide on days 2-5 and 7-15, all accommodation, most meals (except for 1 lunch and 2 dinners - allow £27 for these).

NOTE The option of biking down from Cotopaxi volcano is considered a 'high risk' activity. Neither Geodyssey or our local contractor is responsible for any injury or damage that occurs during this part of the tour. Make sure your travel insurance covers this activity.