owen_hart

Hi All,

My wife and I are visiting Ecuador in March for 14 nights, flying in and out of Quito (from Canada). We are looking for a physically active vacation (a night or two of partying would be ideal). Any advice on where to stay, must sees, alternative destinations, travel routes, etc., would be awesome.

We are considering:
- Quito for 2 nights
- Amazon Tour for 4 nights
- Baños for 3-4 nights (with all of the excursions, activities, hikes etc.)
- Cotopaxi and the Quilotoa Loop 3-4 nights

Thanks!!!!

crellston

Your vacation seems about right in terms of the balance of the palces to visit.

For partying, the Marisacal area of Quito would be your best/only choice of the places you list.

We didn't make it to the jungle in ecuador so can't really comment except to suggest GHA you research carefully as some places are much better than others in terms of finding pristine, primary forests etc. Use the search facility as someone hear posted auseful and detailed report on their visit from Quito ( sorry I can't remember who or where!)

The Quilatoa loop is great but quite a tough hike at altitude. Make sure you stay in Quilatoa the night before so as to get the best views of the crater in the morning before the clouds roll in. We just did the section from Quilatoa to Chughilan. The rest of the loop takes a bit of organisation as transport is difficult.

Cotopaxi can be visited en route from Quito You could get the train to Machachi or Latacunga from Quito.

3-4 nights is probably a little too long in Banos. Lots going on there - biking, ziplining etc. I would suggest a downhill bike ride to the jungle 60 kms or so and get a truck back.

Maybe you could squeeze in a night or two at Otavalo? Great over a weekend when the market is on. There is a superb hike around Mojanda lakes and La Luna is the best place we stayed at in Ecuador.

More info and photos of our trip last year are on our blog @

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...ai/6/tpod.html

Or click on my screen name for my trip report here

SusanInToronto

Crellston is giving you good advice. I really enjoyed Mindo (even though we're not birders - the zipline was a lot of fun!) and Otavalo. You can also see my trip report online from February 2014.

virginiafish

Hi-I have not had a chance to write a trip report, but we went to Ecuador in late Oct. and spent time in the Andes (3 nights) Quito (3 nights) and the Amazon Basin (5 nights). It was a good mix and time allotments. I will do a trip report tomorrow, but essentially we went on the 5 day NAPO Wildlife Resort program and stayed at the Black Sheep Inn Ecolodge. They were both wonderful and gave us a good feel for the areas. The Inn has many hiking options and will guide you. We hired drivers to see the loop. More soon. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

virginiafish

Trip report posted.

owen_hart

Thanks everyone, this is very useful.

Crellston, your tip on Cotopaxi is something we will probably do. May I ask why Banos for 3-4 nights would be too long?

Susan, that was a thorough trip report - I wouldn't even know where to begin, but very informative.

Virginia, I was happy to see recommend Black Sheep Inn. We were considering this but you may have sold it!

crellston

Owen. Absolutely nothing wrong with Baños, except perhaps that it is a probably e most tourist centric place in Ecuador. I just feel that you are allocating a little too much time in the context of your overall trip. That said, apart from Quito, it is the palce where ypu may find more partying going on. I just felt that once you have done a bike ride, zip line and a soak in the hot springs you were done.

Not sure if you would have enough time but one of Teheran highlights for ups was the bike ride down from Chimborazo volcano. You can do it from Riobamba which is also the starting point for teh Nariz del Dialbl train which is now running again I understand.

owen_hart

Thanks for the clarification.

What is our best bet in regards to a 4-5 night stay in the Amazon Basin? Is Banos a good departing point? We're aren't looking for anything luxurious.