Hello All,

I am planning to spend around 8-9 days in quito in August 2018. I am planning to do day trips to Volcanos, Lagoons, Rain forest and some other places. i was wondering if you guys can help me plan an itinerary
Does it make sense to do all day trips or stay in some other places for a night. i love to hike and this is my first solo trip
Also, i would love some recommendation on the tour companies you guys have used or recommend.

Thanks

Although we spent a couple of months in Quito, that was to take lessons to improve our Spanish. I think 8-9 days is a little too much but Quito does make a good base for some day trips. Cotapaxi can be done as day trip but could easily be combined with a hike of part or all of The Quilatoa Loop and, if you choose the right day, Saquisilli market. We did part of te Quilatoa Loop DIY style. Just got the bus booked the hotels and hiked. I probably wouldn’t attempt it solo though. Cotapaxi can be sorted out very easily form any number of operators in Quito or Latacunga I’d be combined with Quilatoa. I will, try and look out te name of the hostal we stayed at who organised adrived for us.

Otavalo is worth considering. Lots of hiking in the area. We did the Mojanda Lakes circular hike which would normally be an easy hike but was a lot harder because of the high altitude, some 3600 m asl. We read dire warmpnings of robberies in the area, I think in Lonely Planet, but didn’t experience any problems. You really need and overnight, preferably a Friday, so you can catch the artisans and animal markets. Some photos and details of our time in Cotapaxi and Otavalo on our blog @ https://accidentalnomads.com/category/ecuador/

The cloud forests around Mindo are apparently pretty amazing but we never managed to make it there.