kenav

Will be in Quito in 1 month and thought to do a day trip to the Papallacta Thermal Pools area.

I have read that there are "public pools" for the general public, and then there are "private pools" for the hotel guests. Since we won't be a hotel guest, can we pay and use the thermal private pool area?

Any idea of the cost for a private driver there for the day? True that it only takes an hour from Quito to get there?

TravelEcuador

Hi there, Papallacta is beautiful! Definitely worth a visit. The private pools are in the hotel Termas de Papallacta and cost $20 for a day use pass. I hear they are much nicer (and of course) much spendier than their public counterparts. It takes about 2 hours to get there from Quito. I'm not sure how much a private driver costs for a day, but you could try contacting a travel agency and ask them to arrange for you. Columbus Travel is one such agency. Send a message to [email protected] and they should be able to give you some guidance. Happy Travels!

kenav

Hi TravelEcuador - We contacted a couple of agencies. One offered a trip to Antisana and Papallacta (1 day trip). However, it sounds like a lot of time in the car - 1/2 hours to Antisana , then 2 hours from there to Papallactca and then almost 2 hours back to Quito.

It sounds fascinating, however not sure if we really want to spend all that time in the car. Any suggestions?

eenusa

Kenav -- you will find the distances to travel to most of the popular places around Quito to be in the 1.5-2 hour range.

kenav

Yes, we've decided not to go to both the Antisana Volcano and Papallacta on the same day as it would entail 5 hours of travel and just a couple of hours at each place.

Unfortunately, we only have one evening and 2 full days in Quito.

So, now we're re-thinking.