zinfanatic

We are definitely going to Quito. The question we have is whether to stay extra time to do some side trips from Quito- to the cloud forest and the famous market Octalvo? This will be after our trip to the Galapagos and Peru. It is the only way we can fit it in because of the timing of our boat trip. Is this worth it? We do enjoy markets.

qwovadis

http://www.haciendapinsaqui.com/html...el_otavalo.htm

Neatest most historic prettiest place for me

Saturday is best market day also leather crafts

towns nearby...good personal tour/guides best like

[email protected] or other good guides

best for me instead of the standard crammed in

on a bus tour many offer...

Have fun,

qwovadis

www.mindocasadivina.com

best neatest cloud forest experience nearby

if you have time...

LatAmForLess

It is definitely worth it! Otavalo is incredible, and if you can get there on a Saturday, all the better. Make sure you go to Cotacachi as well. Mindo is very beautiful and the zip line is fun if you are feeling adventurous, but it is second to Otavalo in my opinion. If you go to Mitad del Mundo make sure you just drop by the monument early in the morning and then head to Pululahua crater and have lunch at El Crater restaurant.

ecuaddict

hi there, the Otavalo market is one of the most visited destinations in Ecuador. However, if you are coming from Peru and already visited (e.g the Sacred Valley and its markets) you will find that the handicrafts are very similar to the ones in Peru. If you have only few days and already visited some in Peru, you will definately enjoy Mindo or Cotopaxi as day trips.

Ecuaddict

blueconnie

I loved Otavalo, we visited the market, the cuicocha lake and cotacachi. On the next day we visited the animal market (quite an experience!) and around. We stayed in a beautiful hacienda called Pinsaqui. We missed out on Mindo though. If you head for Cotopaxi make sure to visit the Porvenir hacienda for some quiet and adventurous horseback ride.

Good luck!

Connie

Trip report: http://connieecuadoradventure2010.wordpress.com

ttraveler

We really enjoyed our side trips from Quito.
Mindo is a small little town. It's great for birding, hiking and a fun zipline. We stayed at CasKaffeSu and they were able to arrange all of our trips and our transfers.
When we were in Otavalo it wasn't the main market day but we still enjoyed the vendors and were able to purchase a lot in a short amount of time. I still love everything I bought. Across from the market is a pie shop. Many unusual fruit and creme pies. Also good coffee. We also visited Cuicoha Lake and hiked around it. It takes about five hours but it is just beautiful.We hired a guide for this and enjoyed bread and bananas as our snack.
We visited small towns around Otavalo including Cotacachi and visited Condor Park.
One of our favorite parts of our trip was an overnight to Cotopaxi. Stunning scenery and delicious food.
Enjoy

zinfanatic

When I say day trips I mean out in the day and back to Quito that same day. We will be at the end of a month long trip and lots of packing and unpacking and I think it would be better to just do day trips. I know we can go to Octalvo, Any other places that we can see on that day trip or another day from Quito?

ttraveler

Cotopaxi would be a day trip. It is so beautiful and would be worth it to see the scenery. We used Surtrek for our overnight but I think they offer day trips as well. The places we stopped to eat were excellent and our quide was great. He was helpful but he also had great information.

ztsipapu

We did a day trip to Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve (in the same area as Mindo--about 2 hours north of Quito). It was a delightful environment. The day trip included transportation to and from our hotel, breakfast, a 3+-hour hike with a naturalist who really knew her birds (and English?), and lunch. We could have done more exploring on our own after lunch, but we opted for the easy route--2 hours of watching and photographing all of the hummingbirds that came to the feeders just outside the lodge. A thoroughly enjoyable day. You can read about it and see some photos on our trip report. The link to the Bellavista trip is on the bar under the portrait of the Giant Tortoise.

Tina
trip report at http://galapagos2009.wordpress.com/

zinfanatic

Tina,

I have read your report before to help me research our Galapagos trip. Who did you use to book your day trip to Bella Vista? I have tried to use the same travel agent that I booked the Galapagos tour through,the trip seems rather formularic. I liked your description and wish to know which agent you worked with for this particular trip.