Tour
This tour will show you the culture diversity of Ecuador, also you will have the chance to enjoy the highlands of the Andes and their beatifull landscapes.
Itinerary
12 DAYS / 11 NIGHTS
DAY 1: ARRIVAL TO QUITO
Arrival to Quito, there you will be met at the airport by our guide and transferred to your hotel, overnight.
DAY 2: THE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY OF OTAVALO
After breakfast you will depart to Otavalo located in the north of Ecuador, on route you will enjoy of the countryside and the spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. At your arrival you will meet your host family with whom you will spend a full morning, participating in the daily activities.
In the afternoon our guide will drive you to the Otavalo market or the Ponchos market, that is considered the most important indigenous market of South America. After a full afternoon of shopping you will return to Quito to your hotel where you will overnight.
DAY 3: QUITO – COTOPAXI
Your guide will pick you up at your hotel to travel through the famous Volcano’s Avenue where you can meet different native communities and share with them in order to learn about their costumes and traditions. You will arrive to Hacienda “El Porvenir”.You will enjoy of a horseback riding wearing their typical clothes and visiting the foothills of Rumiñahui Volcano, riding side by side with herds of wild horses and bulls.
After a delicious lunch in the hacienda our guide will drive you to Cotopaxi National Park, where you can know about the amazing Cotopaxi volcano that is the highest active volcano of the world (5,897 mts., 19,342.16 ft). If time and the weather permit you will walk to the refuge of this volcano and to the glaciers located near of this place or you can walk close to Limpiopungo Lake in the base of the volcano.
DAY 4: THE TRADITIONAL MARKET OF ZUMBAHUA & THE INCREDIBLE QUILOTOA LAKE
Early in the morning after breakfast you will depart to Quilotoa Lake, on route you will stop in Zumbahua a special market that you only can visit on Saturdays, here it will be possible to see the people arriving with their products on lamas and some ones keep the tradition to exchange their products, this activity is called “trueque”.
After that, you will continue to Quilotoa that is a water-filled caldera of 3 kilometers (2 miles) wide caldera. This caldera was formed by the collapse of the volcano in an eruption that took place approximately 800 years ago. The caldera has 250 m (820 ft) deep crater lake, which water has an extraordinary turquoise color as a result of dissolved minerals. After a delicious lunch in Quilotoa Lodge you will take the Pan-American Highway to continue with your trip through the highlands of Ecuador, arrival to Hacienda Leito where you have a spectacular view of Tungurahua volcano that is in process of eruption since 2000. Dinner and overnight.
DAY 5: SALASACA MARKET – BAÑOS – MACAS
After breakfast our guide will drive you to Salasaca town where you can share a short time with the Salasaca community. Salasacas are descendants of a mitimae (colonist) group brought from Bolivia in time of the Inca Empire. After this visit you will continue to Baños city where you can see how people extract a delicious juice from the sugar cane, production of melcochas, and you can buy beautiful handicrafts made by balsa and tagua. Then you will visit the famous waterfall route where you can see beautiful waterfalls like Manto de la Novia waterfall where you will cross the Pastaza river by a rustic lift, hanging for more than 200 meters above the river, Pailon del Diablo, Agoyán and others. After this visit you will go to a local restaurant where a delicious lunch will be waiting for you, then you will continue to Macas in the Amazon Rainforest. Late afternoon you will arrive to Casa Upano where you will dinner and overnight.
DAY 6: MACAS: THE SHUAR COMMUNITY
After breakfast you will have the opportunity to be with one of the most authentic communities of the Shuar people, learning how to plant, harvest, make handicrafts, prepare meals and find out more about the secrets of their medicinal plants. You will spend time learning about survival in the Amazon jungle, where our native guides will show you how to use spears and blowguns. The Shuar people are famous because in ancient times they had the custom of shrinking the heads of their enemies like a trophy during the wars. Nowadays, they practice this custom but just with animal heads. You will have full day to share with the local people and late in the afternoon you will return to the hostel where you will dinner and overnight.
DAY 7: MACAS – CHIMBORAZO
After breakfast you will return to the Highlands, on route you can enjoy of the amazing landscape of Sangay National Park. You can stop in some strategic places in order to get wonderful photos, box lunch on route and late in the afternoon you will arrive to Riobamba where our guide will drive you to Hill Star, Hacienda La Andaluza or Hostería El Troje, dinner and overnight.
DAY 8: PALACIO REAL – INGAPIRCA RUINS – CUENCA
After breakfast our guide will be waiting for you in order to visit Palacio Real project located at 10 minutes from Riobamba. It is an indigenous community where the local people have developed small projects with the support of the priest Pierre Van Dorpe (French), the Lamas Project the most interesting one and it includes a restaurant based on the meat of those animals, also you can find a museum, two small trails where you can admire the beautiful landscape, a store of handicrafts. After this interesting activity you will continue to the south until arrive to Cuenca, on route you can stop in Ingapirca, this is the best and most important Inca archaeological site in Ecuador, Ingapirca that means "walls of the Inca" is located in the province of Cañar, about 1 hour and 45 minutes from Cuenca. In the afternoon you will depart to Cuenca, time to rest and walk close to your hotel. Overnight.
DAY 9: THE BEAUTIFUL CITY OF CUENCA
After breakfast our guide will be waiting for you at the lobby of your hotel in order to explore the city. You will walk through magnificent churches, beautiful old buildings with wrought iron balconies and carved wooden doors, flower and handicrafts markets, art galleries, workshops and all the wonders that Cuenca, with its colonial style and pleasant atmosphere, offers to its visitors. After that our guide will drive you to a local restaurant where you will enjoy of a delicious typical lunch, in the afternoon you will continue enjoying of this wonderful city and then you will return to the hotel where you will overnight.
DAY 10: CUENCA – SARAGURO COMMUNITY - CUENCA
After breakfast you will depart to the south of Cuenca in order to visit the Saraguro community. The Saraguro is a very important ethnic group of the southern Ecuadorian Highlands which has survived centuries of Spanish colonization without losing their identity, way of life, traditions, beliefs or even their dress, which is black and white, of pure wool, woven in ancient looms. The Saraguro communities are very much willing to participate in programs of cultural tourism, focusing on an intercultural perspective, and invite visitors into their homes to learn about their vision of life, enjoy some live music, craft workshops and a snack consisting of traditional local food and drink, served on wooden plates with wooden spoons, according to custom. After a full day in Saraguro Community you will return to Cuenca. Overnight.
DAY 11: CUENCA: GUALACEO & CHORDELEG VILLAGES
After breakfast your guide will be waiting for you at the lobby of the hotel in order to visit the Craft-making & orchid villages (Gualaceo & Chordeleg). Cuenca is surrounded by villages where skilled artisans work wonders. Among these are Gualaceo, with its markets that are especially crowded on Fridays & Sundays, where you can observe hand-woven shawls, ponchos and lots of fruits and vegetables on sale. You also visit Chordeleg “chorro de oro” (waterfall of gold), a village specialized on jewellery - mainly gold and silver - with fine filigree work; hand made ceramic pottery and the chance to observe people weaving Panama hats and other items made of toquilla straw. One of the highlights on this trip is the visit to Ecuagenera, the most important orchid growing laboratory in Ecuador, which aim is to study and preserve the different species that exist through the time. Among their achievements, they have discovered 12 new species and 1 gender. During the visit you could observe hundreds of species and learn a bit about these amazing and beautiful plants. After this visit you will return to Cuenca where a delicious lunch will be waiting for you in a local restaurant and then you will be transferred to the airport in order to catch your flight back to Quito.
DAY 12: QUITO – NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT
After an unforgettable experience in Ecuador our guide will pick you up in your hotel to transfer you to the airport to catch your national or international flight.
END OF THE SERVICES
A NOTE ON THE ORDER OF THE ITINERARY:
Itinerary subject to change based on local conditions. It could be flexible according to the client’s interests.
Rates
PRICE PER PERSON 2024*
| HOTELS CATEGORY | 1 *Pax |
2-3 Pax |
4-5 Pax |
6-9 Pax |
10-11 Pax |
| TOURIST CLASS | $5.942 | $3.555 | $3.042 | $2.516 | $2.124 |
| TOURIST SUPERIOR | $6.192 | $3.714 | $3.078 | $2.537 | $2.146 |
| FIRST CLASS | $7.475 | $4.348 | $3.718 | $3.190 | $2.799 |
| 12-15 Pax |
16 Pax |
SS | |||
| TOURIST CLASS | $2.036 | $1.892 | $399 | ||
| TOURIST SUPERIOR | $2.052 | $1.908 | $460 | ||
| FIRST CLASS | $2.710 | $2.565 | $1200 |
*Pax: Passengers
Single Supplement under request
