Ecuador is most well-known for its stunning bucket-list location, the Galapagos Islands. But it’s well-worth spending time on the mainland. This itinerary explores many of the top highlights that Ecuador has to offer while using Quito as your home base.
High Level Itinerary
- Day 1-2: Quito (Old Colonial Town & Culinary Adventures)
- Day 3: Otavalo: Ecuador’s Handicraft Market
- Day 4: Cotopaxi Volcano
- Day 5-7: Mindo Cloud Forest OR Baños
- Day 7+: Add in a Galapagos Adventure
Day by Day
Day 1: Quito
AM Welcome to Ecuador! Depending on where you are travelling from, you might arrive late at night (typical for Miami flights) or early in the AM (which was the case for us, heading from Canada). We arrived early in the morning which gave us a chance to check in at the JW Marriott in Quito and take a quick nap and shower, before meeting our tour guide for a Quito city tour.
PM We booked the half-day colonial city tour with Happy Gringos and had an amazing guide Paula who had lots to share about Ecuador’s history and current affairs. On the tour we visited the
Basílica del Voto Nacional, the San Francisco Church, the Virgin of the Panecillo statue and did a walking tour of the old colonial town. The Old Colonial Centre of Quito was one of the first UNESCO heritage sites, named in 1983 as the best preserved old-town in South America with great representation of colonial architecture. In the evening, explore one of the many great dinner options in Quito.
- EZ TIP Happy Gringos: Highly recommend Happy Gringos for day trips around the city or outside of Quito. They had great communication leading up to the tour and guides were great. We used them for this tour and another tour to Otavalo market later in the trip.
Day 2: Quito
AM We started our second day in Quito with a cooking class & tour of the central market through Galapagos Connoisseur. It was great to be able to explore the local cuisine with an Ecuadorian chef. We got to see lots of specialty vendors of cheese, meat, and vegetables – but the highlight was exploring all the exotic fruits that Ecuador has to offer. We then went back to a historic colonial house and learned to make Locro de Papa (potato soup), Encocado de Pescado (Coconut fish), and a chocolate fruit fondu! It was delicious.
PM By the afternoon, we were both a little tired from the travel and altitude, so we decided to take it easy and explored some of the local craft breweries in Quito. We highly recommend Sinners Microcerveceria, but Bandidos Brewing, Andes, and Shaman are also popular. The district where Sinners is located is full of craft breweries, so it’s a good area to hit if you are into craft beer.
If you’re up for more action, drop by the many museums and cultural centers in Quito. Museo de la Ciudad and Museo Mena Caamano (both closed on Mondays) were recommended to us by our tour guide as top museums to visit.
Day 3: Otavalo
AM We were picked up around 8am and drove a few hours to Otavalo, stopping on the way to try fresh fruits from street stalls and snapping photos of the incredible Andean valleys. Pichincha is known as one of the largest flower producing regions. Everywhere you look there are fresh flowers – especially roses. We were astounded to learn that a full bouquet of roses only costs $3-4 (over 10X less than at home!).
Once we arrived in Otavalo we took a short 15 minute walk through a peaceful park & garden to see Peguche Waterfall ($0.50 entrance fee per person). Then we visited a local textile workshop to learn about local weaving practices and a music workshop where we learned how to make a pan flute and get a demonstration of the local instruments. By 1pm we headed into a nearby town to have lunch at Casa Lenador (very tourist friendly, instagrammable restaurant) where we shared potatoes soup, empanadas, a local pork dish, and steak.
PM After lunch you get a chance to visit some local shops which specialize in leather goods, chocolate, coffee and textiles. Then we headed over to Otavalo artisan market and spent an hour wandering the stalls. While the market was smaller than others we’ve visited in the past (we went on a weekday) there was still a large offering of blankets, scarves, jewellery, art, and more. If you don’t mind crowds, go on a Saturday when the market is out in full swing with all their vendors. If you think you need more than an hour at the market, I would contact the guide (regardless of company you are using) in advance to ensure that the itinerary can be adjusted. Alternatively, you can consider car rentals or local transportation.
Day 4: Cotopaxi
AM & PM Cotapaxi is Ecuador’s largest active volcano and visiting the national park is another popular day trip from Quito. Highlights in the park include hiking up to Refugio Jose Rivas at 4,864M above sea level (15,953 feet), seeing the wild horses roaming, and visiting Limpiopungo Lagoon. Seeing the active volcano was really cool; we could see the heat rising from the ground and there was a fresh layer of ash that apparently had fallen the day before. Different tours offer horseback riding, mountain biking, and other activities around the park. Some also consider staying the night nearby (Secret Garden Hostel came highly recommended). Based on our schedule and not wanting to change hotels too frequently, we opted to stay in Quito and do the day trip.
- EZ TIP Pick your budget: There are many tours available heading to Cotopaxi – if you are willing to splurge we would recommend booking a private tour to give yourself more flexibility. Private tours are approx $150 per person, versus a large group tour can be cheaper starting at ~$55 per person with Quito Bus Tours. We selected the Quito Bus Tour trip based off reviews, but it makes for a long day with many pickups and drop-offs and in our opinion some unnecessary / tourist trap spots. The challenge with Cotopaxi is there are no restaurants in the park – on our tour we didn’t have lunch until 4pm after we were done all the days activities. We recommend you find a tour that optimizes for time within the park, and provides a packed lunch so you can eat at a normal time while you are in the park.
- EZ TIP Passport Stamp: Unique passport stamp opportunity! At the museum at the base or at the Refugio Jose Rivas, you will have the opportunity to add a Cotopaxi commemorative stamp to your passport. Caution: Tourist stamps can cause issues – to avoid this, you could stamp another item (journal, postcard) or do what we do a bring expired passports with you to collect these cool stamps!
Day 5-7: Mindo Valley (Option 1)
Mindo is one of the most biologically diverse areas within Ecuador and well known for its Cloud Forest ecosystem. It has rafting, ziplining, mountain biking, and amazing opportunities for birdwatching. This area has won the global Audubon Christmas Bird Count for most species identified in a 24 hour time-period. We personally saw 100 new species of birds over our 3 days in Mindo.
Since our honeymoon in East Africa in 2022, Zach has really gotten into birds, so this stop for us was more wildlife focused and we booked a 3 day 2 night package at a Cloud Forest Eco-lodge, Bellavista. The birds are incredibly beautiful and the landscape is so majestic that even if you don’t love birds it’s great just to get out and hike in nature.
Get up early to transfer from Quito to the Mindo Valley (~2 hours). Private transfer can be arranged with most accommodations in Mindo (expect $60-70 one-way).
- EZ TIP Add in a stop at the Equator Line: A lot of itineraries plan for a full or half day at the Equator line (Mitad del Mundo). You will actually pass directly by this monument on your way to and from Mindo. Save yourself the day trip that can be dedicated elsewhere and negotiate with your transportation to add a stop at the Equator!
- EZ TIP Consider a local Guide: If not booking with a lodge that includes bird guiding, consider booking through a local guide and going site to site. Our guide, Freddy was amazing. He had really deep knowledge of the birds and plants in the forest and his passion for nature only made us more excited to learn from him. A week after our stay he went freelance and now leads birding tours with a number of tour companies. If you are interested in doing a birding tour we highly recommend reaching out to him to organize a tour (his email is fre_gru@live.com).
If you are after more adventurous options, check out Mindo Canopy Adventures for ziplining and their “Tarzan Swing” (~$25). Another popular option is tubing (this is more tubing than white water rafting) – you will find lots of options in Mindo and can identify them based on the pickup trucks with tubes in the back.
Mindo Accommodation
We stayed with Bellavista Lodge, a specialist bird-watching ecolodge with set tours and transfers from Quito (2 day, 1 night packages with meals and activities starting from $250 per person per night). Alternatives include the luxury eco-lodge, Mashpi Lodge (all inclusive from $1,280 per night), or more hostel-like Casa de Cecilia (starting from $20 per night). Bellevista is owned by a Columbia-English couple (Gloria and Richard) which purchased the land in 1991 and turned it into a 1000-acre private reserve and eco-lodge. The lodge sits at an elevation of ~2,200 MASL so you likely won’t be affected by the altitude. We stayed for 3 days and 2 nights and the booking fee includes lodging, food, daily hikes and transportation to and from Quito. The food was great, with 3 course meals for lunch and dinner and standard breakfasts. Our room was clean and comfortable, with a private bathroom, electricity 24/7 and wifi. It does get a bit chilly during rainy season though, so we recommend bringing layers, hiking shoes and good rain jacket with you!
Mindo Activities / Excursions
During our stay the Bellavista lodge, they offered three daily birding hikes (6:30-8am, 9:30-12:30am and 3-5pm). During these hikes your guide will take you around the private reserve on one of their many trails through the forest where you’ll see native birds, plants and insects. Over the course of our 3 days there we saw over 100+ new bird species. We also paid an additional $140pp to add some specialist excursions to increase the diversity of birds we observed. If self-organizing your trip, these would be good stops if you want to see more birds.
- Milpe Bird Sanctuary: This sanctuary is run by the local foundation and has great hummingbird and tanager feeders set up along with a range of trails where it’s possible to see Toucans and Barbets.
- Refugio Paz De Las Aves: This family run operation has a remarkable and world-renown set of bird experiences available. We woke up at 4:30AM to drive to the reserve and set up to watch the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock perform its mating ritual. This family has also been feeding 5 species of Antpittas, rare and elusive birds that hop around the forest floor eating worms, for the past 20 years. As a result, they can call out their names and they come to feed on the worms the family has left for them. A unique experience!
If you are after more adventurous options, check out Mindo Canopy Adventures for ziplining and their “Tarzan Swing” (~$25). Another popular option is tubing (this is more tubing than white water rafting) – you will find lots of options in Mindo and can identify them based on the pickup trucks with tubes in the back.
Day 5-7: Baños (Option 2)
An Alternative to Mindo would be exploring Baños, a well-known adventure tourism hotspot in Ecuador with waterfalls and beautiful valleys.
This could be a day trip or multi-day excursion – there are lots of options available via Viator to find a guide and transport option from Quito which hit some of the highlights below. Alternatively, you could find transport to town and self-book some of the activities.
Excursions / Highlights:
- White Water Rafting: Great day trip option to enjoy the Pastaza River – book with an experienced guide
- Canyoning: Rappel down canyon walls amongst the waterfalls of Baños
- Baños Swing: A famous photo spot in Baños, the Casa del Arbol offers a swing which puts you out over the cliff for a unique shot
- Hot springs
- Popular Waterfalls: Devil’s Cauldron & Cascada del Virgin
The Final Word
We didn’t know what to expect when we booked over a week on the Ecuador mainland in the lead up to our cruise, but we absolutely loved exploring the diversity of activities and environments that Ecuador had to offer. Want to get more out of Ecuador? We highly recommend pairing your Ecuador trip with a cruise in the Galapagos.
