Usually dominated by gringo tourism to the Galapagos, this tiny country is full of diversity. It has some of the coolest volcanoes in the world (shout out to the moment we finally saw Cotopaxi), lush rain forests and cities that are slowly gaining international renown. Oh, and some absolutely jaw-dropping whale watching if you catch the right season. Explore the country while most people are off island hopping and you’ll have some incredible locales almost all to yourself. Check out our itinerary for a nice three week hop around some of the best experiences in the country.

Ecuador Itinerary

What We Did

Hint: links will take you to in-depth articles about specific destinations!

Otavalo

1 day - a market town located conveniently close to the Colombian border

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Quito

3 days - a capital that is gaining increasing attention (and with that, lots of wealthy tourists to drive up prices)

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Latacunga

1 day - a stop through if you’re heading to the Quilotoa Loop, especially if you've just stopped at majestic Cotopaxi en route

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Quilotoa Loop

3 days - a tea-house style trek through a variety of towns (we chose Isinlivi, Chugchilan, and Quilotoa itself), offering great scenery and plenty of cozy hostels

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Baños

2 days - the name says it all, lovely thermal baths and awesome adventure experiences

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Puyo

1 day - just a bike ride away from Baños, it's a whole new world at the edge of the Amazon

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Riobamba

1 day - only worth it for the access to Chimborazo (which is an incredible mountain surrounded by hoards of fuzzy alpacas)

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Montañita

1 day - in our experience, a miserable want-to-be party town

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Puerto Lopez

2 days - lackluster town with access to Isla de la Plata (the poor man's Galapagos) and amazing whale watching in season

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Quito

1 day - a questionable stop through that allowed us to take two overnight busses and save money on hotel rooms

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Cuenca

3 days - our absolute favorite city in Ecuador features tasty food, pretty buildings, and access to Cajas national park

Our Advice

1. Only stop in Otavalo if you’re there on market day, which is Saturday, upon last check. Hostels are depressingly empty if you miss it (we speak from experience).

2. Quito’s a useful stopover for many destinations. But you have to know something. Most people come to Ecuador for the Galapagos. Without fail, they stop through Quito to get there. That means for one, glorious moment the bourgeois and the backpackers combine. This of course snowballs into jacked up prices, pickpockets, and dads in khaki shorts. We would recommend catching its sites in pieces on the way to other, more exciting destinations.

3. If you’re there in whale season (July-ish), we would highly recommend Puerto Lopez. If not, give it a skip. The rest of the coast did not hold much interest for us and travel to, from, and between coastal towns isn’t the easiest. This was part of the reason for our circuitous route…

4. Think twice about taking a tour in the Amazon... in fact that's the other reason we made a big loop - we thought we'd be heading to the jungle. We debated long and hard about the Amazon and decided not to go. Although we’ve heard many fun stories, we’re pretty sketched out about the ethics behind many of these trips. If you are interested, make sure to do your research first. We’d rather jungle creatures stay friends, not food or fodder.

5. There are many worthwhile towns surrounding Cuenca - indeed people love getting fucked up in hippy little Vilcabamba. We can tell you how to get across the border from Cuenca, but exploring some of them could be fun if you have more time.

Been to Ecuador (with or without the Galapagos)? Let us know your route below!

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