Days 1-2 Quito

Day 1.  Arrive into the Colonial area of Ecuador’s capital – perhaps transfer to the Casa Gangotena or the charming La Casona de la Ronda

Day 2.  Relax in the morning PM explore part of Colonial Quito – maybe a chocolate tasting.

Days 3-6 Hacienda Zuleta and Otavalo

A short transfer by road has you at the beautiful Hacienda Zuleta.  Zuleta is set on a working farm with its own cheese factory.  Zuleta has an interesting history given that previous Presidents of Ecuador lived here; Presidents who were responsible for given indigenous Ecuadorians land rights.  Close links with the local community continue to this day.

The food is wholesome with a local flavour, the rooms are very comfortable and have kept their original features.  Activities are varied with horse rides, carriage rides, walks, a visit to the Andean Condor breeding Centre, embroidery and cooking classes, cycling and bird-watching all on offer.

Three nights would give you time to relax as well as enjoy the many activities on offer at Zuleta as well as a day trip to the nearby Otavalo market.  Famous throughout South America the market at Otavalo has many fine artworks, Panama hats (originally from Ecuador), woollen garments and more.

Days 6-8 Cloud Forest

Transfer back to Quito and onto Mashpi Cloud Forest Lodge.  A cloud forest is a slightly high elevation forest area.  There are several options from which to explore, with Mashpi being the stand out.  I’ve included both Cloud and Rainforest experiences simply as they are both worthwhile and quite different.

At Mashpi to you can walk the many well kept forest trails, ‘cycle’ your way across and through th forest canopy, take a cable car ride (yes a cable car in the Cloud Forest), visit the Hummingbird feeding station (more than 40 species have been recorded here), butterfly house (with over 200 species at varying stages of development) as well as night walks.  Cloud Forests have some truly amazing birds: Cock-of-the-Rock, Umbrella bird,

After each excursion you return to the beautiful lodge where you can relax and enjoy every comfort, including a spa, yoga and outdoor hot tub.  For breakfast, lunch and dinner you are offered excellent cuisine prepared by some of Ecuador’s best chefs.

Days 8-11 The Amazon Rainforest

After Mashpi it’s time to head back via Quito to head to the Amazon Rainforest – here you have two choices, a traditional Rainforest Lodge stay (La Selva Lodge, Napo Wildlife Centre or Sacha Lodge), or an Amazon River Cruise.

Here you’ll have the chance to see several types of macaw and parrots, several species of monkey, giant river otter (none of which you will see in Cloud Forest).  That’s in addition to the Rainforest itself and Amazonian rivers; which are massive and flow for many thousands of kilometres (the Amazon is over 6,800 km long, and through Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil – where it flows into the Atlantic.

Day 12 Quito

A rest day in Quito will allow some time to sort your images, reflect a little and to relax and you’ve still not reached the Galapagos.

Days 13-15 Cuenca

You have a choice to drive to Cuenca, or to take a short flight.  Cuenca is a colonial gem, it’s alos the historical home of the Panama hat.  A few nights here will allow you to enjoy all that this charming city has to offer.

Days 15-22 The Galapagos Islands

Finally we leave the mainland and take a two hour flight (from either Quito or Guayaquil) to the amazing Galapagos Islands – we’ve kept it to the end as it is a pretty amazing destination.  We recommend a minimum of a 5 night voyage (in part as days 1 and 6 are travel days), and ideally a 7 night voyages that will give you the opportunity to see a high percentage of the Islands endemic species.

There is a range of wonderful vessels, some with just 16 guests (some with 2 guides – so you might be in a group of 8 whilst exploring), larger ships with 30-50 guests and a few with 100 guests.

When choosing your ship it’s good to think about a few key things.

1.  Each guide can only escort a maximum of 16 guests.  Which mean that ships with 100 guests split the clients into 6 groups.  Also understand some of the Islands are quite small so you will see all the other groups.

2.  Each ship offers a range of land-based walks and hikes as well as water based, snorkelling and kayaking activities – very few offer diving (as it’s very specialist).

3.  Landing sites are well organised by the Galapagos National Park Authorities, so you don’t find too many people (or ships) at any one site/Island. If you choose a 100 guest ship you’ll likely be the only ship, if you choose a 16 guest ship there may be 3-4 other ships.

4. Most of the sailing is completed at night.

5.  If you have specific species you want to see tell us – as you won’t see all species on all itineraries (e.g. flightless Cormorant, Galapagos Albatross, Galapagos penguins and red-footed booby are only found on certain Islands/sites).

Day 23 Quito or Guayaquil

As you can see from the above that’s a three week itinerary just in Ecuador.  Additional sites of interest like Cotopaxi, the avenue of volcanoes, Banos … the list continues, can be included or swapped.  A 3 to 4 week trip just in Ecuador is a fabulous option.  You don’t have to take numerous multi-hour flights to connect the different aspects of any trip and the people are very warm and welcoming.

This itinerary is a sample of what you might like to do in Ecuador. Please contact our expert travel consultants to create your own personalised itinerary of South America. Call 1300 784 794 or email contact@satc.com.au.