11 NIGHTS OF UNFORGETTABLE LUXURY IN LATIN AMERICA
Ecuador, a gem nestled in the heart of South America, offers a vibrant tapestry of natural wonders and cultural richness. Imagine standing at the centre of the world in Quito, the world’s highest capital, where modern life and historic charm fuse together against the backdrop of the majestic Andes. Journey into the Amazon Rainforest, the earth’s largest living library of biodiversity, where the orchestra of nature plays out in vivid sights and sounds. Trek up the Cotopaxi, one of the world’s highest active volcanoes, for a breathtaking panorama that showcases the grandeur of Mother Nature. Dive into the unique ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands, a living museum of evolutionary changes, where Darwin’s theory of natural selection comes alive. Experience the timeless traditions of the indigenous communities, their vibrant textiles, music, and festivals adding colours to the country’s cultural mosaic. From the Pacific coast to Andean highlands, from Amazonian wilds to enchanting cloud forests, Ecuador invites you to explore its diverse landscapes and immerse yourself in its rich heritage. It’s not just a journey, it’s an awakening of senses, an adventure that leaves an indelible imprint on your soul.
In our 11 night itinerary, explore the country’s capital of Quito, taste traditional chocolate treats, cruise through the Galapagos and meet giant tortoise, before relaxing on Las Bachas beach. Read on to explore every inch of this itinerary in detail and contact our team on +44 1491 575 987 to let us know what you think!
TOUR DETAILS
- 3 nights in Quito
- 6 nights in Galapagos
- 2 nights in Guayaquil
TOUR HIGHLIGHTS
- Quito city tour with music
- Toak chocolate tasting
- Domes dinner at a Historic Centre Church
- Galapagos cruise
- Visit Sierra Negra Volcano
- Visit to tortoise breeding centre
- Visit Tagus Cave
- Freetime at Las Bachas beach
- Tour of Hacienda La Danesa
ITINERARY IN BRIEF
- Fly from London Quito
- Spend 3 nights in Quito
- Fly to Galapagos Islands
- Spend 6 nights onboard a Galapagos cruise
- Fly to Guayaquil
- 2 nights in Guayaquil
- Fly home
day one
Arrive in Quito
Welcome to Quito, the highest capital in the world (2,850m/9,350ft) with over 2.2mn inhabitants. Its historic centre is one of the largest, least-altered, and best-preserved in the Americas, and it was the first World Cultural Heritage Site declared by UNESCO.
You will be picked up from the airport and transferred-in to your hotel. After you settle down, you will enjoy a welcome dinner.
Overnight in Casa Gangotena.
day TWO
Explore cultural Quito
Today you will discover the highlights of historic Quito alongside your guide.
Quito is also affectionately known as La Carita de Dios (“The Little Face of God” in English) because of the high number of skilfully ornamented colonial churches and monasteries. Many of these are also recognised to be amongst the finest colonial buildings of South America.
Be ready to have a different city tour filled with experiences like the To’ak Chocolate experience where you will uncover the unique history, art, and chocolate of Ecuador. Get to taste the so-known ‘Golden Fruit’; or Cacao de Arriba (from the North), which is considered the oldest Cacao fruit and the one giving you the very best chocolate in the world. Also, this special tour celebrates the work of Ecuador’s most famous artist, Oswaldo Guayasamín. At night be dazzled with a unique dinner on a historic church dome.
After a full day of exploring the historic sites and chocolate experiences of Quito, the evening will culminate in a special dining experience at a historic centre church. This unique setting, with its stunning domes and intricate architectural details, will transport you back in time to the colonial era.
Overnight at Casa Gangotena.
day three
Trip to Otavalo
Today your driver will pick you from the hotel and take you to Otavalo, 2 hours north of Quito.
This town sits under the awe-inspiring Imbabura volcano, and is famous for its traditional indigenous market. There you will meet skilful native merchants who use the same techniques as their ancestors to create colorful and unique pieces such as alpaca sweaters, ponchos, hammocks, pan flutes, and other souvenirs. Remember that they expect you to bargain!
Interestingly, the music from this region of the Ecuadorian Andes is well-known worldwide, as it has been featured in pop culture through the decades. Its main instrument is a small panpipe called rondador, which produces a distinctive sweet sound. To learn more about this, you will visit the musical house of a respected maestro in this genre, Taita Gundo.
Time for lunch at hotel Otavalo at Sarance restaurant, is how the native indigenous residents referred to the town now known as Otavalo. Located within the foundations of the hotel, guests can enjoy a journey of flavors with each dish featuring different provinces of our Ecuador in its own comfortable cavern.
On the way to your next destination, you will stop at the village of Cotacachi, which is well-known for its handmade leather articles. The Cuicocha lake awaits. It was created when a former volcanic cone collapsed during its last violent eruption (about 3,000 years ago), leaving behind underground water fountains that filled the crater with mineral-rich water that still releases gas bubbles. You could choose to enter the volcanic rim, and enjoy the abundance of wild orchids, the endemic pumamaqui-tree, hummingbirds, and more. Transfer back to Quito.
Overnight at Casa Gangotena.
day four
Start your Galapagos Tribute Cruise
Arrive at Baltra Airport where a guide will meet you, help collect your luggage, and escort you on a short bus ride to the harbour. Here, climb aboard the Tribute yacht. After greeting the crew and the captain, your cabins will be assigned to you and then you will enjoy your first lunch aboard.
This afternoon, Santa Cruz offers excellent opportunities for viewing wild Galapagos giant tortoises, roaming through pastures in the agricultural zone and in the transition zone of adjacent El Chato Tortoise Reserve.
day five
Explore Isabela Island
This morning, visit Sierra Negra, the only major volcano on Isabela which crater regions are currently open to tourism. Its impressive caldera of 10 km wide is the largest of the Galapagos Islands. The route followed is approximately 16 km long, and will reward you with dramatic geological and ecological contrasts.
After crossing a barren lava flow with cacti and passing a flamingo lagoon, the main road leads through Isabela’s surprisingly lush agricultural highlands. While gaining altitude, no less than five vegetation zones will be passed.
A trail along the rim of Sierra Negra Volcano leads to a viewpoint where you can try to grasp the incomprehensive dimensions of its caldera (clear weather unpredictable, but thanks to prevailing winds fog usually tend to dissolve on approach). Songbirds will accompany you along the way, harmonising the steaming volcanic landscapes.
Overnight onboard the Galapagos Tribute Cruise.
day SIX
Explore Isabela – Fernandina
During the night we navigated to the northwest coast of Isabela, where two huge volcanoes are found, the Sierra Negra and the Cerro Azul. In between these two is located our visit point, Punta Moreno. There, we will follow a trail that runs along a solidified black lava flow until we reach a complex of tidal lagoons, where sharks and marine turtles are often seen. Several species of birds can also be visible, including flamingos, which are found around the lakes and mangroves.
After breakfast you will disembark to Fernandina, the Galapagos’ westernmost and youngest island (less than one million years old). It is so remote and pristine that has only 1 visitor site, Espinoza Point, where you will find some of the most bizarre animal species, products of natural selection. Among them is the flightless cormorant, a bird which had to adjust its way of survival after arriving at the Galapagos Islands and being isolated here for thousands of years. It had to learn how to find food in the ocean, so its wings slowly lost the ability to fly and now work as fins. You are witnessing evolution! The endemic marine iguanas can also be found conglomerated in the thousands, one over another to maintain their body heat, when they are not swimming near the shore or blocking the way.
Overnight onboard the Galapagos Tribute Cruise.
day seven
Explore Isabela
This afternoon’s visit starts with a dinghy ride along the island’s cliffs. This will provide you a good chance to spot the endemic Galapagos penguin, the only one of its species to live in the tropics.
From the landing dock, it’s a 30-minute hike along the trail to the top of the cliff, from where you can observe the iconic Darwin Lake (pictured). Look carefully at all the graffiti on the surrounding rocks, they were written by pirates, whalers and buccaneers in past centuries.
Back at the coast, you could pick a kayak to explore these paradisiacal coastal environment.
During lunchtime onboard we navigated across the Bolivar Channel for a final visit to Isabela island.
While entering a dark cave below a spectacular arch, you will be accompanied by the roaring echoes of the waves crashing the surrounding cliffs. Just around the corner, the collapsed amphitheatre of the Ecuador volcano offers an impressive view. The calmer waters of the coves are well-protected against the ocean swell and are a fairly cold, but a great place for snorkelling amongst various species of shark, penguins, puffer fish and even seahorses and the giant mola-mola!
day eight
Bartolome & Santiago Islands
Bartolome offers some of the wildest landscapes and best panoramas of the entire archipelago. You will be first welcomed by the Pinnacle rock, that rises majestically from the seabed. Enjoy it from different angles, and next, disembark and climb 350 steps to the summit of the Bartlolomé islet, crossing paths with lava lizards, Galapagos hawks and Galapagos racer snakes. Enter a dramatic world of threatening (though extinguished) nearby spatter cones, craters, and lightweight lava droplets that have been spewed out by fiery fountains. Next, at the appropriately named Golden Beach, you can dip into crystal-clear, turquoise waters to witness precious coral formations, sea turtles, colourful reef fish and (harmless) whitetip reef sharks.
The arrival in Sullivan Bay is like a moon landing. The desolate, sprawling fields seem to be out of this planet, therefore this island is very popular among photographers and geologists. The last eruption here occurred in 1897, and covered the bay with Pahoehoe lava flows, which are characterized by smooth, gently undulating, or broadly hummocky surfaces.
The beach nearby has clear, shallow waters that invite to snorkel, and if you venture to deeper waters, generous marine life can be found, like Galapagos penguins, Pacific green turtles, whitetip reef sharks (careless about humans), Galapagos sea lions, and rays.
day nine
Santa Cruz – North Seymour
Dragon Hill hosts two key-species that are not too commonly distributed throughout the islands: Galapagos land iguanas and American flamingos. You will climb a hill with giant opuntia cacti where these animals feed and breed. This is a very photogenic spot as well, with breathtaking panoramas over the bay and towards an intriguing steep volcanic spout of red lava that overlooks the area. Dragon Hill has become popular because of its picturesque saline lagoons behind the beach, which contain minerals, algae and shrimp that attract abundance of seabirds.
Seymour is an uplifted (as opposed to volcanic) island and therefore is generally flat and strewn with boulders.
There are good nesting sites here for a large population of magnificent frigate birds. Blue-footed boobies perform their courtship dance in the more open areas and swallow-tailed gulls perch on the cliff edges. Despite the tremendous surf that can pound the outer shore, sea lions haul out onto the beach and can be found bodysurfing.
Overnight onboard the Galapagos Tribute Cruise.
day ten
End of Cruise
Your last visit is to Bachas. Two conjunct beaches, with soft white sand that makes it a favourite nesting site for sea turtles. There is a small brackish water lagoon behind the first beach, where occasionally it is possible to observe flamingos and other coastal birds, such as black-necked stilts and whimbrels. The second beach is longer, and it has two old barges that were abandoned during the Second World War, when the USA used this Island as a strategic point to protect the Panama Channel.
Afterwards, you will be transferred from Baltra to the dock in Puerto Ayora. Upon arrival, you will be transferred to your hotel in Guayaquil.
Overnight at Hotel del Parque.
day eleven
Hacienda La Danesa
Indulge in a unique culinary experience today as you produce artisan chocolate at the cacao plantation and taste locally-made jams, honey, dulce de leche, and other delicious handmade products created by the local community. The ingredients used in the restaurant are sourced from the farm, ensuring the freshest and most flavourful dishes. Don’t miss the opportunity to try a Café au Lait with warm, fresh milk straight from the cow’s udder.
After a satisfying morning, continue your journey to Guayaquil, a vibrant city known for its cultural diversity and rich history.
Guayaquil transitioned from a Cocoa-exporting wooden settlement in the XIXth century to a busy port and commercial centre today. Admire the pompous monuments, deep social and architectural contrasts, and vivid street life. Do not venture alone outside touristic areas.
Overnight at Hotel del Parque.
day twelve
Fly home
After breakfast, you will be transferred to Guayaquil airport for your international flight back home.