Ecuador - Andes, Amazon and Galapagos Islands

Our VIP door-to-door travel service collects you from home for your flight to Quito.

We start our day with a guided tour of the second highest capital city in the world - Quito. Built on an old Inca city, the UNESCO-listed old town is the jewel in Quito’s crown. Surrounded by distant snow-flecked peaks, it has some of the finest Spanish architecture in South America. We explore handsome cobbled plazas lined with white churches and coloured colonial houses, stopping to admire architectural treasures such as the Presidential Palace and Plaza de San Francisco.
Ever watchful over the city, we drive to the top of El Panecillo and the 45m-high statue of the Madonna that rises above Quito. The panoramic views across the capital and the ridge of volcanoes that flank it, are breathtaking. After chocolate tasting in the artisan neighbourhood of La Floresta to sweeten the journey, we drive to the small Andean town of Otavalo.

Excursions & visits:
• City tour of Quito (morning)
• Chocolate tasting session (morning)

Spreading across three of the town’s plazas in a sea of coloured Andean textiles, alpaca-knitted ponchos, hand-woven carpets, dreamcatchers and jewellery - this morning we explore Otavalo’s bustling market. Afterwards we head up to the cute colonial town of Cotacachi - the centre of Ecuador’s leather industry.
Today is a working lunch, where we join a Pachamanca cookery class - an ancestral technique that involves cooking over volcanic stones before burying the pots in the ground. The earth is then adorned with flowers as a thanks to indigenous gods. After lunch, it’s a short drive to Lake Cuicocha, a 3km-wide sapphire-blue crater lake studded with forest-covered islands and surrounded by fertile volcanic slopes and endemic flora and fauna.

Excursions & visits:
• Visit Otavalo market (morning)
• Pachamanca cookery experience (afternoon)
• Cuichoca Lake visit (afternoon)

Today we visit a family-run workshop that makes panpipes and charangos - a small, traditional stringed instrument similar to a lute. We’ll make a stop at a sweet-smelling rose plantation, before driving up into the highlands to Parque del Condor - a non-profit refuge for rescued owls, eagles and endangered Andean condors. On our way back to Quito, we stop to walk the line of the equator - taking photos of the 30m-high Quitsato Equatorial Monument.

Excursions & visits:
• Visit to musical instrument workshop, rose plantation and Parque del Condor (morning)

From the Andes to the Amazon, we board a flight to Coca - the gateway to the Ecuadorian Amazon. We transfer onto a motorboat to continue our journey deeper into the humming heart of the jungle and our riverfront eco-lodge.
Yasuni National Park is thought to be one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet. Dense rainforest, wide meandering rivers and mist-cloaked mountains provide a lost world habitat for millions of species of plant, mammal, reptile and bird. The park is also home to many indigenous tribes, two of which live in voluntary isolation from the outside world. This afternoon, hike along the ‘Playas’ trail in search of Amazon wildlife, and perhaps try kayaking on the river as the sun sets.

Up with the birds, we take a boat trip along the river to two clay licks - where hundreds of colourful parrots, macaws and parakeets gather to supplement their daily diet with rich sodium from the clay. We then carry on to Kuri Muyu Intercultural Centre - a centre managed by women from the Añangu Kichwa community who teach us about native culture, customs and how they use the natural resources of the rainforest.
After lunch at the lodge and time to soak up the peace and tranquillity from your balcony, we climb up to a 36m-high observation tower for incredible views across the forest canopy.

Excursions & visits:
• River Napo clay lick (morning)
• Kuri Muyu Intercultural Interpretation Center visit (morning)

This morning, we visit a sustainable community project run by the Añangu, before a guided walk along the Mama Kuna trail, keeping an eye out for toucan, tapir and treefrogs. After lunch we cruise along the Añangu creek, a blackwater ecosystem that’s home to caiman and giant river otter. Following a traditional Amazonian dinner, we join a night walk around the lodge hoping to catch the reflective eyes of nocturnal mammals and reptiles in our torchlight.

Excursions & visits:
• Añangu sustainable community project and Mama Kuna guided hike (morning)
• Añangu creek boat trip (afternoon)
• Traditional Amazonian dinner and night nature walk (evening)

Much of the rainforest are early risers, so we paddle out from the lodge in canoes on our final wildlife-spotting trip. Travelling by boat back to Coca, a quick flight lands us back in Quito where we drive up to Papallacta. A tiny village in the Andean Highlands famous for its thermal springs, it’s the perfect place to submerge in the therapeutic waters after three days in the wilderness.

We start our journey to the magical Galapagos Islands, by driving to Quito for a flight to Baltra and continue by boat to the island of Santa Cruz. On the way to our hotel, we tour the island - first visiting Los Gemelos (Twin Craters). The fertile slopes of these volcanic sinkholes are home to bizarre broccoli-shaped trees, exotic orchids, flycatchers, mockingbirds and rare Darwin finches - the feathered friends responsible for Darwin forming his theories on evolution.
Winding our way up into the highlands, we look out for the island’s famous residents - the endangered giant tortoise. Weighing in at up to 300kg and living for up to 200 years, seeing these gentle giants in their natural habitat is a rare and humbling sight. Afterwards, we get to grips with the fragility of this astounding archipelago at the Charles Darwin Research Station.

Excursions & visits:
• Santa Cruz tour (afternoon)

Today we explore two unpopulated islands by boat - Santiago and Bartolomé. Sculpted by twin volcanoes, Santiago’s lava flows and eruptions have carved out natural pools where sealions and fur seals gather on the rocks. Stepping ashore at Sullivan Bay, we walk along the 1.5km path of the lava flow - a lunar landscape of giant crazy paving where molten lava bubbled, solidified and cracked.
Proving that the best things come in small packages, tiny Bartolomé just off Santiago is one of the youngest and smallest islands in the Galapagos. Despite its size, its waters host some of the richest marine life - including a small colony of Galapagos penguin, green sea turtle, sealion, whitetip reef shark and rays. Some of which we’ll see from the water with snorkels if the timings and conditions are right. With sweeps of golden sand and cerulean waters - it’s also one of the most photographed islands.

Excursions & visits:
• Santiago and Bartolomé tour (morning)

Today we move islands to Isabela - the largest island in the Galapagos and aptly shaped like a seahorse. Formed by six volcanoes, Isabela is a hot spot for wildlife. There are more resident species of tortoise here than the other islands combined, and it’s one of the best places to spot migratory whale - including sperm, humpback, minke and orca.
This afternoon we take a boat to the islet of Tintoreras, looking out for turtles, rays, blue-footed boobies, Sally Lightfoot crabs, pelicans and penguins.
If you choose to upgrade your tour with a four-night cruise (with differing excursions), you’ll board MV Galapagos Legend today.

Excursions & visits:
• Tintoreras boat trip (afternoon)

Today we get active, hiking the Sierra Negra volcano - one of Isabela’s five volcanoes. One of the most impressive volcanoes in the Galapagos, it has one of the largest calderas in the world - measuring almost 10km in diameter. Passing by ochre-streaked lava fields and lush green flora, we keep an eye out for birds of prey and Darwin’s finches. Reaching the summit rewards us with stunning views across the island to the mangroves, rocky islets and emerald waters of Elizabeth Bay.

Excursions & visits:
• Sierra Negra volcano hike (morning)

Isabela’s size makes it home to a diverse range of habitats. The brackish lagoons just outside Puerto Villamil are one of the best places in the archipelago to view migratory birds, including whimbrels and pintails. Afterwards we visit the eerie Wall of Tears, a 24m-high wall built by prisoners in the 1940s.
There’s time to stop at the Arnaldo Tupiza Tortoise Breeding Centre before we sail back to Santa Cruz. Opened in 1994 to protect Isabela’s giant tortoise population from invasive species, habitat loss and volcanic eruptions, this carefully monitored programme is successfully reintroducing five native species of tortoise to the island.

Excursions & visits:
• Isabela tour (morning)

Your final day on the Galapagos is free to explore Puerto Ayora. Santa Cruz is a working island, and visitors are often surprised by the human life in this colourful coastal town - although the ever-present pelicans and sealions are a reminder of who really rules the roost. There’s also the option to take a boat trip over to another island.

Reflecting on our incredible week in the Galapagos, we leave the wonders of the natural world behind to start our journey home. We fly from Baltra to Guayaquil for our overnight flight back to the UK.

Upon arrival, your vehicle will be waiting for the journey home.