Latacunga Getting there & around

Getting there & away

Local transport

Taxi

Plaza Chile (Plaza El Salto) is the place to go to hire taxis and pickup trucks for visits to Parque Nacional Cotopaxi and remote villages (pickups double as taxis on many of the rough roads in the highlands). Rates depend on your bargaining ability.

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Land

Bus

From Quito ($1.50, two hours) buses will drop you at the bus terminal (Panamericana) if Latacunga is their final destination. If you’re taking a bus that’s continuing to Ambato or Riobamba it’ll drop you on the corner of 5 de Junio and Cotopaxi, about five blocks west of the Panamericana. From there it’s a 10-minute walk downtown. Buses to Ambato ($1, 45 minutes) leave from the bus terminal. If heading south to Riobamba, it’s easiest to catch a passing bus from the corner of 5 de Junio and Cotopaxi, although these can be full during vacations. Otherwise, bus to Ambato and change there.

Slower Quito-bound buses leave the terminal, while faster long-distance buses can be flagged on the Panamericana near 5 de Junio.

Transportes Cotopaxi has hourly buses to Quevedo ($3.75, 5½ hours) in the western lowlands. The road is paved as far as Zumbahua, beyond which it deteriorates. This is one of the roughest, least-traveled and perhaps most spectacular bus routes joining the highlands with the western lowlands. The bus climbs to Zumbahua, at 3500m, and then drops to Quevedo at only 150m above sea level.

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