best and economical place to view the amazon

Rurrenabaque is not expensive, but it's a long way to go there.
In Ecuador there are places which are much more accessible by a cheap bus trip.

"Best" and "cheap" are kind of opposites. After all, you get what you pay for. But, since this is posted in the Ecuador forum, then i would agree that Cuyabeno is the happy middle ground of cheap and cheerful.

Thanks folks, great tips & excellent summary aguas'. Will certainly look at madidi as it sounds like quality isn't compromised too much by cost. Don't mind travelling to Rurrenabaque if there's places to see on the way either.

A couple of years ago I visited Sani Lodge in the lower Rio Napo region. It is a lovely place and they have a camping option, which is cheaper than staying in the expensive cabins.

Photos and tips about Sani Liodge: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/3fbdb/22ac41/

I'm going to ecuador in june, and I will take a tour to the amazon in Baños, there are many agencies which offer excursions to both the secondary jungle and the primary jungle, depending on how I will with my schedules I will make the decision in Baños. There is some info on the web, but I think is too expensive. My cousin went there and got a good trip for two days to the secondary jungle, ( via puyo) any way I will post a new comment once I finish my trip!
hope this help

Our family did a 4-night trip to Cuyabeno (The Cuyabeno Lodge I think) a couple years ago. There are several lodges in that area and all are pretty isolated (the only time we saw other tourists was in the evening when we all met in the center of the lake to swim away from the pirhanas) and reasonably priced. Amazing experience all around. We saw anacondas, way too many kinds of spiders, nine species of monkey, pink river dolphins, a sloth, an incredible variety of birds... much of which we would not have seen without our incredible local guide, Guilver. Rustic cabins with flush toilets, good food, plenty of hammocks, no mosquitos.