How does this Ecuador Itinerary Look?

I'd say the following itinerary is more doable, I'm not sure how it would work with local buses though, don't have much experience with that sorry.

Sat - Arrive Quito Saturday night - stay airport hotel
Sun - Morning flight to Cuenca - Stay Cuenca
Mon - Visit Ingapirca - Stay Riobamba - could also include Nariz del Dibalo train ride?
Tues - Riobamba - Cotopaxi (Latacunga) could visit Chimborazo Faunistic Reserve in morning then afternoon to Latacunga.
Wed - Latacunga - Quilotoa - Chugchilan
Thurs - another day in Quilotoa/Chugchilan or Saquisili market if you prefer
Fri - Cotopaxi National Park - could either stay here or return to Quito in afternoon.
Sat - Quito
Sun - Flight out

Other points:

You may want more than 1 day in Cuenca
You probably could do Cuenca - Latacunga in one day but it is a long journey especially if you are using local transport

Hope this helps!

This is wrong from the start.
You have only one week and try to make a trip for three weeks.
You can do, ether:
Quito and Cuenca. Quito is one of the most stunning cities in Sout America. Cuenca also has beautiful architecture.
or
Quito and Latacunga (including Quilotoa lake). Ditto. Quilotoa is a great place, both as a view and a trek.

EcuadorEm, yeah, that's the sort of flexibility I was trying to imply with the (?) after Latacunga. If the weather looks strong I'd REALLY like to spend basically three days on the Loop...if it looks dodgy I'd stretch out the trip from Cuenca to Latacunga by a day or two and roll the dice on a day trip to the Lake and market.

Fieldgate, I simply don't see how adding Cuenca turns a one week trip into three. It looks like a pretty provincial city that is worthy of a day or two exploration before moving on. I know it's a bit of a long haul on the bus going back but it is the only travel day of more than about two hours on the entire itinerary.

blueeyes_austin
I was simply saying that your itinenray is too packed. You'd need three weeks for that trip, or two, at least.

#4 Ingapirca is an interesting place to visit,imo. Just a matter of taste and interest.

I like Ingapirca too!

At the end of the day we'd all like to have weeks to explore the wonders of Ecuador but as always it comes down to time ;o)

My thought on Ingapirca was basically to break up the journey to Latacunga for a couple of hours. There is, apparently, a direct bus to the site that leaves earlyish in the morning. So I figured take that one, walk around the site for the hour or so it takes to see it, head back to the Pan Am and then get on the next bus heading north.

Alternatively, I suppose, I could spend two days/two nights in Cuenca and just do one day of nothing but travel and try to get from Cuenca to Quilotoa in a full day.

Part of what's driving this is that my incoming flight gets into Quito late (8 PM). So, I can either get into Quito proper really late OR stay the night at an airport hotel, take the morning flight to Cuenca, and be there before noon (and have the chance for some scenery on the way). As a general rule, I much prefer to begin trips in smaller towns rather than large, capital cities. I'm also really only interested in Old Town Quito and the Capilla del Hombre and I think a couple of days is enough for that (and I'm willing to sacrifice the Capilla if Cotapaxi is clear).

I agree with Fieldgate, it's way too much.

I think you are drastically underestimating how long the journeys will take you. Travel is a slow process in Ecuador. Even if a journey is say, 2 hours on paper, the process of getting to and from bus stations, buying tickets and waiting for buses to fill up before they leave, can easily add an hour or more on. Then it's only 2 hours if they don't stop to pick people up on the way (which they almost always do) and that there are no problems on the roads, (which there often are), and that the traffic isn't too heavy, (which it almost always is). Even a fairly short journey will eat up half a day or more.

You also don't have any room in there at all for the unexpected. It's only going to take one major delay caused by a landslip, flood or road closure and your whole itinerary will fall apart.

Just opting for Quito and Latacunga would give you a good range of experience in such a short time, with enough time to actually enjoy them.