Travelling to Ecuador and Galapagos in December/January. I'm planning to go to Tena and do a little jungletrip and after that I want to go to Guamote for the Thursday market. Does anybody have an idea how to make this trip. I travel by local bus or train. And more importantly, can it be done in a day?
Thanks
There are buses going from Coca to Riobamba, and I guess they pass Tena, but I don't know how frequent they are.
Instead you could take a bus from Tena to Baños (5 hours) and from there another bus to Riobamba (1 h 45 min). In Riobamba you need to change bus again, and this time also bus terminal.
There are buses that leave Tena to Quito almost hourly until the evening then they are less frequent. Tena is quite developed and has a very active bus terminal. The trip takes about 5.5 hours or so. Also depending on where you go for your jungle trip it may be better to make a detour to Banos, then from there you can take a bus up the Panamerican.