Banos to Montanita

Hello fellow travelers,

I will be in Ecuador in April and am planning to spend several days in Banos then am thinking of taking a bus to Montanita. Some questions:

1) I'm not interested in the surf and party scene - not my thing. LP seems to indicate that it's pretty lively, yet noisy town. If I want to see the ocean, but have a quiet and peaceful stay, should I skip Mantanita? I am interested in seeing Isla de la Plata and also love to bike.
2) How are the buses in Ecuador (especially ones for longer journeys such as an overnight)? Interested in clean and relatively comfortable... If you have recommendations for a certain bus company, please let me know.

Thanks for your advice!

If Isla de la Plata, and tranquility, are your goals, you should definitely skip Montañita and stay in Puerto López. PL can be "lively" on weekends in the village; Hostería Mandála, on the edge of town, is quiet.

The long-distance buses are comfortable; the lines are all about the same. Night buses, especially in the Andes, can be dangerous because of the winding roads, driver fatigue, and generally poor Ecuadorian driving habits.

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Thanks, azbuceadora and aguascalientes001! Your replies confirm what I suspected...Montanita is not for me. PL will be a better choice for me, I think. I will think twice about taking a night bus as well.

Take a day bus and enjoy the scenery while you're at it anyway....

Yes, good point. Thanks, jgcp!

I don't think you can get a direct bus to Puerto Lopez from Banos, I think you would probably have to go to Ambato and take a bus to Manta, and then take a local bus to Puerto Lopez. There are several night buses, but I am pretty sure there is at least one that leaves in the morning. Otherwise, you could take a bus from Banos straight to Salinas (which is a quiet enough little coastal town if you wanted to break the journey for a couple of days) and then travel up the coast to Puerto Lopez. As has been said, you want to be in Puerto Lopez (or Manta, but that's a fairly big, busy port town) to get to Islas de la Plata.

If you did want to go via the Montanita area you could stay in Manglaralto or the more touristy Olon, both of which are much quieter than Montanita.

Thanks, Pboae. Thanks for the travel details. Very helpful!

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