Things to see, Places to stay!

Hi All,

I will be traveling to Ecuador with my bf in August. We have our plane tickets and thats about it! haha
I found a nice place to stay in Quito but now we are trying to figure out what to do in the other areas.
We are looking to go to Cotopaxi and maybe Quilotoa with a tour and then head down to Banos after that.
We plan to spend the end of our trip in Quito and a Saturday at the Otavalo market.
Any tours you can suggest would be great. Where can we book our activities for Banos?
Also can you suggest places/hotels to stay in these locations?

Thank you!

You didn't say how long you have planned for your Ecuador trip. It's pretty easy from Quito to get a quick tour to do the tourist hike partway up Cotopaxi, then visit the Quilotoa lake. That tour includes a down the mountain bike ride, and takes 3 days, or maybe only 2 really long days (can't remember). It is very cheap, and can be booked at a lot of popular Quito hostels, including the Secret Garden hostel on Plaza San Blas.

If you have more time, skip the tour, because the 2-3 day Quilotoa circuit route, by bus from Latacunga is much more rewarding. That doesn't include Cotopaxi, but you can book a separate day trip to there either from Quito or Latacunga. Or you can book a Cotopaxi summit trek from either place too.

It's pretty easy to go to Banos from Latacunga, but I think you'll need to change buses in Ambato.

This post has been removed because it may not have met our community guidelines.

Yes Please future posters on this thread PLEASE post the length of stay in this wonderful country so others can give you an idea of itineraries you might want to think about...

Thank you all for your input. Below I have the breakdown of days we will be in Ecuador.
The activities we do in Banos - Should we book them now before we get there? Or can we just wing it once we are there? I don't want to risk having them fill up.

As for the bike tour to Cotopaxi. Which company do you suggest? And also is this something I can book now? Since we are there on I guess a time crunch I would love to do as much as we can.

(Sat) Take Off
(Sunday) Land at 11:45AM - Try to get to Cotopaxi and unwind

(Mon) Cotopaxi - Volcano Bike Tour?
10/12 (Tuesday) - Quilotoa - Lake
10/13(Wed) - Head to Banos
10/14 (Thur) - Banos
10/15 (Fri) - Banos - leave head up to Quito
10/16 (Saturday) - From Quito head up to Otavalo - Market + Equator
10/17 (Sun) - Quito
10/18 (Mon) - Quito
10/19 (Tues) - Quito - We Leave At 8:30AM

Thanks again!

Maybe a day or two in Quito before you take off for Cotapaxi and Quilitoa to acclimatise would be a better and safer idea as they are higher in altitude than Quito and you would want to spoil your trip by getting sick. Put your trip to Otavalo right at the end and head back to Quito or even better still a place nearer to the airport as you will have to be there about 5.30 - 6.00am the morning you fly out. Or you could put Otavalo at the beginning or your trip to help acclimatise. y\You should allow for more than one day for Quilitoa unless you are going by car from Cotapaxi really. The stuff you can buy at the Otavalo markets can be easily bought at the indigenous markets in Quito so you might consider changing that trip and doing another local trip. Personally I think thug your itinerary is doable I think you are trying to cram too much into the few days you have there. Hopefully others will dome up with alternative solutions to the altitude problem?

For activities from Banos, no you don't need to book ahead. There are no group activities, so they don't "fill up". For Cotopaxi, it's not a place you go without a prebooked reservation at some fairly isolated hotel/hostel. And once you get there, you're at their mercy when it comes to the price of your activities.

Mostly, travelers stop in Quito, and shop around with a few travel agencies, and settle on a package for a Cotopaxi trip like the one you described. Maybe you should move the Quito days to the front end of your itinerary. As long as you make arrangements 1-2 days in advance, you can visit both Cotopaxi and Quilotoa from Quito with no worries at all. Some tours do 2 in one, and hit both places from Quito.

And also, in 6? hours you can easily transit Banos to Otovalo without stopping for a hotel in Quito if you need. It only takes one bus transfer in the Quitumbe terminal in the south of Quito.

But as Otavalo is in the North don't the buses for that area leave either in the centre of Quito or from the Terminal in the North of the city? Might be worth looking into that as seeing as I mostly go by car with friends to these areas I can't say for sure...
Anyway it is possible if some buses do go to Otavalo they don't go through Quito but around it?

I myself have taken direct bus from Quitumbe in Quito south to Otovalo. The buses do stop along the way to pick up passengers at the northern terminal.

I suppose they do that for the convenience of tourists and not so much for the locals but that is good to know anyway...

How frequent are they? Do you know?

Only a couple of companies do that route. I couldn't say how frequently, but I arrived at Quitumbe and was on a bus to Otovalo 20-30 minutes later.

You really need more time for Quilitoa if you are going to do anything but just look at it on a tour. Stay a few days in Chugchilan, get transport to Quilitoa and walk back, wonderful walk. What we did was to rent a car in Quito, drove to Chugchilan, stayed there 4 nights, then drove to Cotopaxi, stayed in one of the haciendas and walked up to the refugio (the tourist walk as someone described it). This way we avoided the tours and being trapped by the tour at Cotopaxi. We could probably have booked the downhill bicycle ride separately if we had wanted to do it.