discover the avenue of the volcanoes. from quito to otavalo and down to cotopaxi, riobamba and the devil's nose, banos and beautiful cuenca. a day by day catalogue for your reference. day by day ecuador, avenue of the volcanoes, cotopaxi, quilotoa, banos, riobamba, quito, otavalo, cuenca, catalogue, day by day, itinerary.
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Discover the Sierra 11 Days | A beautiful tour around Ecuador's main highlights in the Sierra region. From Quito to Otavalo and down to Cotopaxi, Banos, Riobamba and beautiful Cuenca. Volcanoes, waterfalls, rainforest and history combined in one outstanding experience.
Here you can view our flip-page catalogues that are also available for download on PDF and zip file. Discover the avenue of the volcanoes. from quito to otavalo and down to cotopaxi, riobamba and the devil's nose, banos and beautiful cuenca. This is our Ecuador 11 days Avenue of the Volcanoes tour.
DAY BY DAY ITINERARY
Day 1
Guest arrival to Ecuador. Check in Hotel. (2 PM) On our first day we will rest from a long journey to Ecuador while we get used to Quito’s height. A complimentary small night tour of the city of Quito and the historic center is offered with a nice welcome in a traditional restaurant of the city, where you will meet all your fellow travelers, your guide in a very special and friendly dinner.
Day 2
AM We start early in the morning by going to the TeleferiQo, considered to be one of the highest cable cars in the world. If we are lucky we will be able to see from 4000 mts of altitude some of the Andean Volcanoes in the horizon like the Cotopaxi, Antisana and Cayambe, along with an spectacular view of the city of Quito. Afterwards we will visit the historic center, full of legends and myths, it is considered one of the best preserved colonial sites in Latin America.
We will visit incredible churches like the Compañia de Jesus church, one of the most beautiful of its kind, the Basilica del Voto Nacional and San Francisco.
We enjoy a delicious lunch at one spectacular viewpoint restaurant of the city.
PM We will visit the Mitad del Mundo monument and the Museo del Intiñan, where they will amuse us with some particular tricks that can only be done right here, in the middle of the world. We will return to our respective hotels afterwards.
Day 3/Day 4
Guest pickup from hotels. We will start early and depart towards Cayambe, a small indigenous town where we will visit a traditional biscuit factory. We will enjoy a delicious “bizcocho and queso de hoja” breakfast and continue our way to a beautiful viewpoint of the San Pablo lake.
We will then continue to Otavalo where we will visit the folkloric market, the biggest in Ecuador for handicrafts and local art shopping. Before lunch, we will visit the Peguche waterfall, which during the Inti Raymi is considered as the gates to the divine spirits.
PM Arrival to the Mals family home. Traditional lunch cooked by our hostess, Doña Estela. On this tour over forty members from the Iluman community are directly involved. We start by enjoying some traditional Andean Panflute music, continued by a folkloric dance and ballet show.
We will then enjoy some traditional fritada (pork) and for the risk-takers a delicious “cuy” (guinea pig) will be roasted for you to try. After enjoying some dancing and traditional games a shaman will perform a demonstration of the ancestral cleansing ritual. At the end of the day, Doña Estela and Don Alejandro will offer us a private handicraft expo from their small factory.
Day 4
AM We make a late start this day, so we can have free time to enjoy the hosteria facilities*, tour around the city on our own, or visit the animal trading market with our tour leader. Afterwards we will first stop at Don Angel’s looming factory, a small and very modest place where he works his handicrafts for sale in the market afterwards. We head to Cuicocha, an active crater filled with water over hundreds of years and turned into a lake. Here we will ride a small boat around the two islands in the middle. We will enjoy a delicious a la carte meal on the restaurant with a view to the lake.
PM
We will then head to Cotacachi, a small indigenous village famous for their leather industry. After shopping and sightseeing around town we will head back to Quito.
Day 5
AM We depart early in the morning towards the Cotopaxi National park. After a ride of approximately 1 hour and a half we will visit the Limpiopungo Lake inside the national park, and enjoy a small snack at the lake. We will then continue towards the parking lot, from where we will hike up 300mts from 4500mts to 4800 mts of altitude. Here we will visit the Jose Rivas shelter, enjoy a warm cup of chocolate and head back to base.
PM For lunch we will head for our hacienda, check-in into our rooms and get ready for an afternoon with horseback riding around the hacienda trails (1hr) and enjoying the hacienda for the rest of the afternoon.
Day 6
AM After enjoying a delicious breakfast we head towards Quilotoa. This active volcano’s crater has filled during thousands of years to become one of the most beautiful lakes in Ecuador. It gets its particularly turquoise colored waters from the different minerals dissolved in them. We will take a hike for around 5 hours around the crater or descend to the bottom and enjoy a nice boat ride around the crater.
PM After enjoying a traditional Andes lunch on a viewpoint restaurant, we will make our way to Baños, We will arrive between 3 to 4 hours later, check-in into our hotels and enjoy a very well deserved rest.
Day 7
AM. After enjoying a delicious breakfast we will start our adventure towards the waterfall sanctuary trail. Two options here, you can either do it on our transportation or we can go biking through it. After crossing a couple of minor waterfalls, we will continue toward the Manto de la Novia, where we will hike down a small trail and end up right on its base!! We can enjoy some coffee here and continue our way.
After reaching the Pailon del Diablo, we will have a 40 minute hike to the waterfall, here we will see the impressive and world known waterfall and then enjoy a delicious lunch.
PM We will go back to Banos on our transportation. Around 6 pm we will head towards a beautiful Café, located on the skirts of the Tungurahua volcano with an impressive view of the village. We will watch as the sun hides behind the beautiful mountains and head back to Banos.
At night, we will board a traditional chiva, a traditional transport that will take us high to a viewpoint of the city, for some traditional canelazos and story telling. Afterwards, we can head to a small bar/disco or back to the hotels.
Day 8
AM Three options to do here in Baños for the morning. Each passenger will receive a $25 USD voucher for activities of their own choice, these can be rafting, canyoning, horseback riding or for usage in one of the various spas in the city. If the activity costs more than $25 USD the guest can pay the difference on site.
Lunch
PM We depart towards Riobamba, a town located near the colossal Chimborazo volcano 6268 mts, considered farthest point to the center of the earth and closest point to the sun due to the earth’s shape. Since we arrive around 7 pm to this small village, we will stay on an hacienda or hosteria for a nice relaxing night prior to our next adventure.
Day 9
AM Very early in the morning we depart towards Alausí, where we would take the historic route of the Nariz del Diablo in one few trains still working in Ecuador. This beautiful scenic ride will take us to what is considered the most difficult railroad in the world, as the train does a series of forward and reverse zig zag movements down a very steep mountain called the “Devils Nose”.
We will return to Alausi and enjoy a traditional lunch.
PM We will head south towards Ingapirca, but first we will visit the small village of Biblian. Here we will encounter one unique church, built high into a massive rock. We will then continue our way to the most representative incan ruins in Ecuador, Ingapirca. We will check-in at our respective hosteria.
Day 10
AM We start our day with a tour around the Ingapirca ruins, we will visit the Temple of the Sun and learn about this culture and their traditions. Before lunch, we depart towards the traditional city of Cuenca. After this we will take a tour around the main streets, churches and parks around. We will enjoy a nice walk next to the Tomebamba river and continue our way to one of the traditional restaurants of the city for a delicious lunch of “Mote Pillo” and “Carne Asada”.
PM After we check out from the hotel, we will visit the small town of Chordeleg famous for silver handicrafts and other artisanal products.
Day 11
AM We will check-out from our hotel and take our respective flights. Passengers continuing their tour to Cajas will stay in Cuenca, passengers to Galapagos or the Jungle will depart towards Guayaquil or Quito.
