Welcome to Ecuador! You will be picked up from the airport by your German-speaking tour guide and taken to the hotel in the heart of Quito’s Old Town, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. Ecuador Grouptrip

The hotel is close to the Presidential Palace and the Independence Square (Plaza de la Independencia), surrounded by churches, museums and monuments. It is housed in a beautiful colonial building with a quiet, covered courtyard. Ecuador Grouptrip

Hotel: Plaza Sucre or similar Ecuador Grouptrip

Included: Private transfer from the airport, German-speaking guide, accommodation in a double room Ecuador Grouptrip

Today you will get to know the historic center of Quito, the largest and best preserved old town in Latin America and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978, on a half-day city tour. Ecuador Grouptrip

Your guide will show you the highlights of colonial Quito with its churches, historic buildings and monuments. The tour will take you to some of America’s oldest churches, such as “El Sagrario” and “La Companía”. You will also get to know the places of Santo Domingo, La Merced and San Francisco. Ecuador Grouptrip

On the hill “El Panecillo” you can see the Virgin and have a fascinating view over Quito. Ecuador Grouptrip

You have the afternoon free to stroll through the narrow streets, perhaps to watch the bustle of a local market or to stand with both legs in both Hemispheren – on a visit to the equator line! Ecuador Grouptrip

In the evening you meet with the group and enjoy together a welcome dinner and let the first day end in Ecuador. Ecuador Grouptrip

Hotel: Plaza Sucre or similar Ecuador Grouptrip

Included: breakfast, dinner, German-speaking guide, entrance fees to attractions, accommodation in a double room Ecuador Grouptrip

You say goodbye to the capital of Ecuador and head north to Otavalo. You can expect a landscape of crater lagoons, cactus and small mountain villages – certainly a wonderful contrast to the last days in the metropolis of Ecuador. 

Hotel: Tambo Inti or similar

Included: breakfast, private transport, German-speaking travel guide, accommodation in a double room

Saturday is great market activity in Otavalo! The crafts and music of the Otavaleños are known worldwide. Even if the market is sometimes very touristic, it is also the day for many locals to go shopping.

Besides the market spectacle with many souvenirs, you should also see the animal market and the food market! In the afternoon you can drive to the beautiful lagoon Cuicocha (guinea pig lagoon).

A short walk along the crater lake is possible, but at the beginning of the journey you could feel the the height. The small town of Cotacachi is also very beautiful and famous for its leather products. In addition, the first indigenous (indio) mayor of Ecuador was elected here.

Hotel: Tambo Inti or similar

Included: breakfast, private transport, German-speaking travel guide, accommodation in a double room

On the way from Otavalo to Mindo, you will have the opportunity to visit the Mitad del Mundo monument and, for example, experimentally prove that you are right on the equator.

You will also come across huge greenhouses for roses cultivation and enjoy the view of the beautiful landscape.

Hotel: Sisakuna Lodge or similar

Included: breakfast, private transport, German-speaking travel guide, entrance fees to sights, overnight stay in a double room

The best is to go on an exploration through the cloud forest before dawn, to see how the cloud forest and its inhabitants come to life.

After breakfast, you will visit, for example, the Butterfly House or take part in one of the many guided tours that this beautiful country has to offer.

How about a canopy tour through the cloud forest or just go into the water and let yourself be floated by doing tubing (admission to activities not included).

Hotel: Sisakuna Lodge or similar

Included: breakfast, private transport, German-speaking travel guide, accommodation in a double room

Today you leave Mindo to go to the largest national park in the country and one of the largest volcanoes in the world, the Cotopaxi.

This area is very diverse: from barren ground vegetation to the varied Parámo landscape, here are especially interested in botany, nature lovers, hikers and mountain bikers at their expense.

The evening you can end the campfire with a “Canelazo” (typical warm drink made from the Naranjilla fruit).

Hotel: Chilcabamba Lodge or similar

Included: breakfast, private transport, German-speaking travel guide, accommodation in a double room

In the morning, fortify yourself with a delicious breakfast in the cozy lodge for your today’s outing. Today you will visit the Cotopaxi National Park and the Limpiopungo Lagoon, which is home to rare paramo waterfowl and wild horses.

With the vehicle you reach the gravel road then the parking lot, from where you start the climb of 300 meters to the refuge José Ribas (at 4800 m altitude, about 1.5 hours).

Out of breath, but at the top, you will be rewarded with the fantastic view and you can warm up with tea or coffee before heading back to the Berglodge.

Hotel: Chilcabamba Lodge or similar

Included: breakfast, private transport, German-speaking travel guide, accommodation in a double room

After a quiet morning drive to Papallacta, the hot springs in the middle of the Andes! You can relax in the different pools and see the snow-capped volcanic peaks of the Antisana on beautiful days.

From Papallacta it goes relatively quickly downhill in the rainforest. From Baeza to Ahuano and from there by canoe to the lodge. After the ride, you can relax for a while in the simple cabins built in a rustic traditional style.

The cabins are surrounded by gardens full of fascinating rainforest plants. A delicious dinner is served in a cozy atmosphere. Afterwards, discuss the program of the next few days with the local guide.

* Please note that this area is still part of the rainforest and therefore there are not many large animals in the wild.

Hotel: Liana Lodge or similar

Included: Breakfast, dinner, private transport, German-speaking travel guide, accommodation in a double room

There is an opportunity to hike in the rainforest, take a canoe to the animal rescue center, visit local communities, find or wash gold or practice shooting with the blowpipe.

Hotel: Liana Lodge or similar

Included: breakfast, full board, private transport, German speaking guide, accommodation in a double room

For example, you can take a canoe to the animal rescue center. You can observe different species of birds and monkeys very close and be explained by the volunteers from all over the world something to the philosophy of the rescue station.

Then you can do an exciting hike through the rainforest and get to know, among other things, huge kapok trees and tiny leaf cutting ants. At the lodge you can sit comfortably on the balcony and relax.

Hotel: Liana Lodge or similar

Included: breakfast, full board, private transport, German speaking guide, accommodation in a double room

Today we go from the rainforest to Baños. On the way you can stop and take pictures several times. You will drive through the waterfall route and once more you will come up to the Andes Cordillera and in and in Rio Verde take a trek to the well known waterfall Pailón del Diablo, the most spectacular in Ecuador, a waterfall thundering down several cascades crashes.

And if you really love the adventure you can stand up just some centimeters away from the Waterfall and it can also be adventurous if you take the cable car over the Pastaza River.

Hotel: Isla de Baños or similar

Included: breakfast, private transport, German-speaking travel guide, entrance fees to sights, overnight stay in a double room

Baños is a small town known for its thermal baths and a special candy (melcocha), a kind of mass of sugar that is shaped in theatrical gestures by being thrown over a hook on the door frame several times.

The atmosphere is relaxed, the climate ideal and the tropical rainforest in eastern Ecuador just a few kilometers away! An ideal starting point for hikes and to see an active volcano, the Tungurahua, in action.

Hotel: Isla de Baños or simila

rIncluded: breakfast, private transport, German-speaking travel guide, accommodation in a double room

Today you visit the nature reserve Chimborazo. The Chimborazo volcano (6,310 m) is Ecuador’s highest mountain.

It was referred to as ‘The Roof of the World’ for a while, as its highest peak is further from the center of the earth than the 8,848-meter Mount Everest due to the Earth’s globe bulge in the equatorial area.

Alexander von Humboldt set a height record at the Chimborazo in 1802, because until then, and still 84 years later, no one had risen to a height of about 5,900 m.

You can drive to the first refuge at 4,800 m by car. If you feel fit, after a short acclimatization you can hike to the second refuge (about 45 minutes). This is, however, at 5000 m, and you will notice how thin the air is up here. Then continue to Alausi.

Hotel: La Quinta or similar

Included: breakfast, private transport, German-speaking travel guide, accommodation in a double room

In the morning you walk to the railway station in Alausi, the starting and ending point of your today’s spectacular train ride.

The train alternates backwards and forwards in serpentine lines, making its way through the mountain ranges with cactus, babbling streams, steep mountain walls and gorges.

Then the last and steepest part of the route begins. On one side is the rock face of the mighty mountain “Nariz del Diablo”, the devil’s nose, only a hand’s breadth away, on the other hand, the rugged, wide Andean landscape offers unique panoramas for photos oportunities.

When you arrive at the Sibambe train station, you will take a break before the train goes back to the station of Alausi (journey time about 2.5 hours, round trip).On the way from Alausi to Cuenca you will pass Ingapirca, the largest Inca ruins in Ecuador.

You can take a break to learn more about the Incas and their way of life. In Cuenca you will stay in a hotel in the historic center of Cuenca.

Hotel: Posada del Angel or similar

Included: breakfast, private transport, German speaking tour guide, train ticket, accommodation in a double room

Use the morning to explore the beautiful old town of Cuenca. On a guided tour of the city you will visit, among others, the impressive “new” cathedral with its distinctive domes, the main square of Parque Calderon and Cuenca’s oldest neighborhood, Barranco.

The afternoon can be used depending on your mood. For arts and crafts and Panama hats (which actually come from Ecuador), there are good addresses in Cuenca.

Hotel: Posada del Angel or similar

Included: breakfast, private transport, German-speaking travel guide, accommodation in a double room

The drive to Guayaquil is a bit longer today. Along the way you will pass banana, rice and coffee plantations and there are fresh oranges, mangoes, watermelons and tangerines to buy everywhere on the roadside.

In Guayaquil you are already expected in the hotel, which is located in the tourist center opposite to the cathedral and the Iguana Park (about 300 iguanas move freely there on the grounds and sleep in the trees).

The Malecon 2000 is very impressive with monuments, museums, gardens, fountains, shopping malls, restaurants, bars and views. A particularly beautiful part of Guayaquil is ‘Las Peñas’, the first residential district of the old town, romantically situated on a mountain, from which you have a fantastic view to the whole city.

Hotel: Continental or similar

Included: breakfast, private transport, German-speaking travel guide, accommodation in a double room

Breakfast in the hotel. Private transfer to the international airport “Jose Olmedo” for your international flight or extension to the Galapagos Islands.

Hotel: —

Included: breakfast, private transport, German speaking tour guide