Ecuador Step by Step
7 Days / 6 Nights - Per person on a double basis - Code EGR017
Day 1 – Monday: Transfer from the airport to the hotel.
Accommodation
Day 2 – Tuesday:Breakfast in the hotel. Tour to the Mercado de Otavalo (Otavalo Market).
Departure from Quito via Panamericana Norte until we arrive at Cayambe, where the passengers will have the chance to taste the delicious ""Bizcochos de Cayambe"", a type of biscuit or bread, made in clay ovens (accompanied by cheese of leaf or dulce de leche). After a brief stop in ""Miralago"", to admire a wonderful view of Lake San Pablo, we continue until we reach Otavalo where the native people of the area, ""Otavalos"", elaborate their fabrics.
Those who so wish can choose to stay in this area and our bus will pick them up on the return from Cotacachi (they will not be able to visit Cotacachi) or continue with the route to Cotacachi, well known for clothing and leather handicrafts. On the way to Cotacachi, we will visit a Workshop of Andean Instruments ""Ñanda Mañachi"" located in Peguche.
Once in Cotacachi, you will have enough time to visit the village, leather goods stores and have time for lunch (lunch not included). Return to Quito, picking up the passengers who stayed in Otavalo (place and hour of pick up established by the guide of Andes Nomads ).
** The bus will wait for a time of 10 minutes in Otavalo to pick up the passengers who stayed at that stop, after which it will return to Quito with those who are on board.
Day 3 – Wednesday: Breakfast in the hotel. Quito City Explorer (Historic Quito) + Mitad del Mundo
We start to the north of the city with a tourist route along the most important shopping areas, where most of Quito's hotels are located. Then we will go to the Historical Center to visit the Basilica del Voto Nacional Church, where we will make a brief stop and give information about the church, then we go to the Plaza de Independencia, where we will take a pedestrian walk and you can see the Cathedral, the Government Palace, the Archbishop's Palace and the Church of La Compañía, renowned for its impressive gold ornaments and altars, we will continue to the Church of San Francisco built in the seventeenth century. (Church entrances are not included). We will then go to the Mirador del Panecillo, a place renowned for its beauty, where you can admire a beautiful landscape of colonial and modern Quito.
We will stop in the pink area of the city to have lunch (not included), and then continue north, we will arrive at the Mitad del Mundo (Includes entrance) where you can see the monument that divides the Northern Hemisphere with the Southern Hemisphere of the planet. It was built in the 18th century where the French scientific expedition defined the exact position of the Equator line dividing the world. With extra cost you can enjoy the experiments that prove the location of this privileged place in the middle of the world.
Day 4 – Thursday: Breakfast at the Hotel. Tour through the Avenida de los Volcanes (Avenue of the Volcanoes).
Departure from Quito where an interesting tour of the Ecuadorian sierra is carried out, admiring beautiful landscapes of the so-called Avenida de los Volcanes, ideal for photography, and a brief visit to the Cotopaxi National Park. Arrival to the city of Riobamba and lodging in a typical hacienda.
* If the Cotopaxi National Park is not operational due to volcanic activity we will visit the Quilotoa volcano and the incomparable turquoise lagoon found in its crater.
* Does not include entrance to Cotopaxi National Park.
Day 5 – Friday: The next day, after breakfast, we will travel by bus from Riobamba to Alausí.
Train trip from Alausí station to Nariz del Diablo (Sibambe), a unique engineering work embedded in the Andes (the train ride takes about 2 hours). Continuation by land to Guayaquil, Visiting the plantations of cacao, banana and taca wood, passing through the neighborhoods of Huigra, El Triunfo, Virgen de Fatima and Durán, arrival and lodging in Guayaquil.
Day 6 – Saturday: Breakfast in the hotel. City Tour en Guayaquil.
Tour of the main streets and avenues of the city, a visit the Simón Bolívar Park, El Malecón 2000, the docks and the Rotonda, with the statues of Bolivar and San Martin. We will visit the Colonial neighborhood of Las Peñas, where you can admire its wooden architecture and where many of its houses are art galleries, you will appreciate a beautiful panoramic view of Guayaquil and the Guayas River from the Santa Ana Fort.
Day 7 – Sunday: Breakfast in the hoitel. Transfer from the hotel to the airport.