15 Day Luxury Ecuador & Galapagos Highlights

This is the first day of your exclusive Luxury Ecuador & Galapagos tour. You will arrive at Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito (Certified as a global 5-Star Regional Airport by SKYTRAX), be welcomed by your English speaking driver, and transferred to your hotel. If you arrive before 6:00 PM, a delicious dinner will be prepared for you by your personal chef in the comfort of your hotel.

• TransportCar.
• MealDinner*.
• AccommodationsQuito Polo Club Hotel or similar.

On this day, you will visit the highlights of the historical center of Quito, the capital of Ecuador. The city of Quito is listed under the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list. In the morning, you will visit Quito’s highlights, including the Panecillo, the Basilica church, and the San Francisco church. You will stroll through the lovely streets and plazas of the old town. For lunch, you will enjoy a cooking class wearing a chef’s hat, an apron, and with the help of a mini recipe book with 3 traditional Ecuadorian dishes that you will be cooking. Your private chef will bring fresh ingredients from the local market. Then, you will drive for approximately 45 minutes to visit the Intiñan Equator Museum, and afterwards, you will have time to visit the Pululahua’s Crater.

*Optional: If you would like to visit ‘El Teleférico’ you can also do it for an additional cost of $20 p.p.

• ActivityCooking, Sightseeing.
• TransportCar.
• MealBreakfast, Lunch.
• AccommodationsQuito Polo Club Hotel or similar.

In this action-packed biking excursion through the Cloud Forest, you will ascend by car to the foothills of the Pichincha Volcano. From this point, you will bike on a secondary dirt road surrounded by nature while cruising past landscapes of colorful mountains, farms, and local homes. You will get to witness a real aspect of the Ecuadorian life as, most of the time, you will see farmers working alongside the road and cows leisurely grazing. Then, you will descend into the Cloud Forest, where the warm air streams from the Pacific and meets the cold winds of the Andes creating a hugely biodiverse area. You will have lunch along a riverside before taking a stroll through a local hummingbird sanctuary. Afterwards, we will return to Quito.

• ActivityBiking, Bird Watching, Exploring.
• TransportBike, Car.
• MealBreakfast, Lunch.
• AccommodationsQuito Polo Club Hotel or similar.

On the fourth day of your exclusive Luxury Ecuador & Galapagos trip, you will visit the handicraft capital of Ecuador, Otavalo. Your day will start around 8:00 AM at your hotel where you will be picked up. The drive to Otavalo takes approximately 2 hours. Around 10:00 AM, you will have some time to enjoy some coffee or hot chocolate and eat local bizcochos at Lago San Pablo. Later, you will have the opportunity to visit a handicraft workshop where traditional musical instruments are made. You will end your day with a beautiful view of the Imbabura Volcano during your transfer to a traditional Hacienda.

• ActivitySightseeing.
• TransportCar.
• MealBreakfast, Lunch, Dinner.
• AccommodationsHacienda Zuleta or similar.

On this day, you can choose which activities you and your party will participate in. You can choose from the Condor Rehabilitation Center and flying condor viewpoint (unique in Ecuador!), visiting extensive gardens and pond, a Chapel visit, 60 km of self-guided trails, or you can visit the community and the different sites of interest nearby, including embroidery stores, saddle factories, museums, 14th-century Caranqui archeological pyramids, cheese museum, organic vegetable garden, worm farm, milking, sheds, trout farm, community library, and embroidery shops. After lunch, you will depart the hacienda and enjoy a relaxed trip crossing in the Andes. In your private transportation, you will be driven through beautiful mountains (over 4.000 m). After a two-hour drive, you will arrive at the village of Papallacta.

• ActivityExploring, Sightseeing.
• TransportCar.
• MealBreakfast, Lunch.
• AccommodationsPapallacta Hot Springs or similar.

You will have a full day in this resort to relax and enjoy the beautiful hot springs of Papallacta. The open-air thermal pools have various medicinal benefits. Due to their minerals, these waters will help you to gently exfoliate your skin and relax your body in a variety of pools. You will have a full day to enjoy this unique lodge. Additionally, you can also take self-guided trails around Papallacta to discover the various landscapes of the Andean paramo.

• ActivityExploring, Relaxing.
• TransportCar.
• MealBreakfast.
• AccommodationsPapallacta Hot Springs or similar.

Early in the morning, you will be picked up from the hotel and transferred to Quito’s International Airport for your flight to Coca. You will go to the amazing Yasuni National Park, continental Ecuador’s largest protected natural area, and host of an impressive biodiversity in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. After a 30-minute flight to Puerto Francisco de Orellana “El Coca”, one of our representatives will take you by private transportation to the city’s main dock at the Napo River. The next two hours will be on a motorized canoe heading down the river. Later in the afternoon, you will take the Matapalo Trail, and together with your travel party, you will feel the wonderful ambiance of the amazon rainforest.

• ActivityHiking, Exploring.
• TransportCanoe, Car, Plane.
• MealBreakfast, Lunch, Dinner.
• AccommodationsSacha Lodge or similar.

Your day starts at 6:00 AM with the wake-up call, so you can enjoy a calm and wonderful breakfast. Around 7:00 AM, you will go to the observation tower & Tucaneta Trail. Your naturalist and native guides will help you spot the colorful birds of the Amazon, and maybe even certain primates. Later that afternoon, you will go to the Charapa Trail. It is a great loop where different mammals, monkeys and birds can be seen coming closer to the lagoon at this time, looking for food. You will be back to the lodge after this fascinating experience and enjoy your dinner.

*During your free time in-between activities you can use our kayaks, swim in the lagoon, have a massage or just relax in your room and have a nap!

• ActivityExploring, Hiking, Wildlife Watching.
• MealBreakfast, Lunch, Dinner.
• AccommodationsSacha Lodge or similar.

You will have an early start again, at 6:00 AM, with the wake-up call, so you can enjoy a calm and wonderful breakfast. After breakfast, you will visit the Parrot Clay Lick and Mandi Wasi. You will make your way back to the Napo River, and take a motorized canoe ride to the clay licks where hundreds of parrots and parakeets gather to eat mineral-rich soil, an important part of their diet. After this, you will be taken to your authentic cultural experience where an Amazonian Kichua woman will share the life of the Kichua’s in the Amazon. In the afternoon you will go to the Coto Trail. Making this walk is an amazing experience and the perfect opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the rainforest. Groups of black-mantled tamarin monkeys can be spotted on this walk and some of our groups have even seen tapirs too. 

• ActivityExploring, Hiking, Wildlife Watching.
• TransportCanoe.
• MealBreakfast, Lunch, Dinner.
• AccommodationsSacha Lodge or similar.

In accordance with your briefing the night before, you will have an early wake-up call, breakfast, and departure from the lodge. The lodge staff will assist you with your checked luggage, and then, the motorized canoe ride will head upstream back to Coca, where our representatives will take you to the airport to help you with your checked luggage and boarding passes. Upon your arrival to Quito’s Airport, you will be picked up by your driver who will take you to your near the airport hotel lodge for your next day adventure.

• TransportCanoe, Car, Plane.
• MealBreakfast.
• AccommodationsQuito Polo Club or similar.

After breakfast, you will be transferred to the airport for your morning flight to the Galapagos Islands. Upon arrival, our English speaking guide will be waiting for you at the San Cristobal Airport, and then you will be headed to your hotel for check-in. This day will be self-guided. Optional activities: you can visit The San Cristobal Interpretation Center, where you will learn about the islands, evolution of their species, fauna, migration, and how humans came to live here. Then, you can go to Playa Mann for your first contact with the stunning waters of these islands.

• ActivitySightseeing.
• TransportCar.
• MealBreakfast.
• AccommodationsCasa Opuntia or similar.

After breakfast, you will go by boat to snorkel at Kicker Rock, one of the most spectacular landmarks in the Galapagos Islands. Kicker Rock is composed of two volcanic rocks of 140 meters tall which are located off the coast of San Cristobal Island. Viewed from the south, the rocks look like a sleeping lion, which is why the Spanish name is León Dormido (sleeping lion). From another side, it looks like a boot, hence the English name: Kicker Rock. This tiny island is the favorite place for an array of marine birds and great underwater life. The natural erosion of this ancient cone has created a channel between the rocks that provides the ideal habitat to a variety of sharks and rays. In the afternoon, you will go back to the hotel.

• ActivityExploring, Snorkeling, Wildlife Watching.
• TransportBoat, Car.
• MealBreakfast, Lunch.
• AccommodationsCasa Opuntia or similar.

After breakfast, you will go to the airport and embark on a thirty-minute flight to Isabela Island. When you arrive, your guide will take you to what is said to be one of the best snorkeling places in the world, Los Tuneles. Here, the water is shallow, calm, and very clear, it is a sea sanctuary. A series of lava flows have produced unique geological formations: a series of arcs and tunnels underneath and above the water which make the ideal habitat for many local Galapagos Species. The entrance to the site is shallow, and the waves can be strong, for this reason, the access can be complicated. You will have a snack on board and then return to Puerto Villamil.

• ActivityExploring, Snorkeling, Wildlife Watching.
• TransportBoat, Car, Plane.
• MealBreakfast, Snack.
• AccommodationsHotel Albemarle or similar.

Early in the morning you will be picked up and driven to the highlands of Isabela. This will be the first stop during your walk in the Sierra Negra volcano, which has the second-largest active crater in the world with a diameter of 10 km. The second part of the walk will take you to Chico, a cone of Sierra Negra with moonlike landscapes. This gives you an idea of how the Galapagos Islands looked at their creation. You will be back at around 2:00 PM. The rest of the afternoon is free to enjoy the beach on your own.

• ActivityExploring, Hiking.
• TransportCar.
• MealBreakfast, Lunch.
• AccommodationsHotel Albemarle or similar.

This will be the last day of your exclusive Luxury Ecuador & Galapagos trip. After breakfast, you will check out from your hotel, and head to Isabela Airport for your flight to Baltra Island. You will arrive at Baltra Airport to check-in for your flight to the mainland.

• TransportPlane.
• MealBreakfast.