Ecuador Travel Guides: Nature Tourism

Ecuador feels like someone took volcanoes, Andes mountains, Amazon rainforest, Pacific beaches and one of the weirdest collections of animals on Earth, packed everything into a relatively small country and then put the most famous part 600 fucking miles offshore.

Excellent planning.

Quito gets things started at nearly 9,000 feet above sea level, where beautiful colonial architecture comes with the exciting realization that walking uphill suddenly requires significantly more cardiovascular commitment than expected.

And Quito has hills.

Lots of fucking hills.

Then Ecuador starts changing scenery like it has attention-deficit disorder.

Drive into the Andes and volcanoes dominate the horizon. Head east and mountains collapse into Amazon rainforest. Go west and eventually you hit Pacific coastline, beaches and completely different ecosystems.

Then there are the Galápagos Islands.

This is where evolution apparently got bored and started experimenting. Giant tortoises wander around like prehistoric lawn equipment. Marine iguanas voluntarily swim in the ocean. Sea lions occupy public spaces with the confidence of animals that know absolutely nobody is going to move them.

The Galápagos are extraordinary.

They’re also expensive, remote and logistically more complicated than casually adding “see tortoises” to your afternoon itinerary.

Mainland Ecuador can require more awareness. Safety varies by region, transportation can take longer than expected, and altitude can immediately humble travelers who assumed being reasonably fit was sufficient preparation.

But Ecuador packs an absurd amount into a small footprint.

It’s mountainous, tropical, volcanic, wild and wonderfully fucking strange.

Come for the Galápagos.

Stay because mainland Ecuador deserved considerably more attention than you planned to give it.