Upon arrival to the Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito, your guide will be waiting for you to offer the transfer to your hotel.

You will have time to explore Parque Metropolitano, a beautiful park located in Quito´s heart where you will have fabulous views of the nearby volcanoes as: Cotopaxi, Sincholagua, Rumiñahui, Cayambe and more. It is the perfect place to walk surrounded by nature and get acclimatized to the altitude.
Lunch is included in a restaurant in Colonial Quito.

After lunch you will have time to walk and discover Colonial Quito. The world’s first cultural heritage site, the most well conserved old town of South America.

Finish your day going back to your hotel to rest well to start your thru hikes.

Very near from Colonial Quito you will head towards Ruco Pichincha, the closest volcano to the city. The hike traverses north to south maintaining altitude at approximate 4200m to connect Ruco Pichincha with Guagua Pichincha, other very similar mountain in characteristics. After a deserved box lunch in the refuge you will meet your driver that will take you down to the valley of Lloa where you will spend the night.

Lloa, by its privileged location between the highlands and the cloud forest has one of the most fertile soil in the country.

Today you will change contrasts while you submerge in the cloud forest descending from the mountains.
This is one of the top unbeaten hikes in the country as it travels through some beautiful single-tracks, crossing rivers and surrounded by birds and nature, it will make you feel in the middle of nowhere.

Mindo is located at the west of Quito in a deep valley surrounded by native Andean forest, represented by vegetation of three different life zones: from the low subtropical forest to the cloud mountain forest and the high paramo. It is known for its high bio-diversity, especially famous for its colorful birds. Ecuador has more species of Hummingbirds than anywhere else in the world.

You will have an early transfer to the trail head located in Maquipucuna. One of the most well preserved ecological forests in the Ecuadorean occident.

The trail you will follow is one of the most used paths of the spectacle bear (oso de anteojos) an endangered species that appreciates the loneliness and quietness of the unbeaten paths of the cloud forest.

You will have to tight well your shoes and pack well your energy bars as you will climb and climb up hills to reach the town of Yunguilla.

You will have a short transfer to the town of Niebli where you will start your hike up from the cloud forest to the dry Pululahua crater.
It is hard to believe but the entire hike you will do today is within the crater of a volcano. Pululahua Volcano is located just next to the middle of the world division and millions of years ago was catastrophic with its eruption.
You will enjoy your box lunch and depart to the east, to Papallacta.

Papallacta is famous for thermal springs which will fit ideally in your itinerary to freshen up your legs and relax your body prior to the Condor Trek which starts tomorrow.

A true adventure begins today as you will start the famous Condor Trek. Must be one of the top hikes in the country as it traverses through the paramo highlands crossing lagoons, rivers and valleys with magnificent 5000m volcanoes all around. Antisana, Cayambe, Sincholahua, Cotopaxi, Rumiñahui, and others massive peaks will be guiding your way.

You will start hiking very near to your hotel at an approximate altitude of 4000m. A group of mules will follow you carrying all your heavy weight as today you will sleep in tents under the light of the stars.

Wake up to enjoy a camping breakfasts and continue your thru hike in direction of Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world.

Today you will walk next to Antisana Volcano. A day to be surprised by the wonderful views and tracks of the paramo highlands.

This day is one of the toughest of the entire trip as you will be walking at high altitude for the entire time and weather could be tough. Good news is you will be better acclimatized and strong after 7 days of walking.

Keep up the high spirits that today you will complete the famous Condor Trek. You will hike over Sincholahua volcano to see the great Cotopaxi very near. As you approximate Sincholahua you will experience a change in the terrain, this last stretch of the trek will be on solid and dry ground with massive rocks all around. These rocks were expelled by the volcano in the last eruption thousands of years ago.
You will enter the national park where your will meet your driver for a short transfer to the hotel.

After 2 days of camping and 3 tough days of walking you deserve a proper sleep. You will stay in a Hacienda, located just on the foothills of Cotopaxi Volcano. You will literally see in first sight the massive volcano from your room’s window.

Wake up in The Cotopaxi National Park. An ecological sanctuary of 36,000 hectares (88,920 acres) surrounding the highest active volcano in the world, especially attractive for nature lovers, with the treeless vegetation of the Andean moorlands or paramo. You may see herds of llamas, wild horses, deer and perhaps the condor if you are lucky.
Today is up to you. In the morning you can walk towards Rumiñahui volcano summit, walk at Limpiopungo lagoon with fabulous views of the park or stay at the hotel drinking coffee and getting some deserved rest.
At midday you will have a transfer to Sigchos town, Place where you will get ready for the top hike in Ecuador – The Quilotoa Loop. We saved the best for the end.

The first day of the Quilotoa Loop is still far away Quilotoa Crater itself. You will start in the rural town of Sigchos and head towards Insinlivi town. As you go up you will cross some amazing scenery experiencing the contrasts from the occident and paramo highlands you walked before. You will see how the scenery here is a bit more drastic and dry.

One of the things that makes this hike so special is that you walk from lodge to lodge without any transportation in between.

From Insinlivi to Chugchilan.

You will cross canyons and rivers sharing paths with other adventurers, but most important, with indigenous local people who use the trails in their daily routine to transport their crops and animals form point to point. Actually transportation to and from this towns is very limited, probably 1 or at the most 2 buses go thorough per day, so people are very used to walk and walk well and long.

Today might be the highlight of the trip. Have you ever seen a crater lake?

You will walk up from Chugchilan to the crater rim of Quilotoa. You will follow wonderful single tracks, canyons and steep ridges to reach the crater and be amazed by the lagoon inside.

If time and weather permits you can go down to the bottom of the crater. The water has a strange greenish-yellow coloration because it is very alkaline.

Besides the incredible geological view there are Indian huts and indigenous people all over the trails. This day will give you a good idea of the culture of southern Indians of Ecuador.

The final day of your Quilotoa Loop will start in Quilotoa and end up in the small town of Tigua. Without so much elevation gain as the prior days you will traverse trough some ridges, canyons, valleys and hills to get to your destination.

Tigua is famous by some traditional masks hand made by the local indigenous people that reflect their ideology. In festivities they wear them to dance and sing.

After your box lunch you will get back in a car to travel north to your hotel located next to the airport. A comfortable and luxurious hotel to rest as you deserve.

*In case you are up for an extension you will continue south to discover the Inca Trails and the beautiful town of Cuenca.

Buffet breakfast as a price for all the effort you’ve made to travel through 4 different ecosystems within mountains, valleys, forests and canyons of Ecuador.

Your hotel offers transfer to the airport every 30 minutes for you to be in time for your international flight.