Cultures of the Coast & Highland Haciendas of Ecuador

Rolling Highlands, Indian Markets & Stunning Coastlines – From £2,095 per Person, Excluding International Flights

Day 1
Arrive in Quito where you will be met and transferred to your hotel.
Overnight: La Casona de la Ronda – Located in the old city of Quito, this is a newly opened boutique hotel which is housed inside a historical building. The hotel features just 22 rooms and is appointed using modern techniques and materials, while striving to maintain a colonial feel, in keeping with the surrounding area.

Day 2
Today you will be taken on a tour of the city of Quito, the first city declared as a World Heritage site by UNESCO back in 1978. The Old City features some of the best kept colonial architecture in Latin America and is an intriguing mix of Spanish and indigenous cultures. You will start the tour at a viewpoint to enjoy a bird’s eye view of the city to gain your bearings a little and understand the layout. Then continue on with a stroll around this fascinating old city, pausing to admire some of the staggeringly well kept architecture, from the Cathedral to the Presidents Palace on Plaza Indepencia. Many of the colonial buildings were built on top on an old Inca settlement, and you will have the opportunity to learn more and mingle with the locals in the streets and plazas. After your tour you will head north to the Equatorial line monument (Mitad el Mundo), where you can straddle the 2 hemispheres with one foot in the north and one foot in the south.

The rest of you day will be at leisure.
Overnight: La Casona de la Ronda (B)

Day 3
After an early breakfast, you will be driven north to the Otavalo region, an area famous for the daily Indian Market of the same name, about 2 hours north of Quito, before moving on to Calderón, a small town where bread dough figurines are made in all shapes and sizes. We will then continue along the valleys of Guallabamba and Cayembe through the dairy farms to your hacienda.

In the afternoon, after you’ve become acquainted with your new surroundings, we head out to San Antonio de Ibarra, famous for its wood carvings.
Overnight: Hacienda Pinsaqui – A traditional hacienda dating from the 18th Century, located close to Otavalo.  Hacienda Pinsaqui is decorated in a traditional style and features 16 charming rooms (B/L/D)

Day 4
Today you will visit the market of Otavalo, piled high with ponchos, woollen goods, tapestries, the original "Panama" hat, sweaters, Indian jewellery and handicrafts. Lunch will be at another of the beautiful haciendas or hosterías of the area and in the afternoon, visit the Indian town of Peguche, where textiles are woven in old-fashioned shuttle looms.

After your tour you will be driven back to Quito, the ideal stopover point between Otavalo and Cotopaxi.
Overnight: La Casona de la Ronda (B)

Day 5
Today we head south towards Cotopaxi, Ecuador’s most visited mainland National Park and for good reason. Full of some of the most spectacular Andean landscapes, these rolling views are interrupted by Cotopaxi itself, a conical snow-capped volcano which, on a clear day, can be seen all the way from Quito. The ‘Avenue of Volcanoes’ features a high concentration of these 5,000 metre high peaks, in between which llamas and other Latin American cameloids graze on their grassy slopes.
Overnight: Hacienda La Cienaga – one of the oldest properties of its kind in the region, built over 300 years ago.  La Cienaga features 34 rooms which are individually decorated in a traditional, colonial style (B/L/D)

Day 6
Depending on which day of the week this turns out to be, we will visit one of the uniquely colourful Indian Markets of the area, where the native dresses of men and women are piled high among fresh produce. The bright designs of the hand-woven sweaters contrast with the clear blue skies, a wonderful opportunity to grab a souvenir, even if that turns out to be just a beautiful photograph.

Renowned since pre-Columbian times, Indian markets have changed very little over 500 years; each plaza has its distinctive products: livestock, esteras (straw mats) and sugar cane cakes, food and toys, weavings of wool and hemp fibre, clay-pot pans and herbs, fruits, grains and cereals. Vendors sit under pieces of cloth extended over fragile wooden structures among the abundance of ribbons, medicines, prepared food and of course, fortune tellers. The barter system at the markets continues on into the third millennium.
Overnight: Hacienda La Cienaga (B/L/D)

Day 7
Today you will be driven back to Quito in time for your short flight to Guayaquil, where you will be transferred to your centrally located hotel, before embarking on a city tour. Located at the mouth of the Guayas River, this is Ecuador’s largest city and you will visit the principle attractions, from the port to the metropolitan cathedral, before being taken to the southern end of Malecon 2000, one of the newest attractions, a boardwalk tracing the rivers edge. To end the tour, you will head to the Barrio Las Peñas, on of the oldest neighbourhoods here.
Overnight: Oro Verde – A centrally located, modern hotel with well-appointed rooms.  The hotel features two restaurants, bar and a boutique (B)

Day 8
Today you will visit the “Manglares Churute” ecological reserve, established in 1979 and covering 49,383 hectares, this is one of the last coastal mangrove and tropical forest areas of Ecuador. Considered greatly important for biodiversity and conservation, you will explore the area with a local guide and expert on the mangrove systems via foot, and motor boat on the Churute River. Observe many bird species and mangrove trees growing up to 15 metres, you might even get to meet the ‘Cangrejeros’ (crab catchers), who make a living from catching the resident mangrove crabs. You will return to your hotel in the afternoon and have the rest of your day to enjoy as you like.
Overnight: Oro Verde (B)

Day 9
After breakfast you will be met and driven north to the small town of San Lorenzo, situated close to the entrance of Machalilla National Park. The mainland park is home to a number of endangered species, such as sprocket deer, white-tailed deer and even ocelots, alongside some endemic fauna. Out at sea, the islands of Isla de la Plata and Isla Salango are wonderful for whale watching between June and September.
Overnight: El Faro Escandinavo – located in San Lorenzo, a small coastal town close to the entrance of Machalilla National Park.  The hotel offers 8 spacious bungalows with either twin or double accommodation.  A cooked English breakfast is served daily, while the restaurant also serves Lunch and Dinner with choices to satisfy every pallet. (B)

Days 10, 11
The next two days are yours to spend at leisure. The national park is close by, so you may wish to explore there or, as the hotel offers direct beach access, you may choose just to kick back and relax. The hotel offers a few excursions which you can arrange and pay for locally.
Overnight: El Faro Escandinavo (B)

Day 12
You will be met and driven back to the Airport in Guayaquil, in time for your onward flight (B)