The route that gives Ecuador the treatment beyond the Galápagos that most Ecuador visitors never take because the Galápagos is the reason they came: two days in Quito for the historic centre (the UNESCO old city — the largest and best-preserved colonial centre in Latin America, the specific Quito quality that the 16th-century Spanish built on the Inca foundation and that the 1978 UNESCO listing recognised as the first city in the world to receive the designation) and the Teleférico (the cable car from 2,950m to 4,100m on the Pichincha volcano — the Quito cityscape visible at 2,800m below, the Cotopaxi and the Chimborazo visible from the summit ridge on clear mornings), three days on the Avenue of the Volcanoes (the Pan-American Highway south of Quito — the corridor flanked by 10 major volcanoes including the Cotopaxi (5,897m — the highest active volcano in the world and the highest I have climbed without mountaineering certification) and the Chimborazo (6,268m — the summit is the point on Earth’s surface furthest from the Earth’s centre because of the equatorial bulge, further from the centre than the Everest summit)), and two days in the Mindo Cloud Forest (the biodiverse western Andes slope — the hummingbird species count (over 450 species in Ecuador, more than any other country, and the Mindo region has 30+), the specific cloud forest at the Pacific-facing Andean slope where the temperature inversion gives the cloud every afternoon and the specific biodiversity that the cloud forest generates).
Reading time: 10 minutes | Last updated: 2026
Before You Leave
Getting there: Fly London-Quito (via Amsterdam (KLM), Madrid (Iberia), Bogotá (Avianca) — 14-17 hours total). UK citizens: Ecuador visa-free 90 days.
Currency: US Dollar (Ecuador uses USD). Mid-range daily budget: USD 60-100 / £47-79.
The altitude: Quito sits at 2,850m — the second-highest capital city in the world after La Paz. The first 24-48 hours require the acclimatisation (the mild headache, the reduced appetite, the sleep disruption at altitude): normal. The specific instruction: no alcohol, no strenuous exercise, increased water on Day 1. .
The Route
Quito (2 nights) → Avenue of the Volcanoes (3 nights: Latacunga base) → Mindo Cloud Forest (2 nights, 2 hours from Quito)
DAYS 1-2 — Quito
Day 1: The Historic Centre and the Teleférico
8am — The Historic Centre:
The Quito Historic Centre (the UNESCO old city — the largest, least-altered colonial centre in Latin America):
La Compañía de Jesús (the Jesuit church — the 1765 Baroque façade, the gold-leaf interior that uses 7 tonnes of gold leaf visible in the nave walls and the ceiling, the specific Quito Baroque that the architecture historians call the “Golden Altar” style): USD 4 / £3.15.
The Plaza Grande (the central square — the Presidential Palace (the Palacio de Carondelet), the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Archbishop’s Palace and the City Hall all visible simultaneously from the square centre): free.
The Teleférico:
The Teleférico (the cable car from the Cruz Loma at 3,117m to the Pichincha summit ridge at 4,100m):
At 8am (before the Quito cloud that forms daily from 10am): the cable car in the clear morning, the Quito cityscape visible below, the Cotopaxi (5,897m) visible to the south, the Cayambe (5,790m) to the northeast.
Entry: USD 9.50 / £7.48.
Day 2: The Middle of the World and the Intiñán Museum
The Mitad del Mundo:
The Ciudad Mitad del Mundo (the monument at 0°0’0″ latitude — the 30m monument marking the equator as measured in the 1736-1744 French geodesic expedition):
The specific Middle of the World note: the Intiñán Museum (adjacent to the monument) claims to mark the actual GPS equator rather than the 1736 measurement — the 2 demonstrations (the water draining demonstration, the egg-balancing on the nail) are scientifically contested but theatrically effective.
Monument entry: USD 5 / £3.94. Intiñán: USD 4 / £3.15.
DAYS 3-5 — Avenue of the Volcanoes
The Cotopaxi:
The Cotopaxi National Park (the 5,897m active stratovolcano — the perfectly symmetrical cone, the glaciated summit, the national park visible at the 3,800m visitor centre level):
The Cotopaxi climb (the summit accessible to the fit non-mountaineer with the guide and the acclimatisation — the José Rivas Refuge at 4,864m (the overnight), the 3-5 hour summit push from 1am, the sunrise from 5,897m visible over the Avenue of the Volcanoes below):
The summit climb: USD 200-350 / £157-276 per person with the certified guide.
The 4WD visit (the visitor who does not climb — the 4WD to the 4,500m car park, the glacier visible at 300m, the páramo (the high Andean grassland) ecosystem visible at the approach): USD 80-120 / £63-95 for the guided day tour.
The Chimborazo:
The Chimborazo (6,268m — the highest peak in Ecuador and the point on Earth furthest from the Earth’s centre):
The Whymper Refuge at 5,000m (the refuge named for Edward Whymper who made the first ascent in 1880 — accessible by the 4WD to 4,800m and 30-minute walk):
Day visit: USD 70-100 / £55-79 for the guided day tour.
The Quilotoa:
The Quilotoa (the emerald-green crater lake at 3,914m — the caldera lake, the specific Ecuadorian Andes landscape that the Avenue of the Volcanoes gives as the volcanic consequence of the landscape above):
The crater rim walk (the 3-4 hour circuit of the Quilotoa crater rim, the lake visible 400m below throughout): free entry.
DAYS 6-7 — Mindo Cloud Forest
The Mindo:
The Mindo (the village on the Pacific-facing slope of the Andes, 2 hours west of Quito at 1,200m — the cloud forest that gives the specific biodiversity of the humidity and the altitude intersection):
The hummingbirds:
The Mindo hummingbird feeders (the specific Mindo encounter — the 30+ hummingbird species visiting the feeders at the El Monte lodge, the Tandayapa Bird Lodge, and the specific guesthouses that maintain the feeders from 6am to 6pm): the specific encounter at 30cm from the 3-gram bird that is capable of 80 wingbeats per second and that the high-speed photography reveals as the specific aerodynamic solution to the problem of hovering.
USD 3-8 / £2.36-6.30 entry to the private reserves.
The butterfly farm:
The Mindo butterfly farm (the vivarium with the 25 native Ecuador butterfly species in the breeding enclosure — the morpho butterfly (the Morpho peleides — the iridescent blue wings, the wingbeat visible at the specific slower pace of the large Lepidoptera)): USD 5 / £3.94.
What It Costs
| Category | Budget | Mid-Range |
|---|---|---|
| Return flights (UK-Quito) | £500-850 | £700-1,100 |
| 7 nights accommodation | £85-210 | £210-560 |
| Food (7 days) | £30-75 | £75-190 |
| Teleférico + Mitad del Mundo | £14 | £14 |
| Cotopaxi (day visit, not summit) | £63-95 | £63-95 |
| Quilotoa + Chimborazo day tour | £80-120 | £80-120 |
| Bus Quito-Latacunga-Mindo | £10-20 | £10-20 |
| Total | £782-1,384 | £1,138-2,099 |
