7 days in Ecuador
A seven day Andean route that stays on the spine the locals themselves recommend, and says what it avoids.
Last updated . The security picture is the volatile part: advisory zones have changed several times since 2024 and can change again. Volcano access closes with activity. Recheck the advisory and park status in the same week you travel.
Two Ecuadors exist in the news and on the ground. The security emergency that made headlines is concentrated on the coast, around Guayaquil, Esmeraldas and Los Rios, and that is exactly where this route does not go. The other Ecuador is the one travellers keep reporting as calm and operating normally: the old town of Quito, the paramo under Cotopaxi, the crater lake at Quilotoa, the waterfall town of Banos. This is a seven day route through the second Ecuador, entered through Quito's airport and never dipping to the coast, which is not timidity but simply reading the advisory map and drawing the line where it does.
How many days do you need in Ecuador?
7 days for the Andean spine: 3 around Quito, 2 for Cotopaxi and 2 for Quilotoa and Banos.
Ten days adds the Otavalo market and unhurried Banos. Galapagos is a separate 5 to 8 day trip with its own flights and fees, roughly doubling the budget, and is either done properly or not this time.
Is Ecuador safe to visit right now?
The advisory picture is split in 2: the elevated and do not travel zones are coastal, while the highland tourist spine this route uses carries the general exercise increased caution level.
That is the US advisory's geography as of today, and residents' advice in recent threads matches it. Read the current advisory yourself before booking, and again the week you fly; this is the part of the page most likely to age.
Do you need to acclimatise for Ecuador?
Mildly, yes: Quito sits at 2,850 metres, Quilotoa's rim at about 3,900, and the Cotopaxi refuge walk reaches 4,864.
The route is its own acclimatisation: 3 Quito nights before anything higher, and the refuge walk on day 5 is optional by feel. Nothing here requires the full Peru style altitude plan.
What about Galapagos?
Budget it as its own trip: island flights, the park entry fee and either a cruise or island hotels put a realistic floor of 5 days and a second trip's cost on it.
The honest choice is both or later, not a squeezed 3 day sampler that pays full fixed costs for a third of the experience. When you do it, this route's Quito days are the natural staging.
The plan at a glance
- Days
- 1 to 2
- Where
- Quito old town and the Teleferico
- What needs arranging
- Nothing fixed
- Days
- 3
- Where
- Mitad del Mundo, or Otavalo on the right day
- What needs arranging
- Nothing fixed
- Days
- 4 to 5
- Where
- Cotopaxi paramo
- What needs arranging
- The hacienda stay and park transport
- Days
- 6
- Where
- Quilotoa crater
- What needs arranging
- The driver or hop bus onward
- Days
- 7
- Where
- Banos, then back to Quito
- What needs arranging
- The return leg, with margin
| Days | Where | What needs arranging |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | Quito old town and the Teleferico | Nothing fixed |
| 3 | Mitad del Mundo, or Otavalo on the right day | Nothing fixed |
| 4 to 5 | Cotopaxi paramo | The hacienda stay and park transport |
| 6 | Quilotoa crater | The driver or hop bus onward |
| 7 | Banos, then back to Quito | The return leg, with margin |
The route at a glance
10 mapped stops · 7 days
Live route map
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Route stops
Follow the numbered order through each day.
Day 1: Quito old town
- 1Plaza Grande and La Compania · about 3 hours
- 2San Francisco and La Ronda · about 2.5 hours
Day 2: The Teleferico and the new town
- 3TeleferiQo and Cruz Loma · about 3 hours
- 4La Floresta · about 3 hours
Day 3: The equator, or Otavalo
- 5Mitad del Mundo and the Intinan museum · about 4 hours with transport
- 6Otavalo, if it is Saturday · the day, if chosen
Day 4: Into the Cotopaxi paramo
- ·Quito to the Cotopaxi corridor · about 2.5 hours
- 7Limpiopungo lagoon · about 2.5 hours
Day 5: Cotopaxi close up
- 8The Jose Rivas refuge walk · about 3 hours with transport
- ·Paramo riding or the hacienda fire · about 2 hours
Day 6: Quilotoa
- 9Quilotoa rim · about 2 hours
- ·Down to the water, optionally · about 2 hours if taken
- ·The drive to Banos · about 3 hours
Day 7: Banos, then back
- 10The Ruta de las Cascadas to Pailon del Diablo · about 3.5 hours
- ·Banos to Quito · about 4 hours
Day 1: Quito old town
The best preserved colonial centre on the continent, taken at 2,850 metre walking pace.
- On foot
- About 5 km on foot, hilly
Morning
Plaza Grande and La Companiaabout 3 hours
The presidential square and, a block away, a church interior gilded to the last inch. Quito's old town is a UNESCO original, listed in the first class of 1978.
Afternoon
San Francisco and La Rondaabout 2.5 hours
The monastery complex and the restored lane below it, best as the light warms. Altitude etiquette applies: slowly, water, early night.
Day 2: The Teleferico and the new town
A cable car to 3,945 metres for the volcano roll call, then the lower city's easier pleasures.
- On foot
- About 4 km on foot, high
Morning
TeleferiQo and Cruz Lomaabout 3 hours
The cable car up Pichincha's flank to a 3,945 metre viewpoint: on a clear morning Cotopaxi, Antisana and Cayambe line up like an itinerary. Go early; cloud arrives by noon.
Afternoon
La Florestaabout 3 hours
The cafe and gallery district for the afternoon the altitude asks for; Quito's food scene lives here more than in the old town.
Day 3: The equator, or Otavalo
The zero latitude monument for most days; the great Andean market if your day 3 is a Saturday.
- On foot
- About 3 km on foot
All day
Mitad del Mundo and the Intinan museumabout 4 hours with transport
The monument straddles the historic line and the museum next door straddles the GPS one; the difference is part of the fun. About 45 minutes north of the city.
Otavalo, if it is Saturdaythe day, if chosen
South America's most famous indigenous market, 2 hours north, at full scale on Saturdays. If your calendar cooperates, it beats the equator line; both do not fit one day.
Day 4: Into the Cotopaxi paramo
South to a hacienda under the volcano, and an afternoon on the high grassland.
- On foot
- About 5 km on foot at 3,500 metres
- Book before you go
- The hacienda and its park transport, a few days ahead
Morning
Quito to the Cotopaxi corridorabout 2.5 hours
About 2 hours south down the Pan American. The haciendas around the park's edge are the point: working farms at 3,500 metres with fireplaces and horses.
Afternoon
Limpiopungo lagoonabout 2.5 hours
The flat paramo lake under the cone, ringed by an easy trail with wild horses for company. The classic first walk, and the volcano's best mirror on still afternoons.
Day 5: Cotopaxi close up
The refuge walk to 4,864 metres for those feeling it, the paramo on horseback for everyone else.
- On foot
- A short, steep hour in thin air, or a saddle
Morning
The Jose Rivas refuge walkabout 3 hours with transport
From the car park at about 4,500 metres, a 45 to 60 minute slog up volcanic scree to the refuge at 4,864. Short, genuinely hard, and the closest most travellers will stand to a glacier on the equator. Entirely optional by feel; the park closes higher access when activity ticks up.
Afternoon
Paramo riding or the hacienda fireabout 2 hours
The alternative morning and the universal afternoon: this landscape was made to be seen from a horse, and the haciendas run gentle rides for beginners.
Day 6: Quilotoa
A collapsed volcano holding a green lake, and the day the cameras were brought for.
- On foot
- About 5 km with a steep 400 metre option
- Book before you go
- The driver onward to Banos, arranged with the morning's ride
Morning
Quilotoa rimabout 2 hours
The crater lake from the 3,900 metre rim, mineral green and 3 kilometres across. The rim walk to the second viewpoint beats standing at the bus point.
Down to the water, optionallyabout 2 hours if taken
The path down takes 30 minutes and the climb back about an hour at altitude; mules wait at the bottom for a reason. Honest advice: the lake is better from above.
Afternoon
The drive to Banosabout 3 hours
About 3 hours east and 2,000 metres down, into subtropical air that feels like a reward.
Day 7: Banos, then back
Waterfalls and thermal baths in the morning, the 3.5 hour run to Quito after lunch.
- On foot
- About 4 km on foot or a rented bike
Morning
The Ruta de las Cascadas to Pailon del Diabloabout 3.5 hours
The waterfall road down the gorge, by bike or taxi, ending at the Devil's Cauldron where the walkways get genuinely wet. Banos' best half day by a distance.
Afternoon
Banos to Quitoabout 4 hours
About 3.5 hours back to the capital. Sleep near the airport if the flight is early; the route home is the one leg worth padding.
The options below are separate choices rather than a package. Read how RoamWeek chooses and orders suggestions before using any of them.
Book the separate parts
Book the parts that need booking
Nothing here has a permit wall. The bookings that matter are the flight into Quito, the hacienda nights, and drivers for the spine days.
You book each service directly with its supplier. These separate bookings do not form a RoamWeek package.
- Flights
Entering at Quito rather than Guayaquil is this route's first decision, made for advisory geography as much as for altitude staging.
Search on Aviasales
- Stays
The paramo haciendas are small and the good ones book out around weekend riders; two nights in one is half the reason this route exists.
Search on Booking.com
- Activities
The spine's transport is drivers rather than buses if the schedule matters, and booked day trips solve the park entry and refuge transfers in one line.
Search on GetYourGuide
What is worth the time, and what is not
Worth your time
- Two nights at a paramo hacienda. It converts Cotopaxi from a long day trip into an actual stay in the landscape, and the firelit evenings are the trip's texture.
- The Teleferico on a clear early morning. Forty minutes of queue and cable buys the whole volcano avenue in one look, and it sets up everything the route then visits.
- Saying no to a squeezed Galapagos add on. The fixed costs price a proper trip; three days pays most of them for a third of the islands.
Skip it
- Routing through Guayaquil to save a fare. The advisory's sharpest zones sit in and around it, and this route's whole design is not needing to know its bus station.
- The Quilotoa descent if your knees hesitate. The lake is better from the rim, and the hour back up at 3,900 metres is the day's real cost.
- Night buses anywhere on this route. Every leg fits daylight, and daylight is part of the security plan as well as the scenery.
Why this order
Quito opens because it is the airport, the acclimatiser and the old town all at once, and 3 nights there make the 3,900 metre days later unremarkable. Cotopaxi precedes Quilotoa because the hacienda nights sit naturally between city and crater, and because the refuge walk is best attempted with 4 days of altitude banked. Banos closes the loop 2,000 metres lower as the deliberate exhale, and the last leg back to Quito is padded because the one non negotiable in Ecuador is not missing the flight from the right airport.
Book the trip
Start with Ecuador, dates and travellers
Compare the travel services first, then use the itinerary below to plan each day.
- Flights
Choose your airports, travel dates and passenger count.
Search flights - Hotels
Search stays near the places in this route.
Search Booking.com - Activities
Check tours and tickets for the stops you want to keep.
Find activities
You book each service directly with its supplier. These separate bookings do not form a RoamWeek package.
Read next
- 10 days in Peru
The southern neighbour and the natural companion on a full Andes run.
- 7 days in Bolivia
The third country of the spine, for the complete altiplano arc.
What we checked
- US State Department travel advisory, Ecuador read 31 August 2026
- Ecuador official tourism portal read 31 August 2026
- Quito official visitor site read 31 August 2026
Why this page exists. This is the only RoamWeek route drawn directly from the advisory map: the elevated risk zones sit on Ecuador's coast, so this itinerary enters at Quito, never touches Guayaquil, and says so instead of routing around the subject.