--- title: "Ecuador travel guides, city by city | Wimup" description: "Ecuador on Wimup: city guides for the Sierra, the coast, the Amazon and the Galápagos, what to know before you go, and the food worth planning around." url: https://wimup.com/country/ecuador type: Country guide updated: 2026-10-22 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Top 10s across Ecuador Four worlds inside a country smaller than Italy: **Pacific coast**, **Andean spine**, **Amazon basin** and the **Galapagos**. Ecuador is the shortest distance between beach, volcano and rainforest anywhere on Earth. ## Quick answer Start in **Quito**, whose old town was on UNESCO's first World Heritage list, and give the **Sierra** the first days: **Otavalo** for the market, the volcano road past **Cotopaxi**, **Baños** for waterfalls and **Cuenca** for the best colonial streets. West, the **Costa** runs from **Guayaquil** to the surf towns. East, the **Oriente** drops to Amazon lodges by road to **Tena** or a flight to **Coca**. The **Galápagos** need their own flight, park fee and transit card, so plan them as a separate trip. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Jun · Sep - **Ideal length:** 10–14 days - **Budget per day:** $40–110 - **Language:** Spanish - **Getting around:** Buses & short flights - **3** City guides - **16,938,986** People - **1** Video guide Ecuador travels in four regions that sit within a day of each other. The Sierra runs down the middle and holds the cities most travellers come for: Quito on the equator, Cuenca in the southern highlands, and the volcano corridor between them. The Costa drops west to Guayaquil, the surf towns and the mangroves. The Oriente falls east into the Amazon headwaters, reached by road to Tena or a short flight to Coca. The Galapagos sit 900 kilometres offshore and take a flight and a park fee, which is why they are usually planned as a trip of their own. The country uses the US dollar, so there is nothing to change on arrival. ## 3 Ecuador city guides 1. [Cuenca](https://wimup.com/city/cuenca.md): Ecuador · 10 picks 2. [Quito](https://wimup.com/city/quito.md): Ecuador · 10 picks 3. [Guayaquil](https://wimup.com/city/guayaquil.md): Ecuador · 10 picks ## Know before you go - **Population:** 16,938,986 - **Area:** 283,561 km² - **Density:** 59.7 / km² - **Capital:** Quito - **Major cities:** Guayaquil, Quito, Cuenca, Ambato, Santo Domingo - **Tourism board:** Official site - **Currency:** US dollar (USD) Ecuador adopted the dollar in January 2000, so there is nothing to change. Local centavo coins circulate alongside US ones. Carry small notes, because markets, buses and taxis rarely break a fifty. - **Language:** Spanish, plus Kichwa Spanish works everywhere. The 2008 constitution also makes Kichwa and Shuar official, and Kichwa is spoken around Otavalo and Saraguro. English is common in Quito and Galápagos tourism only. - **Calling code:** +593 - **Power:** 120V · Type A & B 120 volts at 60 Hz on flat-pin sockets, the same standard as the United States and Canada. European and UK plugs need an adapter, and anything that is not dual voltage needs a converter as well. - **Emergency:** 911 One number, run as ECU 911, covers police, fire and ambulance across the country. Operators in the larger centres can usually route an English speaker. - **Entry:** Visa-free for most Most European, North American and Australasian passports get up to 90 days in a rolling twelve months, with nothing to apply for. A few nationalities need a visa first, so check yours before booking. - **Getting around:** Buses & short flights Long-distance buses reach almost everywhere on the mainland within a day, cheaply. Flights from Quito to Guayaquil or Coca save real time, and the Galápagos are reachable only by air. - **Altitude:** Quito at 2,850 m Quito is the second-highest capital after La Paz, and the volcano road passes run higher. Spend the first day in the city, drink more water than feels necessary, and sleep high before any summit. - **Galápagos entry:** Park fee & transit card Every visitor pays the park entrance on arrival at Baltra or San Cristóbal and needs a transit control card, sold online only and checked at the mainland airport. Buy it before the day. - **Time zones:** Islands run an hour behind The mainland and the Galápagos sit one hour apart, and neither changes clocks through the year. Read a Galápagos flight time straight off the ticket. - **Tipping:** Often already on the bill Sit-down restaurants usually add service with the tax, so check the total. Taxis are not tipped. Galápagos boat crews, Amazon guides and porters are, and that is where it counts. - **Tap water:** Bottled or filtered Municipal water is treated in the big cities but is not what locals drink straight from the tap. Bottled or filtered is the norm, and hotels and hostels almost always have a dispenser. ## When to visit - **Jan** (good) - **Feb** (good) - **Mar** - **Apr** - **May** (good) - **Jun** (best) - **Jul** (peak) - **Aug** (peak) - **Sep** (best) - **Oct** (good) - **Nov** (good) - **Dec** (peak) ## Fun fact Ecuador wrote the rights of nature into its constitution in 2008, the first country in the world to do so. Article 71 gives ecosystems standing in court, and Ecuadorian judges have since ruled for a river and for a cloud forest against mining concessions. ## Stereotypes, sorted out - **Myth:** Ecuador is the Galápagos, plus an airport **Reality:** The islands are one province of twenty-four. The mainland has the second-highest capital in the world, a volcano corridor you can drive in a morning, cloud forest an hour from Quito and Amazon rivers by road. Most island visitors leave wishing they had given it more than two nights. - **Myth:** It is Peru with fewer ruins **Reality:** The Inca held the northern highlands for only a few decades before the Spanish arrived, so Ecuador's set pieces are colonial and volcanic. Ingapirca is real and modest. Quito's old town, on UNESCO's first World Heritage list, is the reason to come. - **Myth:** You need weeks to see anything **Reality:** It is the smallest of the Andean countries. Quito to the coast is a morning's drive, Quito to an Amazon lodge an afternoon, and the volcano corridor runs alongside one road. A week covers two of the four regions without a rushed itinerary. - **Myth:** The equator means it is hot **Reality:** Altitude sets the temperature here, not latitude. Quito sits at 2,850 metres and runs to cool spring weather all year with cold nights, while Guayaquil is humid and tropical. Pack a fleece and shorts, and expect to use both in the same week. - **Myth:** It is cheap because it uses dollars **Reality:** Dollarization cuts both ways. Set lunches, buses and markets are inexpensive; imported goods, island flights and park fees are not. The Galápagos are priced like a different country because, in cost terms, they are. - Greetings are close. One kiss on the right cheek between women, and between a woman and a man, is standard on first meeting; men shake hands. - Lunch is the main meal, and the almuerzo (soup, a main and a juice for a set price) is what most of the country eats at midday. It is also the best value on any menu. - Punctuality is loose socially and firm professionally. Arrive on time for a meeting and comfortably late for a house invitation. - Ecuador calls itself plurinational in its own constitution, and indigenous identity is political, not folkloric. Ask before photographing people at Otavalo or Saquisilí. - Titles get used in full. Doctor, ingeniero and licenciado are ordinary courtesy, and dropping them reads as brusque. - Altitude is a real constraint, and locals will tell you to slow down before you notice it yourself. Take the advice on the first day. - Carnival means water. In February, being soaked by strangers with buckets and foam is a national pastime and not an insult. ## Famous Ecuadorian faces - **Oswaldo Guayasamín**: Kichwa-mestizo painter and sculptor whose Capilla del Hombre stands above Quito - **Jefferson Pérez**: Race walker who took the 20 km at Atlanta 1996, the first Olympic medal Ecuador ever won - **Richard Carapaz**: First Ecuadorian Grand Tour winner, at the 2019 Giro, and Olympic road race champion - **Julio Jaramillo**: Singer of pasillos and boleros whose Nuestro Juramento is sung across Latin America - **Eugenio Espejo**: Physician and satirist who founded the country's first newspaper in 1792 - **Eloy Alfaro**: Twice president, leader of the 1895 Liberal Revolution, who split church from state - **Jorge Icaza**: Novelist whose Huasipungo (1934) exposed the treatment of indigenous labourers - **Manuela Sáenz**: Revolutionary and Bolívar's partner, La Libertadora after she saved his life in 1828 - **Pedro Vicente Maldonado**: Riobamba geographer who mapped the country and joined the French Geodesic Mission - **Rosalía Arteaga**: Vice-president who briefly held the presidency in 1997, the only woman to do so - **Nina Pacari**: Kichwa lawyer, the first indigenous woman in congress and later foreign minister - **Daniel Noboa**: President since November 2023, re-elected in April 2025 for a term running to 2029 - **Juan Montalvo**: Ambato essayist who attacked Ecuador's strongmen from exile. Wrote Siete tratados - **Juan León Mera**: Novelist and poet from Ambato behind Cumandá and the lyrics of the national anthem - **Carlota Jaramillo**: The queen of the national song, who carried the pasillo through the twentieth century - **Sebastián Cordero**: Director whose Ratas, ratones, rateros and Crónicas took Ecuador to the festivals - **Tania Hermida**: Cuenca director whose road movie Qué tan lejos became the biggest domestic hit - **Alberto Spencer**: Forward from Ancón and still the all-time leading scorer in the Copa Libertadores - **Andrés Gómez**: Tennis player from Guayaquil who beat Andre Agassi to win the 1990 French Open - **Enner Valencia**: Ecuador's all-time leading scorer, who captained the national side through two World Cups - **Moisés Caicedo**: Midfielder who joined Chelsea for a British record fee and now captains Ecuador - **Eduardo Kingman**: Indigenist painter, remembered for the huge hands in his portraits of highland labour - **Manuel Chili "Caspicara"**: Quito School sculptor whose polychrome saints fill San Francisco and the cathedral ## Must-try Ecuadorian food - **Hornado**: Pig roasted in a wood oven, pulled to order, with potato cakes, hominy and crackling. - **Llapingachos**: Cheese-stuffed potato patties with peanut sauce, chorizo and a fried egg. - **Fritada**: Pork simmered in its own fat and orange juice, with hominy, plantain and toasted corn. - **Locro de papa**: Potato soup thickened to a purée, with avocado and fresh cheese. Highland comfort. - **Seco de chivo**: Goat braised with naranjilla and chicha until dark, with rice and fried plantain. - **Cuy asado**: Guinea pig turned whole over coals. An Andean festival dish since before the Spanish. - **Mote pillo**: Hominy scrambled with egg, onion and milk. Cuenca's breakfast. - **Yaguarlocro**: Potato soup topped with blood sausage, avocado and onion salsa. Better than it looks. - **Encebollado**: Albacore, yuca and pickled onion in cumin broth. The national dish, eaten at breakfast. - **Ceviche de camarón**: Shrimp cooked in lime with tomato and onion, served with popcorn and plantain chips. - **Encocado**: Fish or shrimp stewed in coconut milk with coriander, the Esmeraldas signature. - **Cazuela de mariscos**: Green plantain and peanut paste baked with seafood in a clay bowl until the top sets. - **Corviche**: Plantain and peanut dough stuffed with fish and fried, eaten at a roadside stall. - **Bolón de verde**: Mashed green plantain packed with cheese or crackling and pan-fried. Coastal breakfast. - **Empanadas de viento**: Thin cheese empanadas fried until they puff up like a balloon, then dusted with sugar. - **Patacones**: Green plantain smashed flat and fried twice. Better than chips, wherever chips would go. - **Humitas**: Fresh ground corn steamed in its own husk, taken with coffee in the morning. - **Choclo con queso**: Boiled highland corn with thumbnail-sized kernels and a slab of fresh cheese. - **Tigrillo**: Green plantain mashed with egg and cheese, breakfast in Loja and the Amazon foothills. - **Fanesca**: Twelve grains and beans, for the apostles, with salt cod in milk. Holy Week only. - **Colada morada**: Spiced purple corn and berry drink, served warm on 2 November with guaguas de pan. - **Helado de paila**: Fruit ice churned by hand in a copper pan over ice and salt, an Ibarra technique. - **Canelazo**: Hot aguardiente with cinnamon and naranjilla, drunk standing outside on cold Quito nights. - **Chicha de jora**: Fermented corn drink from the highlands, poured at festivals and older than the Inca. - **Ecuadorian chocolate**: Arriba Nacional, the fine-flavour cacao Ecuador grows more of than anywhere else. - **Jugo de naranjilla**: Sharp green fruit, part citrus, part tomato, and the country's default juice. ## By theme - [Scuba diving](https://wimup.com/scuba-diving.md) - [Wildlife & safari](https://wimup.com/wildlife.md) - [Hidden gems of South America](https://wimup.com/hidden-gems-south-america.md) ## Films - [Quito Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/quito.md), 16:31 ## FAQs ### How many days do you need in Ecuador? Ten days covers two of the four regions comfortably: the Sierra from Quito down to Cuenca, plus either the coast or an Amazon lodge. Add a week if the Galápagos are on the list, because the islands are a separate flight and, in every practical sense, a separate trip. ### When is the best time to visit Ecuador? June to September is the highland dry season and the clearest window for the volcanoes, so the Quito and Cuenca guides point there. The coast runs the other way: January to April is warm and bright between showers, June to November cool and overcast. The Galápagos work all year, wetter and calmer from December to May, cooler and rougher from June to November. ### Do you need a visa for Ecuador? Most European, North American and Australasian passports do not. You are stamped in for up to 90 days within a rolling twelve-month period. A short list of nationalities needs a visitor visa arranged in advance, so check the foreign ministry site against your own passport before booking. ### Do the Galápagos cost extra? Yes, and they are worth budgeting separately. There is the flight from Quito or Guayaquil, the national park entrance paid on arrival, and a transit control card bought online before you fly. Island hopping from a base on Santa Cruz or San Cristóbal is the cheaper way in; a live-aboard reaches the islands day trips cannot. ### Is the altitude a problem in Ecuador? Plan for it and it is manageable. Quito sits at 2,850 metres, the second-highest capital in the world, and the passes on the volcano road are higher. Spend the first day in the city, drink more water than you think you need, and leave the summits until you have slept two nights up high. ## Related countries - [Argentina](https://wimup.com/country/argentina.md) - [Colombia](https://wimup.com/country/colombia.md) - [All of South America](https://wimup.com/south-america) Part of [South America](https://wimup.com/south-america.md) ## Sources - [Tourism board](https://ecuador.travel/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Entry](https://www.cancilleria.gob.ec/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Galápagos entry](https://www.galapagos.gob.ec/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.