Local Tour Operator in Ecuador & Galapagos

  We spent our last day in Ecuador with Francisco and Dante, and it couldn’t have been a more perfect day. Our boys (11 and 13) agreed. We started the day... read more with beautiful views from the Teleferico, spent some time at the equator, and stopped for empanadas for lunch. After this we walked around the Old Town and learned about the history of this area. Through the day, our guides explained Ecuadorian customs and culture, introduced us to local snacks, and even arranged a last-minute chocolate tasting. Would highly recommend this tour for a day in Quito. …

  Our tour was amazing!! This is probably the most comprehensive tour of Quito that you will find. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. Would highly recommend!!

  We loved the trip. Diego was our guide and he provided a lot of insight on local culture and customs. There were four of us on the trip.... read more My wife and I are both 70 and our son and his wife are in their mid-30s. The four of us were the only group on the trip, which made us much more comfortable about COVID issues. We were in a 14 person van so there was plenty of room. Latin Adventures did a great job of picking hotels. In Quito we stayed at the Hotel Vista del Angel. Great hotel with views of the City. Great rooms, great food and a very accommodating staff.

Day 1 we traveled to Cotopaxi. The trip took us from 9,000 feet in Quito to 15,000 feet at Cotopaxi. I took altitude sickness medication, my wife did not. Neither of us had altitude sickness. Along the way we stopped inside the park and did short walks to see some lagoons and see how we did at altitude. Diego explained the terraced farming and how it was used by the Incas. The parking lot at Cotopaxi is at 15,500 feet. The trail up to the refuge has a vertical gain of 1,000 feet. It's a hard hike. I only made it about 1/3 of the way. Our son and his wife made it easily to the refuge. It's worth going to Cotopaxi even if all you do is hike the area around the parking area. The views are spectacular.

Day 2 we went to Quilotoa. There is a lot of time on the bus between locations. But Diego did a good job educating us about the areas we were traveling through. Quilotoa is a stunning place. The hike down to the Laguna is not difficult. If you're in your 70s take the mule back to the top. We stayed at a locally owned hotel which is also a farm. Great rooms, very nice people and good food. It was nice to experience locally owned hotels.

Day 3 we substituted a trip to the rainforest because Devil's Nose is closed. Latin Adventures arranged the day trip which was a long 11 day. But we saw a beautiful waterfall, learned a lot about the native plans and their medicinal value. The transition from the Andes to the rainforest was well worth the trip. We stayed in a nice hotel in Banos. The lodging and food were OK.

At all the locations we stayed the food was carefully prepared with purified water.
The lunches we ate at local restaurants also were very careful with the water. No one wanted diarrhea and Latin Adventures did a good job of ensuring there weren't any problems.

Day 4 we hiked to some amazing water falls, took cable cars across river canyons and did some hiking. Some of the hiking at the waterfalls was somewhat hard. But even at age 70 it was not too difficult.

If you have 4 or 5 days in Quito I'd highly recommend the trip. I've attached some of our pictures. After the trip we went back to Quito and then onto Guayaquil to go to the Galapagos. Latin Adventures arranged our PCR tests (which we needed to get on the Lindblad Expeditions boat) and they also arranged our airport transfers. Latin Adventures was good to work with.

  Diego is amazing, He is very knowledgable and engaging. The trip was very informative and fun. Would recommend this again

  We are glad we rounded out a visit to Quito by including this day trip. The views are breathtaking. The people are friendly and gentle. The experience is a good... read more contrast to the large city of Quito. Our guide was Diego and he was extremely knowledgeable about the geography, plant and animal life, economy, agriculture, language, lifestyle, culture, religion, etc of the region and the various communities we visited. He made good recommendations for meals and purchases. Since we were on a private tour, Diego was very accommodating about our specific interests. We relaxed and let him do all the driving and arranging. Quilotoa is amazing and definitely worth seeing and walking around. It makes amazing pictures. Note of caution: don’t underestimate the effects of altitude. Even if you hike frequently you’ll be out of breath in short time. We chose not to go all the way down. On week days there may not be Mules available to help you get back out. A walk along the top of the crater is just as nice.

  This was more amazing than I ever expected. The pictures here don’t grasp how awesome of a place Quilotoa is and the surrounding area. It is far more massive in... read more person and the crater is ginormous. I’m still in awe days later of this experience. You can either walk the rim or walk within the canyon. The walk around the rim is far easier. The walk inside the crater is gorgeous but is kinda straight down and then. Straight up. If you go within I’d recommend taking a mule back up so you can enjoy the scenery more. Also the tour group was awesome. The bus ride was stupendous and we even had the opportunity to sit on the top of the bus (safely) and see all the plains and beautiful landscape of Ecuador. 100/10 experience.

  Interesting! - Our guide Christian, was early and met us inside the hotel lobby. As we drove around the city, he shared his knowledge of Quito and answered all our questions. ... read more /> At the cable car ride up the Pichincha Volcano mountain side, he explained the geography and plant life change as we ascended. While hiking up the remaining 100 or so yards he kept checking on us to make sure we were all OK due to the high altitude.
Our next stop was the middle of the Earth venue, the Equator. It was a fun and informative visit.
Christian was very informative and personable guide.

  Our guide Diego was very informative and helpful. Due to the pandemic, we were the only ones on our tour. We felt very safe with all the COVID... read more precautions. It was a full day; a walking tour of historic Quito, the Middle of the World, and Puluahu. We felt like we had a great introduction to the city and history of Quito.

  Booked this private tour prior to arriving. They were exceedingly helpful in tailoring the sites to our desires. The car picked us up at our hotel on time. We changed... read more things as we went along to avoid some bad weather. Everything was perfect. Also want to specifically thank our guide, Pablo Sebastien. He was great and we would strongly recommend that you ask for him as your guide - knowledgeable, friendly and full of great ideas.

  I hired Daniel Maldonand for this tour and he provided an excellent experience. He was friendly, nice and tailored the day to my interests. (Bonus for me... read more is he speaks excellent English). His knowledge of his country is outstanding and he patiently explained everything to me. It was a great day and I left feeling like I had a new friend. Furthermore, after I moved on to Banos, he consistently helped me with recommendations for restaurants, clubs and even another tours while i was there. His amazing service greatly increased the quality of my overall trip to Ecuador. Please don't hesitate to book anything with him. I've traveled quite a bit and have never received this level of outstanding service. Thank you so much! AMAZING! …

  For my first day in Ecuador, I booked the day tour to Otavalo and Cuicocha Lagoon. As Ecuador was the first country in South America that I visited, I was... read more a little apprehensive as to what to expect. However, my guide Daniel did an amazing job and completely put me at ease. Despite the weather not being great and tiredness on my part from traveling the day before, Daniel managed to keep my interest and remained fully engaged for the entire day. He did an awesome job giving me an introduction to Ecuador, and specifically Otavalo and Cuicocha Lagoon. I spent over two weeks in Ecuador with various guides on different tours and Daniel was by far the best. He was passionate, extremely knowledgeable, and made the day very enjoyable. He is a credit to the company and when I return to Ecuador, he will be the guide that I will request.

  We had a fullday tour picked up at our Hotel at 7am driving with Leonardo and our guide Miriam to Cotopaxi. The weather was cloudy but Leonardo knew where to... read more drive to for a clear spot and so we changed our plans spontaneously and hiked up to the Cotopaxi refugium where we had the best views and photos! Afterwards we drove to the Little Lagoon where meanwhile the good wheather arrived as well. From here we drove all the way to Quilotoa with the best views and explanations from Miriam- we really learned a lot. In Quilotoa we had a delicious ecuadorian lunch with both Leonardo and Miriam and learned more about people and culture- Thank you! Afterwards we had a wonderful view over Quilotoa and again best photos arranged by Miriam. We had a really exciting day and would recommend everyone to come to Ecuador and book a Tour with this Agency! We felt very safe all the time and had a real benefit from what we saw and learned! …

  This was a great way to experience Quito, Ecuador. Our tour guide was Ximena. Having a tour guide who is both a local and knowledgeable was great! She allowed our... read more trip and time to be flexible to our wants and needs. We skipped the chocolate tour (because we did something like on our own) and spent longer time elsewhere. We traveled with our son (14) and when we got hungry during lunch we mentioned “empanadas” and she took us to a popular local empanadas place! Delicious. Our favorite part was both the Teleferico (gondolas) and the Intenen Museum. Amazing day!!!

  Great way to see Quito and the middle of the earth in one day. Oscar was a wonderful guide. So much so that we booked him for another tour... read more the next day. We were able to see everything on the itinerary plus he made a few extra stops to show more of the beauty surrounding Quito.

  Punctual pickup. All places on the itinerary were covered. All questions answered in good English. Safe driver. As a solo traveller it was well worth the money

  Excellent, excellent, excellent! I had a free day during a business trip to Quito, and Latin Adventures was able to accommodate me and a colleague on a last-minute day tour... read more of Quito and it's environs. Our guide, Diego, was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and speaks outstanding English. Honestly, it felt more like driving around the city with a friend, rather than an impersonal tour. Diego was also great about customizing our day based on our schedule and what attractions were open. I particularly enjoyed the mix of natural sites, cultural and historical sites, and the chocolate. Oh man, the chocolate... Latin Adventures management was super-helpful and responsive via text. 100% recommend and the great tour established a quick baseline to let me see that Ecuador has so much more to offer than I was able to fit into one day, and convinced me to bring my family here on a getaway in the very near future.

  Dante and Alex let our family of 12 on a wonderful “4 hour” tour of Quito city! We could not have asked for more. They were both knowledgeable of... read more the sites and history of Quito and had much patience answering questions from all of us. The churches were beautiful, the Chocolate tasting was wonderful, and the lunch they recommended was perfect. We all agree that this tour receives 5 stars. Thank you, Dante and Alex.

  We loved everything about this tour. This was a great way to see many highlights in the city in one day. We have been to Quito several times before and... read more been to all of the sites visited but it was a great way to learn new and interesting tidbits about the city that we didn't know. We have 5 kids from ages 18 to 6 and they all loved it too. Diego was a fantastic and friendly guide.

  My first time in Ecuador and booked two tours with Latin Adventures—city tour and that went so well I also booked the Quilotoa crater trip. Both tour guides, Alex and... read more Fabian, were great to travel with—very informative, responsive to my interests and enjoyable to travel with. The owner Dante was very accommodating with shifting travel plans. It was a great experience and I’d highly recommend this company. …

  This was an excellent day tour! I learned so much about Ecuador’s history and was fortunate enough to explore most of Quito! The museum was one of the most interesting... read more and fun tours I’ve experienced!

  My husband and I had a fantastic time touring Mindo with our guide Óscar and our driver Bolívar. Our main objective was to spend a day in the cloud forest... read more hiking to waterfalls and ziplining, but our trip was so much more than that. Óscar taught us about the hummingbirds, orchids and butterflies and how the flora changes through the different altitudes. After a super fun and exhausting day, we had a delicious meal at El Chef in Mindo and finished with a coffee from Mindo Forest Coffee and Tea. (note to anyone traveling with Óscar, you should totally trust his restaurant recommendations. He knows his stuff!) Óscar and Bolívar really went above and beyond to get us back to our hotel safely during a very busy night in Quito’s old town with lots of closed roads due to a show happening in front of our hotel. ¡Gracias a Óscar y Bolívar!