Local Tour Operator in Ecuador & Galapagos

  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

  Everything was so perfect and excellent donde the moment that they pick is until the moment they drop us no complaints thanks to the guy who was with us... read more in everything

  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!!!

  We didn’t do any extravagant hiking but was beautiful. The hummingbirds were beyond compare-unlike anything we’ve ever seen.

  Adrian and Carlos were the perfect guides, they knew shortcuts and stopped on the journey to show us different plants and foods and most importantly volcanoes. We saw 12 at... read more once from one view point. The lagoon was incredible and beautiful, the hike was tough back to the top, with the altitude and my asthma I didn’t know if I could do it but both guides helped me all the way down and up and I had an amazing sense of achievement at the end. An incredible trip all round and I’d recommend with these guides all day,

  The tour is great for seeing most of the must-sees in Quito. Our guide Oscar provided a lot of information on Quito. In Mitad del Mundo we had a local... read more guide in the museum which was awesome. She was really great and listening to her was so good. Very funny as well. Taking the Teleferico up the hill to see Quito was also a highlight, even if the clouds kept coming in. The mountain is cloudy most of the day, but they keep coming and going, so if you are lucky you will catch some really nice views of Quito. I can also recommend the Café on the top, have a coffee and enjoy the views.
Later the day we visited the historic part of Quito including then interiors of three churches. Stunning. If you want to get a good overview of the most important parts of the city and area, this is the tour to take.

  Vanessa was very accommodating; dishes were delicious, Market tour helped us value Ecuador’s wealth of tropical fruit. What a great way to get to know Ecuadorean

  This was a great tour to fully see Quito in 1 day. My guide Raul was incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. I visited during COVID and all safety and health precautions... read more were followed, I felt very safe and had an amazing time!

  Daniel was our tour guide going to Baños. He is an amazing tour guide. He was a conscientious driver and very knowledgeable of the areas we visited and drove... read more through. Since some of the mountains were visible during our travel to Baños, he would stop in good places so we could snap some photos. Daniel was well acquainted with the surrounding areas and knew short cuts when traffic was heavy. There was a landslide that delayed us for some time. Rather than sit while trying to get to Pailon del Diablo, he took us to a place to eat an early lunch. Then, with one lane open in the road, we went to the waterfall and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a highlight of our whole trip. The return was an even longer delay and Daniel drove us to an overlook that was very nice. Daniel gave us an amazing day. We highly recommend this day trip with him. …

  Diego was great! He was very knowledgeable and flexible. He gave us lots of options about how the day would flow. Great way to spend a first full day in... read more Quito! Highly recommend. 10 out of 10!

  Our guide, Daniel, from Latin America Adventures, was wonderful! He took us to the most important sites in Quito. He was very knowledgeable and patient as we... read more asked many questions! Overall, a perfect first day to get to know Quito. Highly recommend!

  Many enjoyable and interesting stops with very informative guide and expert safe driver. The walking tour of the old town provided great historic context and the cable car and centre... read more of the earth stops were great fun. If you only have a day to tour Quito, this is tour a great way to see a lot.

  After our tours were cancelled by another company we ended up jumping on a last minute city tour of Quito with Latin Adventures. I am so glad our other tours... read more were canceled because we loved our experience with Latin Adventures. It was amazing. My sister and I learned so much from our guide Oscar. He was very knowledgeable about the city and history. Oscar really went above and beyond and even helped us set up two other tours during our stay which were equally amazing. We had a different guide on the last day, Jose, who spent extra time stopping to let us take in the sites. I highly recommend them.

  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.

  We loved our guide for our full day Quito tour! Renan was great! Very personable and great at describing the history and the culture of every place that we visited.... read more We had a mixed tour including both English and Portuguese tourist, and he did a fabulous job of alternating the two languages and including everyone- a skill that some our prior tour guides have not managed to perfect!
We particularly liked the Mitad del Mundo; the exhibit demonstrating the Coriolis effect was amazing and so much fun! The exhibits were interactive and engaging as well as presenting information about the different regions of Ecuador.
This is billed as a Full Day Tour and indeed it was! We were picked up at our hotel early and delivered back there in time for a late dinner; a very full but enjoyable day!

  We had a great day trip from Quito to Cotopaxi with our guide Daniel. He picked us up from our hotel on time at 8am and drove expertly to Cotopaxi... read more taking a scenery road which allowed us to appreciate the geography of the inter-valley region. The drive took about 1.5 hours. His approach takes you around the volcanoes from all angles. Daniel was truly passionate about Ecuador and very knowledgeable about wildlife and vegetation of the region. He stopped plenty of times for awesome picture opportunities. We hiked from the parking lot (15K ft) to the refuge (16K ft) doing the zig-zag approach and experienced no issues with altitude sickness whatsoever (he stopped by a kiosko where we could buy coca candy and leaves if needed before entering the park). The weather was awful as we ascended, with small hail and dust from the strong winds, but he was patient and set the pace perfectly for us to successfully reach the refuge. We grabbed hot chocolate up in the refuge (2.5 per cup, bring change) and warmed up before going back down. On our way back to Quito, we stopped by an authentic local restaurant around 3pm where we had a soup, a pork dish, and an ice cream. Back to the hotel by 5pm promptly. This is a great experience for a Quito escapade which you should consider if you're looking to do something based off the city. …

  Fantastic!! We signed up at midnight and they had a shuttle car ready to go the next day on Easter morning! Very good English and educated tourist. We had Carlos... read more and he was amazing! It was our timeframe and choice of what to do.. we asked if we try some chocolate and not only did they take us, they setup a quick presentation for chocolate sampling.. keep in mind, this was a special request and they made it happen. If you do not know Ecuador or you are only here for a very short time.. this tour is the most efficient and cost saving way to see a lot!! Highly recommend!

  Diego was great! He was very knowledgeable and flexible. He gave us lots of options about how the day would flow. Great way to spend a first full day in... read more Quito! Highly recommend. 10 out of 10!

  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!

  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. …