Local Tour Operator in Ecuador & Galapagos

  Carolina was an excellent tour guide! We had the best time! She was able to share every question we had and more. We went all over the city with her... read more help

  The tour was great, many wonderful sites, and a great tour guide. Enjoyed the restaurants and the stroll in the colonial area.

  Diego was a marvelous guide. Due to COVID, not many tourists are about and you'll often find you're the only ones booked on a tour on most days. ... read more In my case I was solo but wanted to visit Quilotoa, but unfortunately the tour will only run with a minimum of two people. Thankfully Diego's company worked with me and we reached a compromise where the tour would still go with just me and I wouldn't have to pay the full price for two.

Diego picked me up at my hotel early in the morning and off we went. First stop was with an indigenous family who seemed quite happy to show me around their traditional houses. Fascinating to see how they live with their animals, literally inside the same room in some cases. Very friendly encounter.

Then it was off to the main highlight of the day, a visit to the spectacular Quilotoa Lake deep inside a volcano center. It's possible to hike down to the lake itself and kayak for a bit but given the extremely high altitude and thin oxygen, it would be quite difficult physically to hike back out unless you're used to the altitude (I saw even native Ecuadorians experiencing severe nausea and dizziness, so this is not something to be taken lightly). Mules can be rented for $10 for the ride back up, which probably would be a more wise choice if you do want to hike down.

As a great alternative, instead of using up your time going down to the crater floor and back up, Diego can take you on a short hike around the crater rim to the left, which offers more spectacular views and gets you completely away from the crowds of people near the major viewing overlook point next to the parking lot. In just a few minutes you've got this incredible view all to yourself, and as an added bonus Diego is an excellent photographer and will happily shoot all the pictures you could ever dream of, with much better results than trying to do the same thing awkwardly with a selfie stick.

Lunch is at one of the restaurants near the crater, then it's time for the long drive back to Quito.

Loved this tour for the amazing mountain scenery, glimpses of indigenous life, and Diego's excellent customer service.

And just when I thought things couldn't get better, I asked Diego if it would be OK to make an impromptu stop on the way back to my hotel that wasn't on the tour. He didn't hesitate to grant my request and did quite a bit of driving down confusing narrow one way streets to make it happen.

Thank you again for a very excellent day!

  We enjoyed the whole experience. Oscar was a great guide and made learning about Cotopaxi fun. The hike up was difficult, but possible if you take it slow. It felt... read more great to make it to the top. Make sure you dress warm— almost the same as if you were going skiing— gloves, hat, and layers. Rain coat is advised.

  Cotopaxi was closed due to unusual activity from the volcano, so we went to Quilotoa instead. Oscar was a great guide - knowledgeable and friendly, and stopped several times along... read more the way for us to get coffee, use the washroom, and learn about the indigenous peoples and how they live in the highlands. Our van was comfortable and had AC which was welcome! The visit to Quilotoa was great as well and ended with lunch at a local restaurant (get the locro de papa soup!). Would definitely recommend this tour! :)

  We enjoyed the whole experience. Oscar was a great guide and made learning about Cotopaxi fun. The hike up was difficult, but possible if you take it slow. It felt... read more great to make it to the top. Make sure you dress warm— almost the same as if you were going skiing— gloves, hat, and layers. Rain coat is advised.

  My favorite part of this tour was getting to see the llamas. The entire experience was great - from the views during the drive to the hike back up for... read more a great lunch. Our guide and our driver were great.

I would certainly recommend this tour and would do it again. Thanks to Adrian.

  We have been to 30 countries and this was our best tour ever. The guide was very knowledgeable and was able to answer every question we had. ... read more He taught us so much about this wonderful country. We plan to book two more tours with this company while we are here

  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.

  Amazing day with our guide Diego, very knowledgeable and very pleasant, the sights we went to were brilliant, highly recommended

  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. …

  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!

  I highly recommend the Mindo Forrest tour with Isra. The scenery is spectacular and Isra is an excellent guide, very knowledgeable and friendly. Booking was seamless and it was... read more easy to communicate with Isra ahead of the tour.

  An excellent tour, highly recommended! We had a great time, and were blessed with a sunny and clear day on top of the Guagua Pichincha with a great view of... read more Quito and most volcanoes from afar. Our guide Oscar Salazar knows so much of the history and culture of Ecuador, and gave us lengthy explanations of all the sites we visited. We will come back, so thirsty to visit more of what Ecuador has to offer!

  Edwardo was very accommodating to us. He wanted to make sure we did everything we wanted to do. The zip line, humming bird sanctuary, and gondola ride were wonderful. I... read more would recommend this day trip to anyone. We are in our late 60’s and helped us with everything we needed.

  We take this tour to experience the view of the lake, as well with the road trip from Quito. doing couple of stops on an artesian store, where you see... read more craft from local artesian.
Our guide was great his name DIEGO , highly recommend!!! If you want to do this trip get ready to sweat a lot taking the walk down to the lake. also the return it's even more difficult then your descent.But it's worth it !!!!
Thanks for the great day

  We spent an awesome day with Alex as our guide. We were the only ones on our tour (3 adults, a 20 something and 18 year old) and were blessed... read more to have wonderful weather to see Quito and the surrounding sites. Alex was knowledgeable, friendly, and was easy to communicate with. He went out of his way to add some extra touches including getting permission for us to take a few pics in a cathedral, taking us the top of a beautiful hotel for more great pics, adding a stop for frozen treats, and a chocolate tasting. He was also willing and helpful in taking pictures of us throughout the day to commemorate the stops. Our driver was also friendly and made us feel safe throughout the day with his good driving. I highly recommend this tour!

  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

  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.

  We had a blast! Rodrigo was on time, and early. Our itinerary changed in mid tour and he made it even better than what we anticipated. Super

  Diego was an amazing tour guide. Very knowledgeable and friendly. He was very flexible and showed us a good time. The tour is easy physically but very diverse and the... read more COVID restrictions were taken seriously. Recommend it whole-heartedly.