Local Tour Operator in Ecuador & Galapagos

  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!

  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. …

  I do not think you can squeeze more into a day.... Old town, a gondola ride up to almost 4k meters; the Equator and center of the world experiments. Great... read more fun and sites

  Thanks for a great experience! As a solo traveler, I felt much safer traveling around the city in the comfort of the van with a small friendly group. Our group... read more leader organized our stops to adapt to the weather and maximize our experience. He was quite knowledgeable, and open to questions. I highly recommend this experience :-)

  Our tour guide, Oscar, was pleasant and knowledgeable. An excellent way to spend a day in Quito. Even with the inconveniences lingering from the pandemic, this tour was well worth... read more the cost.

  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!

  Would like to express my gratitude for your help in accommodating us in last minute request for a full day tour of Quito. Despite all the inconvenience that the protests... read more caused the city, Ximena did a phenomenal job, very knowledgeable, kind, patient and was quick to make necessary adjustments to avoid road blockages. Sure was a full, exciting and enjoyable day.

  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.

  This was an all around great tour. You get to see all of the major tourist attractions in the city in one day, and they are all worth seeing. My... read more tour guide was friendly and shared a lot of knowledge about every stop along the way.

  We took an overnight trip to Banos with visits to Quilotoa, many waterfalls, and other interesting stops. Everything was perfect! The guides were amazing, and the sites were fabulous. We... read more highly recommend using Latin Adventures!

  Our family of six included kids aged 9-19. Alex and Dante managed to find a full day of activities to appealed to everyone. Much of Quito remains closed, but we... read more did not notice as we had plenty to do. The guides were very knowledgeable, friendly and spoke English well. Highly recommend this trip for seeing the Quito highlights.

  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.

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

  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.

  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 had a fabulous day on a private tour of Quito and the surrounding area, coordinated by Alex Manzaba. Alex was terrific with adjusting the schedule to fit best... read more with the ever-changing weather in Quito. He flexed to get in as much as possible with the pending rain, and made great suggestions that were “off the beaten path.” He accommodated all of our requests (for example, we didn’t want a long lunch, we wanted to see the city) and was knowledgeable and passionate about his home town. It was an absolutely perfect day in Quito!

  We had a 17 day private tour arranged through Latin Adevtnures and can highly recommend. Dante was very helpful in coordinating things before and reassured us greatly with his... read more relaxed approach when the strikes temporarily put the trip up in the air. Our team, Diego (guide) and Celfides (driver), took great care of us and showed a real passion and joy for making the trip a great success. We toured all over the country and the detailed itinerary made the most of the trip with well chosen hotels and extras we ll. Ecuador is a stunning country that is still so under the radar, no Galapagos required to enjoy!

  Rodrigo was an amazing tour guide for our group. We were able to do everything we wanted to do and he was very trustworthy and knowledgeable. He even gave us... read more great recommendations for the nightlife to explore later. Rodrigo was able to convey the history and culture of Quito perfectly to us.

  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. …

  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

  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