Local Tour Operator in Ecuador & Galapagos

  Due to COVID lockdown in Quito the itinerary for the day had to be drastically changed on the spot, however Diego and Dante were able to use their years of... read more connections in the city to make the best day/experience possible for us. We truly had a great time, especially when we thought we were expecting to only see the city from the rooftop of our hotel during our short time in Quito! (Oh, and they even took us to a testing site so we could easily get our COVID test for our flight home the next day and picked up a friend stuck at another hotel to do the same!)

  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.

  We booked the evening before because we had just arrived and the weather was looking iffy. We weren’t sure someone would actually pick us up but Diego arrived... read more right on time despite Sunday road closures all around us. He was very knowledgeable and ready to answer all our questions. We covered all the highly recommended sights and had a short chocolate tasting too. The threatened rain held off until our last 15 mins. Perfecto!

  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! …

  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.

  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.

  Our guide was very knowledgeable and lead us through the day with an excellent mix of history and fun. And the chocolate tasting at the end was a wonderful surprise!

  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.

  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

  We had a private vehicle with an awesome knowledgeable guide, Oscar. We enjoyed all the sites that were included in this tour. We highly recommend this trip for... read more anyone anyone. Request Oscar fir a memorable trip.

  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!

  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.

  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!

  Fabian did an excellent job taking us on the full day tour from Quito!

He is so knowledgeable on all aspects with all things Quito, including history, the countryside,... read more local people, the Andes...in fact you name it and Fabian has the knowledge!
The tour itself was extremely informative and interesting, and my husband and I both agree that if you have the time, this tour should not be missed!

  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

  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! …

  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!

  Our guide Oscar was amazing! It ended up being a private tour for my husband and I, and it was everything we could've hoped for! Oscar planned our day around... read more the weather and we were able to see everything! This is a great way to see Quito especially if you have limited time there! We went to a really cool lunch spot he recommended and it was delicious! He was very friendly and chatty and told us a lot about the city we wouldn't have known otherwise! Definitely recommend this trip - you will see some really cool things and hit all the tourist sites in just 1 day!

  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!

  A beautiful view of Ecuador and the Glaciers and red earth on the top is surreal. The guide is very knowledgeable, chill and friendly as well.
You really appreciate... read more the impact of the volcano