Ecuador for Families: A 7-Day Tailor-Made Culture, Nature & Wellness Journey in Ecuador
Refresh your senses on a unique slow family travel 7-day program through Andean Culture and Nature in Ecuador. A customized tour program with in-depth experiences of genuine local contact for all ages. Start in Quito, the colonial capital of Ecuador, surrounded by stunning views of two active volcanoes and by many indigenous communities. From there travel to Otavalo, the heart of the indigenous culture, where you can browse through the local markets, cook with a Kichwa family, listen to local music and visit the sacred waterfalls of Andes. Next to culture, we also soften the pace to indulge in Nature. Explore the landscapes along the Equator at Quitsato, an archeological site of the Route of the Sun. Soak up in the volcanic hot springs of Papallacta, admire the colorful gardens with hummingbirds, trek through cloud forest and admire the multitude of orchids and endemic birds. Relax in the peaceful atmosphere of the San Isidro Reserve. A true Ecuador family experience, rich in culture, of a comfortable level of adventure and seen through the eyes of the local people. A balanced program that will make your trip to Ecuador an unforgettable experience.
What's included
Itinerary
Arrive in Ecuador and spend your first night in Quito. This stunning capital is found in the heart of the Andes and it is the perfect place to start getting comfortable with the height. On arrival at Quito airport you will be met by your private transfer driver who will escort you to your hotel. The historic center of Quito was declared a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site and it is easy to see why. The area is a must-see with many of the beautiful and historic churches, monasteries, museums and traditional plazas all waiting to be discovered. After your long flight and transfer to the hotel, the rest of the day is free to relax at the hotel or to take a leisurely stroll around the local area, if you feel up to it.
Your first full day starts with an Immersion Tour into the historic heart of Quito featuring stunning colonial architecture, as well as a thriving spiritual community and beautiful old churches. From the vantage point of El Panecillo you take in the breath-taking views over Quito, then follow down into the historic Old Town via the picturesque Parque Bicentenario, before taking a stroll through the elegant plazas and historic church yards of the colonial downtown area. Here you shall really get under the skin of the city’s spiritual traditions, as well as finding out about many of the old customs and ways of life that are still very much in evidence today. In the afternoon, after lunch in the historic Old Town, you depart for Otavalo by road, en route visiting an old agricultural town in the midst of the Ecuadorian highlands, the delightful town of Cayambe. As well as its history and architecture, Cayambe is well worth a visit as it gives you a glimpse of the countryside and rural way of life that is practiced in many parts of these incredible highlands, with its magnificent landscapes, unique local cuisine and the age old customs and traditions that have been the hallmark of the highlands for so long. You shall arrive in Otavalo in the late afternoon and spend the rest of the day at leisure in this breathtaking setting. The evening offers ample opportunity for exploration of this magnificent town and its local markets or indeed simply to relax and enjoy the unique and special ambiance of the Andes.
Today, you will get up early in the morning to visit the famous Indigenous Market of Otavalo. Here you will visit the Plaza de los Ponchos and see an overwhelming amount of local products such as a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Moreover, you can find clothing, shoes, handbags and other local handicrafts like textiles and ponchos, alpaca jumpers and hats, hammocks and lots more. You can support the local population by buying souvenirs directly from the artisans. After the market you will visit an Indigenous Kichwa family to have hands-on cooking experience and learn how to prepare some of the traditional Otavalan recipes from scratch. After lunch you will be able to put our new skills into practice and then you will listen to some live Ecuadorian music including highland style music such as sanjuanito. In the afternoon you will visit the beautiful Peguche Waterfall surrounded by nature where the local communities still perform their ancestral ceremonies. Return to your Hacienda in the evening to rest.
After breakfast you can continue your way north in the northern Andes to the Quitsato Sundial. A very impressive solar clock right on the Equatorial Line, which not only is a great photo opportunity, but also gives you great insight of the solar year and the seasons of the earth, as well as how our ancestors divided time and thought about time and space. Next to the Quitsato Sundial you visit the agave garden and then proceed to a beautiful rose farm, where in the greenhouses you can see all the different varieties of roses that Ecuador exports to the whole world. For a long time already the highland of the Andes is the perfect place for many different crops, due to the fertile soil. By the afternoon you continue your journey to the Andean village of Papallacta, where you spend the night in a beautiful resort with its own hot springs. The volcanic waters of the pools are ideal to recover from the long day of traveling and in the evening you can slowly bathe in the natural pools of warm water, surrounded by crisp mountain air.
Today, discover Wellness in the mountains of the Andes, a day of rest in volcanic hot springs and nature. You return to nature after days of traveling through the country and spend a wellness day in the volcanic hot springs of Papallacta. The hot springs are surrounded by beautiful gardens where you can see hummingbirds flit about. Behind the hot springs there is a short trail called the Sendero de la Isla which follows a mountain stream through upper mountain cloud forest. There you can see bromeliads, wild orchids, mosses and other epiphytes. On a clear day you can even see the Antisana Volcano, covered in snow. The Antisana Volcano is about an hour’s drive from the hot springs and there you can also see an Andean condor flying overhead, coming from the Antisanilla Ecological Reserve. In the afternoon you continue to San Isidro Cloud Forest Reserve on the eastern side of the Andes, a beautiful and tranquil place. There you spend the night in a quiet setting surrounded by nature, listening to the sounds of the forest and enjoying a good dinner.
You wake up to the calls of the birds of the cloud forest early in the morning and set off to the San Isidro Reserve, one of the most rewarding natural areas to visit in Ecuador. From the observation decks, guests can observe a variety of species of birds, some of them endemic to the area or difficult to spot. Delicate white flowers attract butterflies that gather around the blossoms to collect pollen. The orchid garden is a small sample of the incredible diversity of the cloud forest and it is available for the guests to admire. Rare mammals such as the black agouti, the night monkey and the Andean tapir, an animal that is rarely seen, also inhabit the reserve. After this relaxing and photo worthy day in the reserve, you return to the Quito area to overnight in San Jose de Puembo.
Breakfast in the hotel, check-out and then transfer to Mariscal Sucre Quito International Airport in a private car. That is how your tailor-made holiday to Ecuador comes to an end. Full of memories of colonial Quito and the local Indigenous traditions. Markets, hot springs, spectacular volcanoes and beautiful cloud forest where you did lots of walking. But most of all we hope you enjoyed the hospitality of the Ecuadorian people.
