Top Quito Day Trips

I was let down fairly last minute by another tour company and came across this one. Little did I know I had already had this company twice during my visit to Ecuador for Cotopaxi and Quilotoa Lagoon (both of which were excellent). I was lucky enough to have Jorge as my guide again for Baños - he is an amazing guide who really goes above and beyond to make your experience fantastic - so kind, knowledgable and enthusiastic. Our driver was also wonderful. Great communication prior to the trip. We stopped at the swing at the end of the world, cable car, waterfall, and an activity centre where you can choose to do extra activities such as zip lining, bridge walking, and rope swing. Food options and quality were excellent. It is a long day but I would highly recommend this trip and this company

The tour took about 9 hours and was well organized. We had a group of about 10 people in this tour. After picking up everyone at their hotels in a van, we first stopped to get food and cash, then stopped to get coca tea to help with the altitude before going to the visitor center. After the visitor center we went to the parking lot (~4500m altitude) below the Cotopaxi volcano base camp. The trip by van to the parking lot took about 3 hours, including the 3 stops (around 20 min for each stop). From the parking lot, we walked up a winding path to get to the volcano base camp at an altitude of 4864m. I normally live near sea level and was only in Quito for less than a day, so the altitude was noticeable and had to walk slowly, but was doable in under an hour. I didn't take any additional medication for the altitude, just the coca tea. It was also noticeably colder than Quito, maybe 5-10C in Oct 2026, but jeans and 3 layers of shirts was sufficient to keep warm. It was a little cloudy and there were brief moments where the summit could be seen between clouds, and we got some decent photos during those times. Then we went down a steeper, but more direct path back to the parking lot. It was really sandy and a little tricky to walk without slipping, but it was much faster than going up. Then we got back on the van and stopped at a lagoon for about 15min, then went to Rondador Cotopaxi to eat lunch, which luckily had a vegan option. Then we went back to Quito. During the bus ride to Cotopaxi, our guide explained a lot about the geography and history of the area in both Spanish and English and was very knowledgeable about the area. Overall, it was a great tour and would recommend it to others.

The itinerary was very flexible and I chose to do more wildlife watching instead of the coffee and chocolate tours. There were lots of hummingbirds at Alambi that fly right up to your hands to feed and there was a coffee producer that will show you the coffee plants and how they prepare their coffee beans. We stopped for lunch at Tia Eloy and they nicely made a vegan ceviche and saw some toucans and a woodpecker nearby. We then went to the museum at Tulipe and saw another Toucan and some parrots. The displays at the museum were mostly in Spanish, so a translation app would have been helpful. It was October 2026, and it wasn't the best time to see birds, so there weren't a lot to see, but that happens with wildlife. Overall, still a good tour.