Exotic Locations near Quito

This is a lagoon that remains inside a crater. Get there early to avoid the afternoon clouds. There is a small market and places to eat. You can hike down to the lagoon and rent a kayak and then climb up. It's 2:30 hrs from Quito.

This is a farming town built on a dry valley inside a volcano. Its climate is tropical, with a wide variety of plants, birds and flowers. Only 90 minutes from Quito. There are places to eat, and a few warm lagoons.

This town is located beside the Cayambe mountain (which is always snowed). Great places to eat. The "biscochos" are very popular here, crispy wide saltine, freshly baked should go with hot chocolate or coffee. Only 90 minutes from Quito.

This small town is located inside a tropical forest. Only 2 hrs. away from Quito. You can see over 400 bird species including "Quinde" humming birds. Rivers for rafting, Hike through the tropical forest. Its climate is warm, but when it rains it can get chilly.

Located in Sucumbíos, one of Ecuador’s wildest corners of the Amazon: a flooded-jungle maze of rivers and lagoons where you can see pink river dolphins, monkeys, caimans, anacondas, and hundreds of bird species, while also visiting Indigenous Siona and Secoya communities that have lived there for generations.  Take a flight to Nueva Loja and then 4 hours in ground transport.

Yasuní National Park sits just south of Cuyabeno and is often described as one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. In a single hectare of forest you can find more tree species than in all of North America, plus hundreds of birds, amphibians, insects, and mammals packed into lowland “tierra firme” rainforest between the Napo and Curaray rivers. It’s also home to Indigenous Kichwa communities and the intangible zone where uncontacted Waorani groups (Tagaeri–Taromenane) still live in voluntary isolation, making it not just a wildlife sanctuary, but a living cultural territory too.

Is like the water factory and balcony of the northern Amazon.

On its eastern slopes, the páramos, glaciers and cloud forests collect huge amounts of rain and mist; from there are born rivers like the Dué, Chingual, Cofanes and Cabeno that feed the Aguarico and then the Napo, on their way to the Amazon. (Provincia de Pichincha)

So even though you “feel” high Andes near Papallacta or Cayambe, that same park is quietly sending water, sediments, fish and nutrients down to Sucumbíos and the lowland rainforest — it’s literally the hydrological bridge between Quito’s mountains and Cuyabeno-style jungle.

An 80-meter cliff viewpoint between Atacames and Súa, on the coast of Esmeraldas. It’s famous for its dramatic ocean views… and for a tragic local legend about two lovers who throw themselves from the cliff after mistakenly believing the other has died. 

Playa Cojimíes, in northern Manabí, is a long, quiet Pacific beach lined with palm trees and simple fishing boats, where the sea meets mangroves and you can take boat trips to places like Isla del Amor and the Cojimíes estuary—more of a laid-back fishing village vibe than a big party beach.