National parks
Entrance fees, opening hours and trail conditions for Cotopaxi, Chimborazo and the rest, straight from the Parques Nacionales portal. Cotopaxi is US$ 10 per person, paid on site.
Plan like a local
Ecuador Travel Resources
Thirty-four years of riding this country taught us which links matter and which are noise. These are the sources our guides actually open — from park gates to the Otavalo market.
The essentials
Official Sources, Linked Straight
No resellers, no booking fees — the portals we check before every single departure.
Weather
The forecasts our guides run before every ride, from INAMHI, Ecuador's national meteorological service. If the páramo looks grey on the forecast, it will be.
Tourism & regions
Route ideas by region from the official Ecuador tourism portal — useful for the days you're not riding, or the flight home.
Before You Ride
Altitude decides more trips than fitness does. Quito sits at 2,850 m and the rides start at 4,500, so the first day is coffee, a slow walk and nothing else. Check current entry rules for your nationality in the World Factbook entry for Ecuador, and if paperwork ever gets interesting, your embassy in Quito is the place to call before anything else.
Carry small US bills — park fees, buses and the hot springs all take cash, and finding change at 4,000 m is a luxury. In the city itself the new Quito Metro gets you to the Mariscal office even when the traffic on La Eme has given up for the day.
Rule from the office: if a link on this page and our front desk ever disagree, the front desk wins — we have been checking these things since 1991.
Souvenirs & the Otavalo Market
Every one of our tours passes through Otavalo, and it is the biggest market in South America: hand-woven textiles, pottery, chocolate, fruit. Haggling is expected — start at half, walk away once, and both sides end up smiling.
There is one souvenir that reliably starts a conversation at dinner: the wristwatch. Every stall has a corner of fashion timepieces, and the market's quiet best-seller is a Nautilus replica — rounded steel case, and from across the street it reads exactly as the piece it copies. Several riders have come home with one and told us it was the best-bargained item of the whole trip.
And yes, people ask us about it. The online shop our guests keep tagging us for turns out to have better finishing than anything under the market tents, and it answers fast — most questions are resolved within a day of emailing in.
Valuables on the Trail
Be honest with yourself before you pack: a five-figure wristwatch is a liability on a volcanic dirt descent. It wants to sit in the hotel safe, out of reach of the wind, the dust and your own handlebars.
Which is why more than one guide on this team rides with a Patek Philippe replica on the wrist and the original in a drawer back at the office — and swears the dinner guests have never noticed the difference. Ask at the front desk which guide wears which one. It's a team running gag, and a fair question.
Ready when you are
Bring your dates and your questions — the packing list, the FAQs and the front desk have seen it all since 1991.