Ecuador: Quito, the Mindo Cloud Forest and an Amazon Lodge

1. Day 1: Arrive in Quito

   Mariscal Sucre International Airport to your hotel in Quito

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Quito
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Mariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO), on a plateau east of the city, and a driver meets you in arrivals for the drive of about an hour into Quito. The city stretches along a high Andean valley at about 2,850 m, under the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, so take the afternoon slowly: drink water, eat lightly and rest if your head feels heavy. Most people adjust within a day, and the next two nights are lower. If you land early and feel well, the streets around the hotel are good for a gentle first look. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the days ahead, from what to pack for the canoe to how mornings work at the lodge. Then we walk to a welcome dinner of Ecuadorian dishes at a local restaurant, with locro de papa, a potato and cheese soup, a good place to start.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Mariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Quito is at about 2,850 m. Arrive by mid-afternoon if you can, to rest before the briefing.

2. Day 2: Quito's Old Town, then down to Mindo

   Quito Old Town, then northwest to Mindo

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Mindo
   Day 2 details

   We spend the morning on foot in Quito's Old Town, among the first World Heritage sites, inscribed by UNESCO in 1978, before the midday crowds and traffic. Start in the Plaza Grande, with the cathedral and the presidential palace on its sides, then walk to La Compania de Jesus, whose interior is covered in gold leaf (entry included), and on to the wide plaza and church of San Francisco. Your guide keeps the pace gentle, because the streets climb and the air is thin. After a sit-down lunch in the Old Town we drive about two hours northwest, past the equator line, and down through the Andes into the cloud forest. The road drops more than 1,500 m, and the air turns warm and damp as the trees close in. We reach Mindo, at about 1,250 m, by mid-afternoon, in time to sit by the hummingbird feeders before dark. The evening is yours.

   Included

   • Quito Old Town walk with your guide: the Plaza Grande, La Compania de Jesus (entry included) and San Francisco
   • Sit-down lunch in Quito
   • Drive to Mindo through the western Andes
   • Hummingbird feeders at a garden in Mindo in the late afternoon

   Free time: Evening free in Mindo

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot in Quito, on sloping cobbled streets at altitude.

   

3. Day 3: Waterfalls and chocolate in the cloud forest

   Mindo: the Tarabita and the waterfall trail, then town

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Mindo
   Day 3 details

   Mindo lies in the Choco Andino of Pichincha, a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 2018, where Andean slopes meet the wet forests that run down to the Pacific. Mornings are the clearest time, so we go out early. Anyone keen on birds can join a dawn walk with a local birding guide before breakfast; tanagers, toucans and more hummingbirds are often seen. After breakfast we ride the Tarabita, an open cable car that crosses the valley high above the river, and walk the trail to a chain of waterfalls in the forest on the far side, with time to stop at the pools. Lunch is a sit-down meal in town. In the afternoon a small chocolate maker shows how Ecuador's cacao goes from pod to bar, from fermenting and roasting the beans to grinding, and you taste along the way. The rest of the afternoon and the evening are free, which is when rain usually arrives.

   Included

   • Tarabita cable car and the waterfall trail with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Mindo
   • Bean-to-bar chocolate workshop and tasting
   • Dawn birding walk with a local guide, for those who want it

   Optional experiences

   • Tubing on the Mindo river or a zipline over the forest, priced at booking

   Easier option: Skip the waterfall trail: ride the Tarabita across and back for the view, then spend the morning at a butterfly garden and the hummingbird feeders in town.

   More active option: Start with the dawn birding walk, then walk the full waterfall circuit to the farthest falls.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: The waterfall trail takes 2 to 3 hours, with muddy paths and steep steps in places. Wear shoes with grip.

   

4. Day 4: Fly to Coca, down the Napo

   Mindo to Quito airport, flight to Coca, then by motorboat down the Napo to the lodge

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Napo River lodge
   Day 4 details

   Today starts early, and the flight sets the time: most Quito to Coca flights leave in the morning, so if yours is early we leave Mindo at around 4 am with a packed breakfast, and we confirm the flight and start time with your booking. It is about three hours by road from Mindo, around the north of Quito, to the airport. The flight to Coca, the town where the Coca River meets the Napo, takes about 35 minutes and crosses the eastern Andes, with the forest spreading out flat below. From the dock a long covered motorboat takes us down the Napo, wide and brown, for two to three hours depending on the lodge, with lunch on board and your guide and the lodge naturalist pointing out herons, kingfishers and the hoatzin along the banks. At the lodge landing we walk the last stretch on the lodge's own trail or boardwalk; the exact arrival, by foot or by paddled canoe, is confirmed with your dates. After settling in, we go out at dusk by canoe to listen to the forest change shift and look for the eyes of caimans in the torchlight. Dinner is at the lodge.

   Included

   • Drive from Mindo to Mariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)
   • Flight from Quito to Coca
   • Motorboat down the Napo to the lodge, with lunch on board
   • Dusk canoe to look for caimans
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Activity: The start time is set by the flight; if it is an early one we leave Mindo at around 4 am. Domestic flights and the boat have tighter luggage limits than international flights, so pack a soft bag; we send the limits with your final itinerary.

   

5. Day 5: Dawn canoe, the clay lick and a Kichwa community

   A full day from the lodge on the Napo

   • By boat
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Napo River lodge
   Day 5 details

   We are on the water at dawn, when the forest is loudest, paddled quietly along a blackwater creek or lake while monkeys move through the treetops and macaws cross overhead. Then we climb the lodge's canopy tower or walkway, about 30 to 40 m up, to look out over the treetops for toucans and tanagers. Mid-morning, when the sun has warmed the banks, we go by canoe to a parrot clay lick on the Napo, where on dry days flocks of parrots and parakeets come down to eat the clay for the minerals in it; we watch from a hide or the boat. From there we visit a Kichwa community, whose guides show how the forest feeds and heals them, and lunch is with them, often maito, fish wrapped in leaves and cooked over the fire. The early afternoon is free in a hammock. Late in the day, walk a forest trail with the naturalist, and after dinner join an optional night walk for frogs and insects.

   Included

   • Dawn canoe with the lodge naturalist and your guide
   • Canopy tower or walkway
   • Parrot clay lick on the Napo
   • Visit to a Kichwa community, with lunch
   • Late-afternoon forest walk
   • Night walk after dinner, for those who want it

   Easier option: Skip the tower stairs and stay at the lodge until the clay lick, or skip the forest walk and stay at the lodge in the afternoon.

   More active option: Take the night walk with a torch after dinner, looking for frogs, spiders and insects.

   Free time: Early afternoon free at the lodge

   Activity: Parrots stay away from the clay lick in heavy rain. If the morning is wet, we try again on a drier window or on the way out, but we cannot promise a sighting.

   

6. Day 6: Up the Napo and back to Quito

   Lodge to Coca by motorboat up the Napo, then flight to Quito

   • By boat
   • Breakfast
   Day 6 details

   A last early morning in the forest: the boat back upstream leaves soon after first light, and the river is at its best now, with mist on the water and birds busy along the banks, so keep binoculars handy. Upstream takes longer than downstream, so allow two and a half to three and a half hours on the Napo, depending on the lodge and the river level. Breakfast is at the lodge before we go or packed for the boat. In Coca we transfer to the airport for the short flight back over the Andes to Quito, landing at Mariscal Sucre International Airport in the early afternoon. Your guide sees you through the airport and says goodbye there. Flights from Coca are sometimes delayed, so book an onward flight that leaves after about 5 pm, or stay a night in Quito before flying home or on to the Galapagos the next morning; we can book that night and the transfer.

   Included

   • Motorboat from the lodge to Coca
   • Flight from Coca to Quito
   • Drop-off at Mariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO)

   Optional experiences

   • A night in Quito and an airport transfer, priced at booking

   Activity: Book an onward flight leaving after about 5 pm, or add a night in Quito.

   

Wildlife and weather: Rain is part of both forests. Mindo is driest from about June to September; the Napo gets rain every month, with the wettest spell usually around April to July. Mornings are the best time for birds in both places, and parrots stay off the clay lick in heavy rain.

• Quito1 night
• Mindo2 nights
• Napo River lodge2 nights