Ecuador - All you need to know

The third country we visited for our year-long trip was Ecuador and it has definitely been my favourite. This beautiful country is full of history, nature and culture, so there is something for everybody here.

Watch Ecuador video diary

In this post, you’ll find some info on:

A possible itinerary
Food you need to try
Money and ATMs
Getting around by public transport
Best time to visit Ecuador

Our Itinerary

We started off in Quito, where we also spent New Year’s. We took our time here exploring different parts of the city and also taking some day trips to nearby places.

One of these day trips was to Mindo, where you can go on a hike to see seven different waterfalls and do a chocolate tour.

After that, we went to Latacunga, to visit the town and also hike the Quilotoa Lagoon. The next stop was Baños, a place we liked so much we decided to stay for a full week.

Finally, we visited the Amazon Rainforest, in particular the Cuyabeno Reserve – the real highlight of our trip to Ecuador.

The final stop before leaving the country was Guayaquil for two days only.

There are other places we would have liked to visit, but we had to skip because we wanted to get to Peru before February and to Patagonia before the start of the winter. These include the Galapagos Island, Montañita, Otavalo, Cuenca and the Cotopaxi Volcano – which we managed to see at least from the distance.

Food you need to try:

Not many people talk about food in Ecuador, probably because its neighbour, Peru – world-famous for its cuisine – takes all the attention for itself. However, food in Ecuador has been one of my favourites on the whole trip.

Here is a list of my favourite things:

Chocolate: Ecuadorian chocolate really is the best. If you take a chocolate tour you will taste different kinds of chocolate, as well as its raw seeds and drinks made from it.

Fruit: in Ecuador fresh fruit and vegetable markets are very common and I could spend hours walking through them and trying all the special fruit they have, My favourite is granadilla – a fruit that looks like a small orange from the outside and like passion fruit in the inside. It’s very sweet! Try also Pitahaya, a fruit that belongs to the dragon-fruit family, Babaco, a star-shaped fruit, and Guayaba, a fruit that is believed to cure lots of things and is particularly sour, so it is often served with sugar.

Empanadas de Verde o Bolon de Verde: I have eaten both these dishes for breakfast, although I think people eat them as a snack too. They are kind of similar, but with a different shape. Empanadas de Verde are empanadas filled with cheese and somethings a fried egg. Bolon de Verde is fried green plantain dumplings filled with cheese.

Locro de Papa: This is a delicious earthy soup that will keep you warm on the cold rainy days in the mountains. This soup is supposed to be vegetarian, but sometimes they add pork to it or chicken – which in some countries in South America is considered “vegetarian”. So, if you want to avoid finding a big bone and floating pieces of meat in your dish (Yes! That happened) just double check before ordering.

Llapingachos: Usually served as a side dish, these are grated potato patties filled with cheese and deep-fried.

Colada Morada: Colada Morada is a traditional drink made with fruits, spices, and purple corn flour.

Canelazo: One of my favourite drinks, Canelazo is a warm spiced cinnamon cocktail made with cinnamon, water, sugar and aguardiente. You can also ask for the alcohol-free version.

Money and ATMs

The currency used in Ecuador is US dollars. We had no problems exchanging the Colombian Pesos we had left, but the fastest and most convenient way of getting money – if you don’t have US dollars – is from ATMs, which can be found everywhere in bigger cities, but are often out of order in smaller towns.

Banco Pichincha doesn’t charge you a fee to withdraw money.

Getting around by public transport

Buses work very well in Ecuador and they are very comfortable too. We also took night buses three times and they were safe enough.

There are several companies that operate the different routes and bigger bus companies, such as TransEsmeraldas and Flota Imbabura have their own terminals. Fares are cheap and you will pay around $1 to $1.50 per hour. This is how long the main routes will take approximately:

Quito to Baños – 3.5 to 4 hours
Quito to Guayaquill – 8 hours
Quito to Cuenca – 9 hours
Quito to Montañita – 10 hours

The main bus stations are in Quito, with very good links to any city or town in Ecuador – and Guayaquil, with very good connections to Peru.

Best time to visit Ecuador

Since in Ecuador there is no real summer or winter, the best time to travel to Ecuador depends on which parts of the country you want to visit or what are you interested in seeing and doing here.

In the Eastern region, known as Oriente, it’s usually warm but rainy all year round, although in August to September and December to February it gets a bit less rainy. In this area, there aren’t many backpackers destinations with the exception of the Amazon forest. For the best times to visit the Cuyabeno Reserve, click here.

June to September are the warmest and driest months in the sierra, the central region, although each region here has its own microclimate. Outside these months, it is still warm and quite sunny in the morning, however, showers are very common in the afternoons and evenings.

In the Coastal Lowlands, where you can find popular destinations such as Montanitas, Guayaquil, Puerto Lopes or Esmeraldas, it usually gets very hot on clear days, with temperatures up to 30°C. The best time to visit this region is from December to April.

We spent the end of December and January in Ecuador, visiting places in all of the regions above, and we were caught in the rain several times, although it was still warm enough. One of the reasons I would recommend visiting Ecuador during this time is to spend New Year’s there, as they have big celebrations and fun traditions, such as jumping over bonfires on New Year’s Eve night.