Ecuador and Galapagos Romance - 12 Days

Welcome to Ecuador!

Upon arriving, you are met and transferred to your hotel.

Accommodation: ILLA Experience Hotel
Meals Included: None Today

Morning local market visit and cooking class with a local chef.

Your guide will take you to the Mercado Central where you stop at various affiliated stations and the chef explains about the products and culinary traditions.

Together you’ll buy the ingredients for the cooking class. You will return to Altamira restaurant (walking or by transport).

The cooking class: we offer you a chef’s hat and an apron for preparing the three dishes you will cook; which are typical Ecuadorian recipes: a Locro Quiteño, an Encocado and a Chocolate Soup.

Evening Wine Tasting at the Dome of Santo Domingo.

Discover the night colors and lights of the Historical Center in Quito from the top of one of the most beautiful churches in Quito: Santo Domingo.

Accommodation: ILLA Experience Hotel
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch Today

Start your Galapagos expedition.

You will be transferred to the airport for your flight to the Galapagos Islands. On arrival, you are met and transferred to your vessel for embarkation or taken to your hotel for your land-based program.

Overnight Sea Star Journey

OR

Accommodation: Galapagos Safari Camp
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Today

Continue with your Galapagos adventure
Enjoy a fascinating array of activities and excursions, allowing guests to explore the archipelago from multiple perspectives.

Overnight: Sea Star Journey

OR

Accommodation: Galapagos Safari Camp
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Continue with your Galapagos adventure
Enjoy a fascinating array of activities and excursions, allowing guests to explore the archipelago from multiple perspectives.

Overnight: Sea Star Journey

OR

Accommodation: Galapagos Safari Camp
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Continue with your Galapagos adventure
Enjoy a fascinating array of activities and excursions, allowing guests to explore the archipelago from multiple perspectives.

Overnight: Sea Star Journey

OR

Accommodation: Galapagos Safari Camp
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Continue with your Galapagos adventure
Enjoy a fascinating array of activities and excursions, allowing guests to explore the archipelago from multiple perspectives.

Overnight: Sea Star Journey

OR

Accommodation: Galapagos Safari Camp
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

End your Galapagos expedition.

Disembark your vessel and transfer to the airport for your flight to Quito. Upon arrival, you will be met and transferred to your hotel.

Accommodation: ILLA Experience Hotel
Meals Included: Breakfast Today

3 Night Mashpi Lodge program.

Mashpi Lodge is located 110 km (70 miles) from Quito in the western slope of the occidental flank of the Andes. The rapid change in altitude (from 9200 feet above sea level to 3280 feet above sea level) allows you to discover the wanders of the Andean landscape.

The drive usually takes 3 to 3 1/2 hours plus time for any stops on the way. The road crosses the valley of Pomasqui dominated by Andean dry forest, and then to the western flank of the Andes through the Cloud Forest and the road ends in Mashpi at the beginning of the tropical rainforest. The monument of “La Mitad del Mundo” (“Middle of the World”), mark the place where you cross the equatorial line and the obelisk commemorates the visit of the geodesic mission in the XVIII century as part of their studies measuring one arc of the meridian and their efforts to proof the elliptical shape of the earth.

Half way to Mashpi you stop to visit Tulipe archeological museum, a set of ruins that belonged to the Yumbo culture, one of the last cultures that settled in Quito before the arrival of the Incas and the Spanish. You will enjoy coffee and an Empanada (Turnover) prepared by local citizens of Tulipe and then continue the road for 60 minutes and arrive to Mashpi.

Upon arrival at Mashpi, check in. After you have been comfortably settled in your room, you will be greeted by one of our naturalists who will give you an introductory talk about the cloud forest and its conservation, the activities during your stay and some helpful tips about what to wear and what to bring to the excursions. This talk will take place before lunch at our library and lasts around 30 minutes.

Accommodation: Mashpi Lodge
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

3 Night Mashpi Lodge program

Accommodation: Mashpi Lodge
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

3 Night Mashpi Lodge program.

Accommodation: Mashpi Lodge
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

End your forest adventure.

Today, we have arranged a late check-out. You will have time to experience a morning activity, or simply relax at the lodge. At a pre-arranged time, you will be transferred to the airport for your departure flight from Ecuador.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch Today

IN THE EVENING, YOU WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO THE AIRPORT FOR YOUR FLIGHT OUT OF ECUADOR.