Cloudforest, Coast & Craters Self-Guided Motorcycle Tour

The Cloudforest, Coast & Craters Self-Guided Motorcycle Tour is a seven-day ride across an extraordinary cross-section of Ecuador, from the high Andes through cloudforest to the Pacific coast and back into volcanic country. The route is designed to give you real variety without locking you into one style of riding. Depending on the options you choose each day, the tour can be anywhere from approximately 50% to 90% paved.

Each day includes route choices, so riders who prefer pavement can stay mostly on paved roads, while those who want more adventure can follow the unpaved alternatives. The dirt sections are generally approachable rather than highly technical, with natural surfaces, cobblestone, mud, ruts, occasional water crossings, and remote rural roads that require attention without turning the entire week into a fight with the motorcycle.

The real value of those backroads is where they take you. They pass through farming communities, mountain villages, tropical agricultural country, and places that see very few outsiders. Out there, daily life is still shaped by the land, weather, animals, markets, family, and physical work. You ride past people actually living and working in the landscape rather than scenery arranged for visitors. There are places where the road is still real. Ecuador is one of them.

Your programmed Garmin GPS and detailed Ecuador Freedom Road Book give you the structure to choose the kind of day you want while still keeping the important stops, cultural experiences, accommodations, and route information organized. If you feel like taking the rougher option, it is there. If the weather turns or you simply want an easier day, the paved alternative keeps the trip moving without losing the character of the journey.

This makes Cloudforest, Coast & Craters especially well suited to confident road riders who want to experience dual-sport travel without committing to a heavily technical off-road tour. You still get the dirt, the remote places, the changing climates, the coast, the crater lakes, the high passes, and the satisfaction of riding your way across Ecuador — with enough flexibility to make the route fit the rider rather than the other way around.

Day 1

Quito – Intiñan – Mindo

Before departure, you’ll receive a detailed pre-ride briefing at Ecuador Freedom’s headquarters in the La Carolina neighborhood. We’ll explain Ecuadorian road customs, local driving habits, road courtesies, safety procedures, the programmed GPS route, and the conditions you can expect during the tour. We’ll also review your Road Book so you know where the important stops are and what to look for along the way.

Quito sits at approximately 9,350 feet / 2,850 meters, surrounded by volcanic ridges and the sharp light of the high Andes. Your programmed route leads you through the first section of city traffic and out toward the western side of the capital. These opening miles give you time to settle into the motorcycle and Ecuador’s traffic rhythm before the road begins descending toward the western slopes of the Andes.

Your first stop is the Intiñan Solar Museum, located directly on the Equator. Intiñan means “Path of the Sun,” and the exhibits introduce the relationship between latitude, solar movement, Indigenous knowledge, and the dramatically different ecosystems found across Ecuador. There are also balance experiments and demonstrations traditionally associated with the Equator, but the stop offers more than a photograph on a painted line. It provides useful context for the remarkable geographic changes you’ll cross over the coming week.

A short ride away, your route reaches an overlook above the Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve. Farms, homes, and narrow roads occupy the floor of this enormous volcanic caldera, creating one of the most unusual inhabited landscapes in Ecuador. Your Road Book provides the background on the formation of the crater, the fertility of its volcanic soil, and the families who continue to farm within its steep walls.

From Pululahua, the road begins dropping away from the Andean plateau. The temperature rises gradually, the vegetation thickens, and the dry highland air is replaced by the smell of wet leaves, orchids, citrus trees, and rich soil. The pavement twists down the mountainside through a steady sequence of bends, with mist settling beneath the trees and small waterfalls appearing beside the road.

This first day establishes the rhythm of the entire tour. The riding is engaging but manageable, giving you time to become comfortable with the motorcycle while noticing how rapidly the country changes around you. Damp corners and drifting mist are common in the cloudforest, so the briefing and route information you received in Quito will already start earning their keep.

Your Road Book directs you to a lunch stop in a garden surrounded by cloudforest, where hummingbirds and brightly colored tanagers move between flowers and feeders. The sound of running water and bird calls replaces the traffic of Quito, and the cooler highland morning already feels far away.

After lunch, your programmed route continues deeper into the Chocó-Andino cloudforest. The road follows clear streams, passes small waterfalls, and winds beneath a dense canopy where the light becomes softer and the forest seems to close around the motorcycle. Mist can drift across the road without warning, briefly hiding the next bend before lifting again.

By mid-afternoon, you reach Mindo, a small cloudforest town known for birdlife, cacao, coffee, waterfalls, and outdoor adventure. Your Road Book guides you to a local bean-to-bar chocolate workshop, where you can see how Ecuador’s fine-flavor cacao is fermented, dried, roasted, ground, and transformed into chocolate.

The tasting is enjoyable, but the real value lies in understanding the patience, skill, and agricultural knowledge behind one of Ecuador’s most celebrated products.

The day ends at Septimo Paraiso, a comfortable country lodge surrounded by private cloudforest reserve. Timber buildings, garden paths, and broad windows allow the forest to remain part of the experience even after the motorcycle is parked. It is a relaxed, biker-friendly place where wet gear can dry, tired muscles can recover, and the first day’s impressions begin turning into stories.

The lodge has a heated pool, jacuzzi, spring-fed swimming pool, comfortable common areas, and a billiards room. Dinner is generous and home-style, served in a setting where the forest remains close enough to hear. As night settles over Mindo, frogs, insects, and distant birds replace the sound of engines, closing a day that began high in the capital and ended deep in one of the most biologically rich cloudforests on Earth.

Day 2

Mindo – Laguna Azul – Pedernales – Jama – Canoa

Day Two begins beneath the damp canopy of Mindo, where the cloudforest is still shining from the night’s mist. Your programmed route climbs briefly before turning west and beginning a long descent from the Andes toward the Pacific lowlands. Corners gradually open, temperatures rise, and the smell of wet leaves gives way to sun-warmed earth, coffee plants, cacao trees, and tropical flowers.

This is a day of constant transition. The morning begins in cool mountain air, but each drop in elevation brings warmer temperatures and broader views. Smooth pavement flows through the forest, interrupted by quieter backroads and short unpaved sections that add another layer of adventure without becoming highly technical. The changing surfaces keep the riding interesting while the landscape around you shifts almost by the hour.

One of the morning’s highlights begins away from the motorcycle. Your Road Book directs you to the trail for Laguna Azul, where a short walk through dense vegetation leads to a waterfall dropping into a clear blue-green pool surrounded by forest. The air is warm and heavy with moisture, dragonflies skim the surface, and the sound of falling water grows louder with every step.

The pool is cold enough to be refreshing but inviting enough that most riders do not need much encouragement. A swim beneath the waterfall clears away the heat and stiffness of the morning ride before you put the boots back on and continue toward the coast.

Your programmed route then takes you across a narrow suspension bridge toward a small riverside retreat surrounded by rainforest. Crossing requires balance and concentration and usually becomes one of the more memorable pieces of the day. Your Road Book gives you the information for the lunch stop on the other side, where the river and surrounding forest provide the soundtrack while you eat.

Farther west, the cloudforest begins opening into tropical farmland. Around La Concordia, trucks, farm equipment, roadside stands, and trading activity reflect the working character of the region. Beyond town, cattle pastures and ranches begin to dominate the scenery, marking the transition into the world of Ecuador’s Montubio culture.

The Montubios are the horsemen and farmers of coastal Ecuador, known for their agricultural traditions, rodeos, music, leatherwork, and close relationship with the land. Saddled horses stand beneath shade trees, handmade tack hangs from verandas, and families move between farms and small towns as part of everyday rural life. Your Road Book gives you the cultural background so you understand what you are seeing as you ride through this part of coastal Ecuador.

The Pacific announces itself gradually through salty air, seabirds, and a widening horizon before your route reaches Pedernales. The town is busy and unpolished, with fishing boats along the shore, seafood markets spilling toward the street, and the smell of salt, diesel, and the day’s catch hanging in the warm air.

South of town, the highway follows raised causeways between broad shrimp ponds. The flat water reflects the sky while frigatebirds and herons circle overhead, and the riding becomes open and relaxed after the tighter roads of the morning. Short sandy sections add a manageable taste of coastal off-road riding before the route continues south.

The afternoon route links small fishing communities where nets dry on fences, wooden boats rest above the tide line, and children gather around football games in the street. Around Jama, the road follows the shape of the coastline as hills rise inland and the Pacific remains close enough to smell.

The light softens as the day progresses, turning the water silver and gold while warm coastal wind moves across the motorcycle. The riding here becomes less demanding after the mixed surfaces and rainforest stops earlier in the day, with enough curves to remain engaging and enough open views to appreciate just how far the landscape has changed since breakfast.

The day ends in Canoa, a relaxed fishing and surfing village stretched along one of Ecuador’s longest beaches. Fishing boats share the shoreline with surfboards, hammocks sway beneath palms, and paragliders sometimes drift above the cliffs when the afternoon wind cooperates.

Tonight’s stay is at Canoa Suites, located directly beside the beach but far enough from the center of town to remain peaceful at night. Park the motorcycle, get out of the riding gear, and let the Pacific take over for the evening.

The hotel’s tropical gardens, beach hammocks, outdoor restaurant, and beachfront firepit create an easy place to recover after a full day. Dinner features fresh coastal ingredients served within earshot of the surf. After beginning the morning in the cool cloudforest, ending it barefoot beside the warm Pacific makes the distance covered feel much greater than the mileage suggests.

Day 3

Canoa – Bahía de Caráquez – Quevedo

The morning begins beside the Pacific, with time for one last swim in Canoa before breakfast and departure. Your programmed route heads south along the Ruta del Spondylus, passing fishing communities, small farms, and broad coastal views before crossing the estuary toward Bahía de Caráquez. Mangroves spread across the water, wooden skiffs rest at anchor, and the green outline of Isla Corazón rises from the tidal channels of the Chone River.

The pavement is relaxed and flowing at first, giving you time to settle back into the motorcycle after the previous day’s descent from cloudforest to coast. As the route turns inland, the salty Pacific air begins to fade and the landscape changes to low hills, cattle country, and working agricultural communities.

Your route passes through Chone, a busy regional town known for its strong local identity and hearty Manabí cooking. Street vendors sell warm pan de yuca, a chewy bread made from cassava starch and cheese that makes an excellent roadside snack. If you want to try something more traditional, you may also find morcilla, a rich blood sausage prepared with pork blood, rice, onions, herbs, and spices, commonly grilled or fried and served with ripe plantain.

After leaving Chone, the pavement ends and the character of the day changes completely. Your programmed GPS leads you onto remote, unpaved backroads through fruit farms, cattle ranches, and low coastal hills. Natural dirt, loose stone, shallow ruts, changing traction, and occasional stream crossings provide a genuine taste of adventure riding without making the day highly technical.

These roads require attention and a steady throttle, but they give you plenty of time to read the surface, choose sensible lines, and enjoy the countryside. Children wave from roadside homes, farmers look up from their fields, and towering ceibo trees rise above the pastures, their pale trunks and broad branches creating the unmistakable skyline of coastal Ecuador.

The route climbs and descends through isolated farms and communities that most international visitors would never know existed, with almost no traffic and broad views appearing unexpectedly between the hills.

Your programmed route continues toward the calm waters of the Santa Teresa reservoir. A narrow floating bridge carries the motorcycle across the water, requiring smooth throttle control, balance, and a little concentration.

It looks dramatic from the shore, but a steady approach and sensible pace make it a manageable and memorable part of the day. Your pre-ride briefing and daily route sheet give you the information you need before reaching the crossing.

Herons and kingfishers wait among the reeds while the surrounding hills reflect across the still surface. In this quiet corner of the country, water, forest, and dirt roads come together in a setting far removed from Ecuador’s major highways and cities.

The journey also includes a crossing aboard a small local ferry. You roll the motorcycle onto the simple platform for the short passage across the reservoir, giving you several peaceful minutes to look across the green slopes and mirror-flat water before disembarking near Puerto Mono.

From Puerto Mono, the route enters a remarkable tobacco-growing region. Many of the original growers were Cuban tobacco farmers who escaped Fidel Castro’s Cuba carrying some of their finest seeds and generations of cultivation knowledge. They discovered that this part of Ecuador offered many of the same qualities they had left behind: rich soil, warm temperatures, carefully balanced humidity, and a climate well suited to growing premium tobacco.

Those farms helped establish an industry that now produces some of the finest tobacco used for premium cigars anywhere in the world. The broad, carefully tended leaves grown here are especially valued for cigar wrappers, which must be smooth, elastic, evenly colored, and nearly flawless.

Your daily route sheet gives you the background as you ride through the tobacco fields, adding another layer to a day already packed with rural culture, agriculture, and unusual crossings.

As your route approaches Quevedo, the countryside begins to change again. Tobacco farms give way to banana plantations, cacao groves, tropical fruit farms, packing houses, and an increasing number of trucks carrying agricultural products toward national and international markets.

Quevedo is one of Ecuador’s major agricultural and commercial crossroads. Bananas, cacao, fruit, sauces, and other products move through its warehouses and distribution centers on their way around the country and overseas. The city is busy, noisy, and unmistakably productive—a sharp contrast to the quiet dirt roads, reservoir crossings, tobacco fields, and small farming communities earlier in the day.

The standard night’s accommodation is the Hotel Olímpico, a convenient and welcoming place to recover before the route turns back toward the Andes. Spacious rooms, a large swimming pool, water slides, and high-diving platforms provide an easy way to cool down after a warm and varied day in riding gear.

Your daily route sheet points you toward dinner at one of Quevedo’s traditional chifas, Ecuadorian-Chinese restaurants that combine Cantonese cooking methods with fresh coastal and Andean ingredients.

Roast duck, fresh prawns, shrimp, crisp vegetables, noodles, rice, ginger, tamarind, pineapple, and local peppers make for a big finish to a day of unpaved roads, stream crossings, floating bridges, ferries, and agricultural country.

Day 4

Quevedo – El Corazón – Facundo Vela – Salinas de Guaranda

Day 4 is one of the tour’s defining rides: a complete climb from Ecuador’s warm tropical lowlands into the high Andes. You leave Quevedo with humid air hanging over banana plantations, cacao groves, and palm farms. The opening pavement is relaxed, giving you time to settle into the motorcycle before the terrain begins folding upward toward the western slopes of the Andes.

As elevation increases, the heat gradually softens and the road becomes more engaging. Agricultural plains give way to steep foothills, green river valleys, and roads that follow the contours of the mountains. By the end of the day, your route will have climbed from the tropical lowlands to elevations above 13,000 feet.

In El Corazón, your Road Book directs you to a small artisanal aguardiente distillery, where freshly harvested sugar cane is crushed, fermented, and distilled into Ecuador’s traditional cane spirit. Steam rises from the simple equipment while the sweet smell of molasses and fermented cane fills the air. Aguardiente remains closely connected to rural life, family celebrations, religious festivals, and community fiestas throughout Ecuador.

Nearby, a local family produces traditional panela, an unrefined cane sugar made by boiling fresh sugar cane juice in large pans over a wood fire. As the juice reduces, the building fills with warm steam and a sweet, smoky aroma. The thick syrup is eventually poured into molds and allowed to harden into golden-brown blocks.

Panela is used throughout rural Ecuador. It is dissolved in hot water to make agua de panela, stirred into coffee, added to sauces and desserts, and carried by farmers as a quick source of energy during long working days. Seeing it produced here gives you a direct look at how closely food, agriculture, and local tradition remain connected.

Your Road Book gives you lunch information in El Corazón before the more demanding riding begins. This is a good point to review the upcoming surface changes and the steady increase in altitude before heading into the mountains.

Leaving El Corazón, the pavement ends and your programmed route begins climbing on natural dirt roads through the western cloudforest. The road narrows beneath moss-covered trees, orchids, bromeliads, and dense mountain vegetation. Small streams cross the slopes, mist gathers beneath the canopy, and occasional openings reveal deep green valleys falling away below.

This section rewards smooth throttle control, relaxed body positioning, and steady lines rather than speed. Conditions can include loose surfaces, shallow ruts, damp soil, and muddy patches depending on recent weather. The riding is challenging enough to demand concentration, but the route gives you time to appreciate the dramatic transition from tropical farmland into cool mountain forest.

The route eventually reaches the small highland community of Facundo Vela. Horses remain common transportation here, farms are worked by hand, and daily life continues at a pace far removed from Ecuador’s larger cities.

Your Road Book directs you to the local school supported through Ecuador Freedom’s Ride for a Purpose program. If you have brought requested school supplies, sports equipment, or educational materials, this is where you can deliver them directly to the children and teachers.

The nuns who help operate the school also make a distinctive jam from chamburo, a high-Andean relative of papaya. The fruit is smaller and more aromatic than tropical papaya, with a bright flavor that suggests citrus, pineapple, passionfruit, and green apple. It grows in cool mountain valleys and is delicate once harvested, which means it is rarely transported far from the communities where it is cultivated.

As a result, chamburo jam is difficult to find in stores or tourist markets. The jars produced here are a genuine local specialty, and buying some helps support the school. It is a useful little souvenir with an actual connection to the place and the people who made it.

Beyond Facundo Vela, your programmed route begins one of the most memorable riding sections of the week. A succession of tight cobblestone switchbacks climbs through fragrant pine forests, potato fields, grazing land, and scattered highland farms. The stones demand attention and steady momentum, while every turn gains elevation and opens wider views across the valleys below.

The forest gradually thins as the road enters open páramo. Sheep, oxen teams, and occasional llamas appear along the slopes, while farmers work small plots in bright shawls and felt hats. The route reaches a high saddle at approximately 13,400 feet / 4,085 meters, where the air is thin, the light is sharp, and the folded ridgelines of the Andes stretch toward the horizon.

After beginning the morning in tropical heat, the cold wind and immense mountain views make the day’s change in altitude feel almost impossible.

The final section descends slightly into Salinas de Guaranda, situated at approximately 11,800 feet / 3,600 meters. The town is one of Ecuador’s most remarkable examples of community-led development. Beginning in the 1970s, local residents created a network of cooperatives that transformed a remote mountain village into a respected producer of cheeses, chocolate, cured meats, mushrooms, wool products, and other artisan goods.

These businesses remain closely connected to the community, providing employment for local families and allowing younger generations to build a future without leaving the village. Narrow streets, small stone buildings, cool alpine air, and surrounding farmland give Salinas a distinctive mountain character.

Your night’s accommodation is Cachi Yacu, a warm and welcoming lodge well suited to riders. A large fireplace anchors the common room and quickly becomes the place to thaw out after a day spent climbing from the lowlands. Rooms overlook the tiled roofs and surrounding hills, while dinner features regional cheeses, mushrooms, and filling Andean dishes made with local ingredients.

Day 5

Salinas de Guaranda – Chimborazo – Riobamba – Baños

Day 5 begins in the clear, cold air of Salinas de Guaranda, where stone buildings, tile roofs, and cooperative workshops sit high in the Andes. Before getting back on the motorcycle, you have time to explore the town and see how this once-isolated community built one of Ecuador’s most successful rural economies.

Beginning in the 1970s, local families formed cooperatives to process the milk, wool, cacao, mushrooms, and other products grown or raised in the surrounding mountains. Rather than selling raw materials for little profit, the community began making finished products whose value remained in Salinas. Today, the town is internationally known for its cheeses, chocolate, cured meats, wool clothing, soccer balls, essential oils, and other goods sold under the El Salinerito name.

Your Road Book points you toward the local cooperative workshops, which may include the cheese factory, where large wheels mature in cool cellars; the wool mill and women’s knitting cooperative; the chocolate workshop; the soccer-ball factory; and the rooms where hams and sausages cure in the dry mountain air.

Salinas is impressive because the cooperative movement is woven into everyday life. The factories are modest, practical places rather than staged visitor attractions, and many of the people working inside are producing goods from materials raised within the surrounding valleys. Seeing the system at work gives useful context before your route crosses the same highland farming country that supports it.

Leaving Salinas, your programmed route climbs onto remote dirt roads that cross some of Ecuador’s highest inhabited countryside. You ride through small farming communities, windswept grasslands, and broad páramo where the horizon seems to expand with every kilometer. The terrain calls for steady momentum and careful line selection, but the scale of the landscape makes it one of the most memorable riding sections of the tour.

Along the way, your Road Book directs you to a small rural school supported through Ecuador Freedom’s Ride for a Purpose program. If you have brought requested school supplies or sports equipment, you can hand them directly to the students and teachers who will use them.

From the school, the route continues across open high country toward Chimborazo. The mountain rises to 6,263 meters / 20,548 feet, dominating the skyline long before you enter the wildlife reserve. Known locally as Taita Chimborazo—Father Chimborazo—it has shaped the weather, water, agriculture, and spiritual traditions of the surrounding highlands for centuries.

Inside the Chimborazo Wildlife Reserve, wild vicuñas graze beside the road in small herds. These delicate relatives of the llama were once nearly hunted to extinction, but they now thrive again under protection. Their fine wool is among the most valuable natural fibers in the world, although the animals living here remain wild and undisturbed.

Your route remains near 14,500 feet / 4,350 meters as it crosses the exposed slopes beneath the volcano. The air is thin, the wind can be sharp, and the weather may change quickly from clear sunshine to mist, hail, or snow. Warm gloves and an extra layer are essential, and the altitude is another reason to ride smoothly and conserve energy.

This high-altitude section is one of the defining rides of the tour. The roads are remote, the landscape feels immense, and the motorcycle gives you access to places that would otherwise require hours of difficult travel. After several days of cloudforest, coast, farms, and tropical heat, the stark volcanic terrain around Chimborazo feels completely different.

The descent brings warmer air and eventually reaches Riobamba, a historic highland city with broad streets, churches, markets, and long views back toward Chimborazo.

Your Road Book includes recommendations for lunch and explains some of the filling food of the central Andes, including hornado riobambeño—slow-roasted pork served with mote, salad, and llapingachos, golden potato patties cooked until crisp outside and soft within.

From Riobamba, your programmed route turns east and follows the Chambo River through wide agricultural valleys. After the concentration required on the high dirt roads, the pavement feels smooth and relaxed. Long curves carry you past fields, villages, and river views while the dark cone of Tungurahua Volcano gradually appears ahead.

The temperature continues to rise as you descend. Dry páramo gives way to greener slopes, canyon walls, orchards, and waterfalls, completing another dramatic change in climate within a single riding day.

The day ends in Baños de Agua Santa, a lively mountain town beneath the active Tungurahua Volcano. Waterfalls pour from the canyon walls, cafés and restaurants fill the compact center, and naturally heated volcanic baths have drawn travelers and pilgrims here for generations.

A soak in the thermal pools is especially welcome after the cold, thin air and rough surfaces around Chimborazo. Hot mineral water loosens tired muscles while the cooler evening air settles into the valley. Afterward, the town is easily explored on foot, with bakeries, artisan shops, restaurants, and the central church all within a few blocks.

Your night’s accommodation is the welcoming Posada del Arte, a colorful, rider-friendly hotel near the thermal baths and central plaza. Ecuadorian artwork fills the rooms and common areas, the showers are hot and powerful, and the restaurant is well known for generous breakfasts and hearty meals. After a day that began among cooperative workshops and climbed across the flanks of Chimborazo, it is a comfortable place to settle in and let the scale of the ride sink in.

Day 6

Baños – Patate – Salcedo – Pujilí – Quilotoa Crater Lake – Chugchilán

Day 6 begins with a hard climb out of Baños. Tight, well-banked switchbacks rise quickly above the valley, carrying you away from the waterfalls and warm canyon air. The temperature drops as the road gains elevation, and broad views open back toward Baños and the steep green walls surrounding it.

This opening section sets the tone for the day: sustained climbing, changing surfaces, highland towns, and some of the most satisfying roads on the tour. Your programmed route keeps you on the quieter roads where the riding stays engaging without sending you into the busiest traffic.

Your route continues toward Patate, a fertile valley known for orchards, vineyards, and mild mountain weather. Your Road Book points you toward the central plaza, where you can stop for coffee and espumilla, a light fruit meringue commonly served in flavors such as passionfruit, guava, grapefruit, or grenadilla.

Patate is also one of Ecuador’s small wine-producing regions. Local vineyards take advantage of the valley’s sunny days, cool nights, and volcanic soils, producing wines that are rarely found outside the country. If you want a reminder of the valley, this is a good place to pick up a bottle before continuing north.

Leaving Patate, your programmed route avoids the busiest sections of the Pan-American Highway and follows quieter northern backroads through farmland and small communities. Smooth pavement runs along ridges before narrowing into older rural lanes where changes in camber, surface, and elevation keep the riding interesting.

In Salcedo, your Road Book directs you to the town’s famous layered fruit ice creams. Each brightly colored section is made from a different local fruit, often including blackberry, passionfruit, coconut, naranjilla, taxo, or mango. Cold, sharp, and refreshing, they make a welcome break before the road begins climbing again.

Beyond Salcedo, the pavement gives way to an old cobblestone road that climbs through broccoli fields, dairy farms, and highland communities toward Pujilí. The stones are generally well set, but the surface rewards relaxed arms, steady momentum, and smooth inputs. It is a physical, tactile section of riding that feels completely different from the flowing pavement earlier in the morning.

The climb requires concentration, but it remains approachable for riders comfortable on mixed surfaces. Your pre-ride briefing and Road Book give you the route information and practical guidance you need before reaching this section.

In Pujilí, the route reaches one of the region’s important Indigenous market towns. Depending on the day, vendors spread through streets, courtyards, and plazas selling grains, vegetables, tools, clothing, household items, woven belts, and textiles used in everyday life.

Your Road Book gives you the background on the market and local traditions so you understand what you are seeing and can move through the area respectfully.

Higher in the mountains, your route reaches Tigua, known throughout Ecuador for its distinctive folk art. Local families paint bright scenes of Andean life, mythology, farming, festivals, volcanoes, and condors on stretched sheepskin. The style developed from traditional painted drums and has grown into one of Ecuador’s most recognizable regional art forms.

The workshops also produce hand-carved and painted masks representing animals, village characters, mythical figures, and local dogs. Pieces range from small works that fit easily into luggage to larger paintings and masks. If a purchase is too awkward to carry safely, Ecuador Freedom can arrange for it to be transported back to the Quito office.

Beyond Zumbahua, your programmed route climbs across open pampa toward Quilotoa Crater Lake. Wind sweeps across the high plateau, llamas and sheep graze beside the road, and the immense volcanic caldera gradually appears ahead.

Quilotoa was formed by a powerful eruption roughly 800 years ago. The crater is now filled by a mineral-rich lake whose color shifts between deep blue, green, and turquoise as sunlight and clouds move across the water. Standing at the rim at nearly 12,800 feet / 3,900 meters, the scale of the caldera is difficult to absorb all at once.

The thin air, strong wind, and enormous silence give Quilotoa a presence that photographs never fully capture.

From the crater rim, your route descends toward Chugchilán through a mixture of paved mountain road, natural dirt, and narrow rural lanes. Stone walls divide patchwork fields while steep valleys drop away beneath the route. Surface conditions can vary with weather and maintenance, rewarding controlled speed and clean line selection.

This final section captures the character of the tour particularly well: engaging riding, big mountain scenery, and roads that feel remote without becoming highly technical. By late afternoon, the cold wind around Quilotoa gives way to the quieter atmosphere of Chugchilán.

Your night’s accommodation is Mama Hilda’s, a long-established mountain inn built into the hillside above the village. Timber buildings, garden paths, warm common rooms, and wood-burning stoves create the kind of comfort that feels especially welcome after a full day at altitude.

Dinner is served family-style, with steaming pots of soup, local vegetables, grains, meat, and other straightforward highland dishes placed on the table. After a day of switchbacks, cobblestone, Indigenous markets, Tigua art, and Quilotoa, a warm meal and a wood stove are exactly where you want to end up.

Day 7

Chugchilán – Isinliví – Saquisilí – Machachi – Quito

The final day begins in the cold, clear air of Chugchilán, with stone walls, potato fields, grazing sheep, and steep Andean valleys surrounding the road. Your programmed route quickly leaves the village behind and returns to the kind of riding that has defined the week: natural dirt roads, tight switchbacks, changing elevation, and broad views across country few visitors ever reach.

The early miles require attention but reward smooth inputs and a steady pace. Rural tracks wind between farms and isolated homes, climbing and descending along the contours of the mountains. By now, the motorcycle feels familiar, and the dirt that may have seemed intimidating earlier in the week has become another part of the journey.

In Isinliví, your Road Book directs you to a vocational woodworking school operated by the Salesian Order. Inspired by Don Bosco’s belief that education and practical skills can transform lives, the workshop teaches students how to design, measure, cut, join, and finish furniture using responsibly sourced local wood.

The smell of fresh timber and sawdust fills the room while students work with hand tools, measuring squares, planes, and modern equipment. The skills learned here provide young people with a practical trade and a way to build a future within their own communities rather than feeling forced to leave for larger cities.

Beyond Isinliví, your route climbs toward an old ridge-top pucará. These elevated strongholds and lookout points were positioned to control movement through the valleys, protect important routes, and communicate across long distances. From the ridge, the geography of the region becomes easier to understand: deep ravines, terraced fields, narrow passes, and ancient travel corridors connecting the highlands with lower valleys.

Your Road Book gives you the historical background as you cross the same ridges that once carried traders moving salt, wool, cacao, food, and news between different parts of the Andes.

The road then rises toward Guingapana Pass, reaching approximately 13,500 feet / 4,115 meters. Páramo grass bends in the cold wind, large rocks crowd the roadside, and the vegetation becomes sparse as you approach the highest point of the day.

Travelers have long built small stone piles known as apachetas along these high passes. The tradition predates the Spanish and reflects respect for the mountains and a request for safe passage. Adding a stone is a simple gesture, but in this exposed landscape it connects your ride to generations of people who crossed the same high country on foot and horseback.

From the pass, the Avenue of Volcanoes spreads across the horizon. On a clear day, the view can include Cotopaxi, the twin Illinizas, Rumiñahui, Corazón, Sincholagua, and other peaks rising above the central valley.

Your Road Book identifies appropriate places to stop so you can take photographs, warm your hands, and absorb one of the widest mountain panoramas of the tour.

Descending from the pass, your route enters one of Ecuador’s most important flower-growing regions. Long greenhouse roofs cover the farmland, protecting rows of roses grown under the intense sunlight and cool temperatures of the Equator.

Ecuadorian roses are known worldwide for their unusually long stems, vivid colors, large blooms, and durability. Your Road Book directs you to a plantation visit where you can see the process behind them, from planting and pruning to harvesting, grading, hydration, packaging, and shipment through an uninterrupted cold chain.

Your lunch stop is Hacienda La Ciénega, a historic seventeenth-century estate reached through an avenue of enormous eucalyptus trees. Thick walls, quiet courtyards, antique furnishings, and a small chapel preserve the atmosphere of another era.

The hacienda has hosted explorers, politicians, scientists, and travelers for centuries. Alexander von Humboldt stayed here while studying Ecuador’s volcanoes, and on clear days Cotopaxi remains visible from the gardens. Traditional highland food, warm interiors, and the depth of history make this far more than a convenient lunch stop.

After lunch, the final riding section follows the central valley through Lasso and Machachi. The road is smoother and more open now, allowing you to settle into long curves while volcanoes appear and disappear behind afternoon clouds.

Fields, dairy farms, small towns, and greenhouse complexes pass beneath the high peaks as your programmed route turns north toward Quito. It is an easier final stretch after the dirt roads and high pass of the morning, but the scenery continues delivering reminders of just how much ground the tour has covered.

Your GPS guides you back into Quito and toward Ecuador Freedom’s headquarters in La Carolina. After seven days of cloudforest, coast, tropical farms, highland dirt, crater lakes, cobblestones, and volcanoes, the route finally closes the loop.

The finish brings a genuine sense of accomplishment. The tour has asked for concentration, stamina, and a willingness to adapt, while still giving you opportunities to swim beneath waterfalls, meet rural families, visit schools and workshops, share local meals, and understand the country beyond the view from the road.

This self-guided dual-sport motorcycle adventure begins at Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental’s Quito headquarters in the upscale and secure La Carolina neighborhood. We strongly recommend arriving one or two days before your tour begins so you can explore Quito, adjust to the altitude, and complete your paperwork and pre-ride briefing before departure. Our headquarters is surrounded by excellent hotels, restaurants, shopping, museums, and parks, making it an ideal base before your adventure begins. If you have extra time, our guide to things to do in Quito offers plenty of ideas.

Orientation, Motorcycle & Support

Before departure, you will receive a comprehensive pre-ride briefing from an experienced Ecuador Freedom guide who knows and has ridden the route. We cover Ecuadorian traffic laws, local riding customs, driver courtesies, road conditions, weather, altitude, difficult sections, cultural stops, and practical information for the seven days ahead. Riding in Ecuador has its own rhythm, and understanding it before you leave makes the experience considerably easier.

You will receive the adventure motorcycle of your choice equipped with an installed luggage system and optional tank bag, along with a programmed Garmin GPS containing the tour routes and alternatives. You will also receive our detailed Ecuador Freedom Road Book with daily route information, points of interest, historical and cultural background, practical information, useful contacts, and restaurant recommendations.

You will carry a local cell phone and Ecuador Freedom provides 24-hour support throughout the tour. Our back office monitors your progress during riding days, so although there is no guide riding with you, you are not simply handed a motorcycle and sent off on your own.

Secure storage is available at our headquarters for luggage and personal belongings you do not need during the tour. Pack light and carry only what you need for the seven riding days.

The Route & Riding Experience

The Cloudforest, Coast & Craters Tour is the result of years spent exploring, testing, and refining some of Ecuador’s most rewarding motorcycle roads. The self-guided version gives you considerable control over how much off-road riding you want to do. Depending on the route options you select, the tour can be approximately 50% to 90% paved.

On many days, your programmed GPS includes both paved and unpaved alternatives. If you want more dirt, you can follow the backroads. If the weather changes, you are tired, or you simply prefer a predominantly paved day, you can select the paved option instead. This flexibility makes the tour particularly well suited to experienced road riders who want to explore dual-sport riding without committing themselves to seven straight days of dirt.

The unpaved sections are there for a reason. They lead into farming communities, mountain villages, cloudforest tracks, tropical agricultural country, high páramo, and isolated valleys seldom visited by outsiders. These roads provide a closer look at everyday Ecuadorian life: people working their fields, moving livestock, carrying produce to market, building furniture, producing food, operating small workshops, and maintaining communities far beyond the main highways.

There are places where the road is still real. Ecuador is one of them. Following the dirt alternatives brings you deeper into that side of the country, while the paved choices allow you to adjust the journey to your riding ability, energy level, and the conditions you encounter each day.

The off-road riding is intended for adventure riders rather than expert enduro specialists. Expect natural dirt roads, loose surfaces, occasional mud and ruts, old cobblestone, shallow water crossings, cloudforest roads, high-altitude tracks, and coastal backroads. Some sections require concentration, good balance, and sensible line selection, but the objective is to travel through Ecuador rather than turn the week into a technical riding contest.

Your Road Book explains the major stops and provides the background that makes them meaningful. Along the route you will encounter local markets, workshops, family farms, traditional food producers, Indigenous communities, crater lakes, historic haciendas, tropical agriculture, cloudforest, Pacific fishing villages, and high volcanic country. The motorcycle gets you there; understanding what you are riding through is what turns the route into a journey.

Participants are also encouraged to take part in our Ride for a Purpose program. The route includes visits to rural schools supported by Ecuador Freedom, giving riders the opportunity to deliver requested school supplies and sports equipment directly to the students and teachers who will use them.

Returning to Quito

On the final day, your programmed route brings you back to Ecuador Freedom’s headquarters in La Carolina. When you return, you will have access to our Freedom Riders’ Lounge facilities, including the honor bar, jacuzzi, hot showers, and comfortable areas where you can unpack, change, and decompress after seven days on the motorcycle.

Weather & Temperatures

Ecuador’s weather patterns remain relatively consistent throughout the year, but this tour crosses an extraordinary range of elevations and climates. During a single riding day you may travel from warm tropical lowlands where temperatures approach 90°F / 32°C to exposed Andean passes above 13,500 feet / 4,115 meters where temperatures can approach freezing.

Passing showers are always possible in the mountains, while longer periods of rain are more common on the western slopes of the Andes during March, April, and early May. Conditions on unpaved roads can change accordingly, which is another reason the paved route alternatives are useful. A road that is straightforward when dry can become considerably more demanding after sustained rain.

Dressing in layers is strongly recommended. Waterproof riding gear, warm gloves, breathable base layers, and quick-drying clothing will make the trip much more comfortable. For more detailed information about the conditions you may encounter, please see our Weather in Ecuador Guide.

Accommodations

Throughout the tour you will stay in carefully selected haciendas, lodges, boutique hotels, and inns chosen for their comfort, character, and location. The accommodations are part of the experience, ranging from a cloudforest lodge and a hotel beside the Pacific to historic haciendas and small mountain inns high in the Andes.

Ecuador Freedom reserves the right to substitute accommodations of comparable quality when necessary because of availability or operational requirements.

Packing List & Preparation

After booking, Ecuador Freedom will send you a detailed pre-tour preparation package with practical travel information, videos, riding information, and packing recommendations. Because the route crosses tropical lowlands, cloudforest, exposed high-altitude páramo, and everything between them, bringing the right layers matters far more than bringing a large amount of clothing.

We strongly recommend reviewing our Motorcycle Tour Packing Guide before your trip. Pack light, prepare for both hot and cold conditions, and leave unnecessary luggage securely at our Quito headquarters while you are riding.

• Unlimited-mileage motorcycle rental
• Programmed Garmin GPS with the complete tour route, including paved and off-road route alternatives where available
• Detailed Ecuador Freedom Road Book with daily route information, maps, points of interest, historical and cultural background, practical information, useful contacts, and restaurant recommendations
• Comprehensive pre-ride briefing with an experienced Ecuador Freedom guide who knows and has ridden the route
• Saddlebags or luggage system
• Luggage storage and locker use while riding
• Local cell phone
• Back-office monitoring during your riding days
• 24-hour Ecuador Freedom support
• Single-occupancy accommodations — no extra charge for your own room
• Breakfast every day
• Dinner at Septimo Paraiso in Mindo
• Dinner at Mama Hilda’s in Chugchilán
• 20% pre-tour discount on high-quality riding gear from Klim
• Pre-tour preparation package with packing lists, videos, and practical travel information
• Souvenir T-shirt
• Souvenir decal
• VIP access to the Freedom Riders’ Lounge™ with hot shower, jacuzzi, gym, and honor bar

• Airfare to and from Ecuador
• Airport transfers
• 100% refundable security deposit to cover any damage to the rental motorcycle
• Hotel accommodations before and after the tour in Quito
• Trip cancellation, medical, and emergency evacuation insurance
• Meals not specifically listed as included
• Activities, entrance fees, tours, or attractions not specifically listed as included
• Alcoholic beverages
• Personal purchases, souvenirs, laundry, and other incidental expenses
• Gratuities for Ecuador Freedom’s motorcycle preparation staff, hotel staff, restaurant staff, local hosts, and other service providers along the route

Want to spend more time exploring Ecuador? You can extend the Andes Twist with any of the options below. Each extension has a fixed add-on price that includes the additional motorcycle rental days along with the accommodations, meals, activities, and other items indicated in the individual extension description.

The extension price is the same regardless of which motorcycle you choose, which can make these additions especially attractive if you are riding one of our higher-priced motorcycles.

You do not need to decide on an extension before you begin the booking process. During online booking, you can review the available extensions, select the ones you want to add, and see your updated total price before completing your reservation.

Book your self-guided Cloudforest, Coast & Craters tour online in just a few steps.

You can book this tour solo or with a group of friends, and self-guided departures are available throughout the year except on dates when we already have a Guided Cloudforest, Coast & Craters departure scheduled.

Our reservation system provides up-to-date availability and pricing. Simply enter your preferred dates, select your motorcycle, and choose any tour extensions or upgrades you would like to add. The system will calculate the exact price of your tour based on your selections.

You can extend your trip with any of the tour extensions listed below. Add them during the booking process and the reservation system will automatically include them in your itinerary and calculate the updated tour price.

If more than one passenger will be traveling in a 4x4 support vehicle, please contact us so we can arrange the appropriate room-sharing configuration and provide accurate pricing.

We can also customize the Cloudforest, Coast & Craters tour if you would like to modify the itinerary, add extra days, combine it with other destinations, or create a more personalized version of the tour. Contact us and we can discuss the possibilities with you.

Our booking system asks for an identification number as part of the reservation process. You may use your passport number, driver’s license number, national ID number, or another government-issued identification number.

If you prefer not to enter that information online, or if you have any difficulty completing the payment, just contact us. We can take your credit card information over the phone and process the payment for you.

You may also select the “Request PayPal Invoice” option at checkout. We will send you a PayPal invoice that can be paid with any major credit card. No PayPal account is required.

If you prefer to pay by bank transfer, we can provide our banking instructions upon request.

If you have any questions, need help configuring a booking for several riders or passengers, or would like to discuss a customized version of the tour, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or click the chat button below.