Introduction to Ecuador Guided Motorcycle Tour

If you came to Ecuador to ride, this is your tour. The 12-day Introduction to Ecuador Guided Motorcycle Tour is designed for riders who want to cover serious ground, experience an extraordinary variety of roads, and see just how much of Ecuador can fit into one unforgettable journey. Some days are long, but that's part of the appeal. You'll cross the Andes, descend into the Amazon Basin, reach the Pacific coast, and climb back into the mountains — often experiencing several completely different landscapes in a single day.

Ecuador rewards riders who like time in the saddle. Mountain roads climb through high páramo and sweep down into cloudforest, long curves follow river canyons toward the Amazon, and twisting backroads carry us through agricultural valleys, small towns, and tropical countryside. Along the way we'll ride past snowcapped volcanoes, cross high Andean passes, follow the mighty Napo River, and reach the warm Pacific coast. The distances may look modest on a map, but Ecuador's mountains make the riding endlessly interesting.

Over 12 days, you'll experience an impressive cross-section of the country. We'll visit the colonial cities of Quito and Cuenca, the Indigenous market town of Otavalo, the relaxed Pacific beach town of Canoa, and Vilcabamba, the famous Valley of Longevity. We'll ride from cold, windswept Andean passes to humid Amazon forest and banana country, then watch the landscape change again as the road climbs back toward the highlands.

We still get off the motorcycles. Stops along the route introduce us to Indigenous markets, artisans, family-run businesses, historic haciendas, waterfalls, hot springs, and places most international visitors never encounter. We'll eat fresh seafood beside the Pacific, taste Ecuadorian chocolate, drink locally grown coffee, and stop for regional specialties as we travel. These experiences break up the longer riding days and give context to the landscapes we're riding through.

The Introduction to Ecuador is for riders who would rather see what is around the next bend than call it a day early. You'll spend plenty of time on the motorcycle, ride some of the country's best roads, and finish with a remarkably complete picture of continental Ecuador — its Andes, Amazon, Pacific coast, people, food, history, and extraordinary geographic diversity.

Day 1
Quito – El Quinche – Cayambe – Zuleta – Otavalo – Cotacachi

We begin our adventure at Ecuador Freedom's La Carolina headquarters in Quito. Before we ride, your guide takes the group through Ecuadorian road rules, local riding customs, hand signals, group protocols, and what to expect on the road ahead. There is time to get comfortable with the motorcycles, ask questions, and make sure everyone is ready before we set out.

Getting out of Quito is remarkably easy from our location. Less than a mile of city streets puts us into a tunnel and directly onto the Pan-American Highway. Soon the city begins falling away behind us and the Andes open ahead. Day 1 is a great introduction to what the next 12 days will bring: changing elevations, agricultural valleys, mountain roads, volcanoes, small towns, fascinating stops, and plenty of curves between them.

Our first stop is the Basilica of El Quinche, one of Ecuador's most important pilgrimage sites. For centuries, people have traveled here to ask the Virgen de El Quinche for protection, healing, and blessings. Each November, thousands of pilgrims walk through the night from Quito and surrounding communities to reach the basilica.

For us, it is a fitting place to begin a journey around Ecuador. We'll step inside the enormous church, learn about the importance of the Virgin in Ecuadorian Catholic tradition, and take a little time to appreciate a place that remains deeply meaningful to Ecuadorians rather than simply being a historic monument.

By midday we reach Hacienda Guachalá, founded in 1580 and the oldest hacienda in Ecuador. Guachalá has been part of Ecuadorian history for more than four centuries, through the colonial period, independence, the formation of the republic, and into modern Ecuador. Presidents, political leaders, explorers, and other important figures have lived or stayed here, and the property itself tells much of that story.

Old stone walls, heavy wooden doors, courtyards, a historic chapel, and buildings accumulated over centuries make Guachalá much more than a lunch stop. We'll have time to look around the hacienda and absorb some of its history before sitting down for a good Ecuadorian meal in a place that has witnessed an extraordinary amount of the country's past.

From the hacienda we continue to the Quitsato Sundial, located directly on the Equator near Cayambe. This is a fascinating place to understand the Equator from an astronomical and Andean perspective rather than simply standing beside a painted line.

Our guide explains how the movement of the sun and the changing length and direction of shadows reveal the solstices, equinoxes, time of day, and time of year. Long before modern instruments arrived, Andean cultures were careful observers of these celestial cycles and incorporated them into agriculture, architecture, ceremony, and their understanding of the world around them.

Nearby rises Volcán Cayambe, one of the great snowcapped volcanoes of the northern Andes. Its location is unique: Cayambe is the only place on Earth where the Equator crosses permanent snow and glacial ice.

In Cayambe, we'll make time for one of the town's specialties: bizcochos. These crisp, buttery biscuits have been made here for generations in traditional ovens and are usually eaten with fresh cheese, dulce de leche, and a cup of strong Ecuadorian coffee. As the tour unfolds, you may begin to notice that we have a habit of finding the regional foods worth stopping for wherever we ride.

From Cayambe we leave the busier roads behind and head into the countryside. Backroads carry us through dairy country, cultivated fields, small Indigenous communities, and valleys framed by the great volcanoes of northern Ecuador. This is where the day becomes as much about the road connecting the stops as the stops themselves.

We continue into the beautiful Zuleta Valley, an area of intensely green farmland, traditional haciendas, and small communities where embroidery, leatherwork, agriculture, and horsemanship remain part of everyday life. The road winds through pastures and family farms in a rural landscape that relatively few international visitors ever experience.

Zuleta is particularly famous for its intricate hand embroidery. The floral designs associated with the valley can require many hours of careful work and have become an important expression of local identity as well as a source of income for generations of women. Riding through the valley gives us a chance to see the landscape and communities behind a tradition that visitors often encounter only as a finished piece in a market.

The road continues climbing, eventually taking us above 10,000 feet. The agricultural valleys fall away and the views become broader until Lake San Pablo appears below us beneath the massive slopes of Imbabura Volcano. It's one of those views that makes stopping the motorcycles irresistible.

In nearby Otavalo, we visit a family weaving workshop and get a closer look at one of the traditions for which the region is famous. The Otavaleños have been accomplished textile producers and traders for centuries, and weaving remains an important part of both the culture and economy of the region.

Here we can watch the process rather than simply seeing finished textiles hanging in a market. We'll meet the family, learn about the techniques and designs they use, and see the work that goes into creating pieces whose patterns and colors have become immediately recognizable throughout Ecuador and far beyond it.

These personal visits are an important part of how we travel. The motorcycles allow us to cover an extraordinary amount of Ecuador, while stops like this give us the chance to know something about the people and traditions behind the places we're riding through.

We finish the day's riding near Cotacachi at Hacienda Pinsaquí, a historic estate dating to 1790. Once an important textile-producing hacienda, Pinsaquí has hosted figures including Simón Bolívar, and much of its long history remains visible in its thick adobe walls, old courtyards, antique furnishings, fireplaces, and century-old gardens.

Pinsaquí is the kind of place we love using on our tours because staying here becomes part of the experience of Ecuador. Once the motorcycles are parked, there is time to wander the grounds, settle into the hacienda, and enjoy the atmosphere rather than simply checking into another hotel.

We'll gather for live Andean music, followed by dinner and retire for the night with fires warming the old rooms as the highland evening cools outside. It is a fitting end to our first day: excellent riding connected by places that introduce us to Ecuador's history, food, landscapes, traditions, and people.

Day 2
Otavalo – Cotacachi – Cuicocha – Apuela – Cielo Verde

After a hearty Andean breakfast of fresh juice, bread, and eggs, we begin the day in Otavalo, home to one of South America's most renowned Indigenous markets. For centuries, Otavaleños and people from the surrounding highlands have come here to trade animals, food, textiles, household goods, and just about everything else needed for daily life.

We'll explore both sides of this remarkable market tradition. At the animal market, livestock changes hands amid a swirl of voices, hooves, bargaining, families, and farmers arriving from the surrounding countryside. This remains a working market where people come to buy and sell animals, and being there gives us a glimpse into rural Andean life that hasn't been packaged for visitors.

Then we'll visit the famous Plaza de los Ponchos, where Otavalo's long textile tradition explodes into color. Woven blankets, tapestries, clothing, bags, scarves, jewelry, and handicrafts fill the plaza and surrounding streets. We'll have time to wander, talk with vendors, practice a little bargaining if something catches your eye, and enjoy one of Ecuador's great market towns at its own pace.

From Otavalo, we ride to Cotacachi, a town whose name has become synonymous with leatherwork. Generations of local artisans have developed the skills of tanning, cutting, stitching, shaping, and finishing leather, and workshops and small family businesses remain an important part of the town's identity.

We'll visit a local craftsman and get closer to the process behind the finished jackets, boots, belts, bags, saddles, and wallets found throughout town. Many artisans continue to use time-honored methods without modern chemicals, producing work of such quality that international fashion houses source goods here.

Meeting the people who actually do the work changes the experience completely. You can see the tools, smell the leather, watch the craftsmanship up close, and understand why Cotacachi has built an international reputation around a skill passed from one generation to the next. And if a jacket, belt, bag, or pair of boots happens to follow you back to the motorcycle, we won't judge.

From Cotacachi, the road climbs toward Cuicocha in the Cotacachi-Cayapas National Park. The lake occupies an enormous volcanic caldera high in the Andes, with two distinctive islands rising from its deep blue water. We'll stop at the rim and take time to enjoy one of the most beautiful volcanic landscapes in northern Ecuador.

Then comes one of the day's great transformations. We leave the high Andes and begin descending toward the remote Intag Valley. The temperature rises, vegetation thickens, and mountain agriculture gradually gives way to cloudforest. The road twists down the western slopes of the Andes through a landscape of steep green mountains, rushing rivers, scattered farms, and small communities.

Intag has remained relatively isolated from Ecuador's major population centers, and that isolation is part of its character. Coffee, tropical and subtropical fruits, small-scale agriculture, conservation, and community enterprises have all become important parts of life here.

In Apuela, we'll visit the local Coffee Growers' Association and learn how coffee grown on these mountain slopes moves from fruit on the plant to the cup in your hand. We'll see how the beans are grown, harvested, processed, dried, selected, and roasted, and we'll taste the result close to where it was produced.

Coffee from Intag has developed an excellent reputation, and visiting the growers gives us the opportunity to understand what goes into producing it. Elevation, rainfall, shade, soil, careful harvesting, and processing all influence what eventually ends up in the cup. For coffee drinkers, this is one of those stops that makes the next morning's coffee a little more interesting.

Nearby are the Nangulví hot springs, where naturally heated mineral water gives us an excellent excuse to get out of the riding gear for a while. The pools sit beside the rushing Río Intag, surrounded by the green mountains of the valley.

We'll have time for a soak and lunch beside the river before continuing. After a morning that began high in the Andes, sitting in warm mineral water surrounded by subtropical vegetation makes the geographic transition we've just ridden through particularly easy to appreciate.

As we continue descending and the climate becomes warmer, we'll stop at one of the most unusual places on the route: the exotic fruit farm and research center run by our friends Jim and Mimi, who have lived here for more than forty years.

Over those decades they have assembled an extraordinary living collection of more than 600 species of fruits, herbs, and spices from around the world. Walking through the property can feel like exploring a botanical encyclopedia you can eat. Some of what grows here will be familiar; plenty of it probably won't be.

Jim and Mimi show us around their rustic homestead and introduce us to plants adapted to this warm, fertile corner of Ecuador. We'll taste unusual fruits straight from the source and put our noses to work identifying different herbs and spices by scent. Some are obvious. Others can be surprisingly difficult when you can't see what you're smelling.

It's also a chance to spend time with two people who chose to make a life in a remote part of Ecuador decades ago and created something remarkable there. Their farm is the sort of place we'd never experience by simply following the main highway through the country.

We finish the day at Cielo Verde Lodge, set at only about 1,200 feet above sea level. This morning we were surrounded by the cool highlands of Otavalo; by evening we're deep in warm, lush forest. Few countries allow you to experience that kind of transformation in a single day's ride.

Cielo Verde has private river access with a crystal-clear swimming area, along with a pool and jacuzzis. Once the motorcycles are parked, there is plenty of time to swim, soak, wander down to the river, or simply sit and listen to the forest around us.

Dinner features regional food prepared with local ingredients, and the evening settles into the sounds of insects, birds, moving water, and the surrounding forest. After the high Andes, markets, leather workshops, volcanic lake, coffee country, hot springs, twisting mountain roads, and tropical fruit farm, Cielo Verde gives us a completely different Ecuador in which to end the day.

Day 3
Cielo Verde – Cascada Verde – Pedernales – Canoa

After breakfast at Cielo Verde, we point the motorcycles west and continue our descent toward Ecuador's Pacific coast. The riding begins on twisting roads through the lush western foothills of the Andes, following rivers and winding between small farms and forested mountains.

We're still surrounded by green, but it is a different landscape from the one we rode through yesterday. The air grows steadily warmer, the mountains become lower and rounder, and tropical vegetation begins taking over. Tall palms rise above the surrounding forest and cultivated land appears wherever the terrain allows it.

This is another excellent stretch of riding, with plenty of curves and constant changes in the landscape. We're following the water downhill, leaving the Andes behind and riding toward the Pacific.

One of the morning's highlights begins away from the motorcycles. We park the bikes and take a short walk through dense tropical vegetation toward Laguna Azul. The air is warm and heavy with moisture, dragonflies skim across the water, and the sound of the waterfall grows louder as we approach.

Then the forest opens onto a beautiful clear blue-green pool with a waterfall dropping into it from the surrounding jungle. It is the sort of place that makes you glad we didn't simply stay on the motorcycles and ride past. We'll have plenty of miles today, but this is worth getting the boots off for.

The water is cold enough to be refreshing but inviting enough that most riders don't need much encouragement. After riding through the increasingly warm tropical foothills, swimming beneath the waterfall clears away the heat and stiffness remarkably quickly.

There isn't much more required of us here. Boots and riding gear come off, helmets get set aside, and we spend some time swimming in clean mountain water surrounded by forest. Some people head straight for the waterfall while others are perfectly happy floating in the pool and looking around. Either way, it is one of those simple experiences that becomes a highlight of the trip.

Eventually we dry off, pull the riding gear back on, and continue deeper into the tropical lowlands.

Not far away, another small adventure is waiting. We cross a narrow suspension bridge over the river toward a small riverside retreat surrounded by rainforest. Crossing requires a little balance and concentration, and the bridge moves enough beneath your feet to make the walk interesting. It usually becomes one of those moments everyone is talking about once we're safely seated on the other side.

There we'll settle in near the river for a relaxed lunch accompanied by birds, rushing water, and the constant background sounds of the forest. After the swim at Laguna Azul and the walk across the bridge, there is no need to hurry. We'll eat, cool down, and enjoy the surroundings before heading back to the motorcycles for the ride toward the coast.

Back on the motorcycles, we continue west toward La Concordia. The landscape changes again as large stands of African oil palm begin appearing beside the road. La Concordia sits in one of Ecuador's important palm-growing regions, and the crop has had an enormous influence on the economy and appearance of the surrounding countryside.

The mountains are behind us now. Roads stretch across rolling tropical hills and agricultural country, and the riding begins to have a completely different character. Heat rises from the pavement, tropical fruit grows beside the road, and horses and cattle become increasingly common.

As we ride farther west, we enter the cultural world of Ecuador's Montubio people — the cowboys and farmers of the coastal countryside. Montubio culture developed over generations on the ranches and farms of Ecuador's coastal provinces, particularly here in Manabí and neighboring areas.

Horsemanship remains an important part of that identity. You'll see horses tied outside small stores, cattle grazing in pastures, riders working the countryside, and ranches scattered along the road. Rodeos, music, farming traditions, storytelling, and strong family and community ties are all part of Montubio culture.

Motorcycles give us an especially good way to experience this part of Ecuador. We're riding through working countryside rather than observing it through a tour-bus window. Small towns, roadside restaurants, farms, ranches, fruit stands, and people going about their day become part of the journey.

Eventually we reach Pedernales, a busy coastal town with an energy all its own. Pedernales has long had a rough-around-the-edges, frontier character — a commercial center for the farms, fishing communities, ranches, and shrimp operations spread across this part of the coast.

It is colorful, noisy, busy, and unmistakably coastal Ecuador. Markets spill into the streets, motorcycles and pickups move through town, seafood restaurants line the beachfront, and the Pacific suddenly appears at the end of the road.

And this is where we begin taking Ecuadorian seafood very seriously. Pedernales is surrounded by shrimp-producing areas and fishing communities, and we'll stop along the coast to eat seafood as close to its source as possible.

Fresh shrimp is one of the specialties here, and on Ecuador's coast it can go from the water to the kitchen remarkably quickly. After several days of highland food, coffee, cheese, and mountain cooking, sitting near the Pacific with a plate of fresh seafood marks another clear change in where we are.

From Pedernales, we turn south and begin following Ecuador's Pacific coast toward Canoa. This is a beautiful afternoon ride through a mixture of rugged coastline, green hills, fishing communities, shrimp farms, beaches, and long views over the ocean.

We pass through places such as Jama, where life remains closely connected to fishing, farming, and the sea. In places the road runs near the water; elsewhere it climbs into the coastal hills before dropping back toward another beach or river valley.

After spending the previous days among volcanoes, highland farms, cloudforest, and mountain rivers, riding with the Pacific beside us makes Ecuador's extraordinary geographic variety very tangible. We've crossed from the Andes to the ocean on motorcycles, and we've done it without leaving a country roughly the size of Colorado.

Our destination is Canoa, a relaxed fishing and surf town stretched along one of the longest beaches on Ecuador's central coast. Fishing boats share the sand with surfers, backpackers wander between small restaurants and beach bars, and paragliders often launch from the cliffs above town and drift over the Pacific.

Canoa has developed a following among travelers precisely because it has retained its easygoing character. You can walk the beach, watch the fishing boats, have a cold drink with your feet in the sand, or simply sit and watch the sun disappear into the Pacific.

We'll stay at Canoa Suites, right on the beach and just far enough from the center of town to give us some peace and quiet. Tropical gardens surround the property, the rooms are bright and comfortable, and the Pacific is right outside.

Once the motorcycles are parked, the rest of the evening belongs to the coast. Take a walk on the beach, go for a swim, watch the surfers, or settle in with something cold while the sun goes down. Dinner brings more of the seafood and coastal cooking this region does so well.

Tonight we'll fall asleep to the sound of the Pacific. Tomorrow morning, we'll wake beside it and get back on the motorcycles for another full day of riding.

Day 4
Rest Day in Canoa

After three days of riding from the high Andes through cloudforest and tropical lowlands to the Pacific, today we stay put. There is no alarm demanding an early start, no luggage to pack, and no reason to put on your riding gear unless you want to. Canoa is an excellent place to spend a day doing as much — or as little — as you please.

The town sits beside one of Ecuador's longest beaches, a broad sweep of sand stretching for nearly 17 kilometers along the Pacific. The water is warm, the beach seems to go on forever, and there is plenty of room to find your own patch of sand. Go for a swim, take a long walk along the shore, find some shade with a book, or settle into a hammock and watch the waves roll in.

Canoa is also one of Ecuador's better-known surfing destinations. Its consistent Pacific breaks attract everyone from experienced local surfers to travelers trying it for the first time. If you've ever wanted to take a surfing lesson, this is a good place to do it. And if surfing holds no appeal whatsoever, sitting on the beach with something cold and watching other people do all the work is also perfectly acceptable.

Despite its popularity with travelers, Canoa is still very much a fishing town. Small boats head out into the Pacific, fishermen bring their catch back to shore, and seafood ends up in the kitchens and restaurants around town. A fish that was in the Pacific in the morning may very well become someone's ceviche or grilled lunch a few hours later.

Over the years, Canoa has also attracted surfers, backpackers, Ecuadorians on beach holidays, and expats who came for a visit and decided they weren't quite ready to leave. The result is an easygoing mixture of people sharing the same little stretch of the Ecuadorian coast.

Walk through town and you'll find small restaurants, surf shops, beach bars, cafés, fruit stands, and plenty of places where nobody seems particularly concerned about how quickly anything gets done. After several full days on the motorcycles, Canoa gives us a chance to settle into that pace for a while.

If you want to explore beyond the beach, one possibility is an excursion to the Isla Corazón National Birdlife Sanctuary, where mangrove habitat supports an extraordinary concentration of coastal birdlife.

The island and surrounding estuary provide habitat for frigatebirds, herons, pelicans, ibis, and many other species. Exploring the mangroves gives you another perspective on Ecuador's biological diversity and a completely different environment from the high Andes and cloudforest we've already crossed.

There are other possibilities around Canoa as well, from surfing and local ecotours to yoga and cooking experiences. Your guide can help with suggestions depending on what interests you and what is available that day.

Or don't organize anything at all. This is a rest day, and nobody gets extra points for filling the schedule.

Lunch is a good excuse to explore Canoa's seafood restaurants. Fresh fish, shrimp, ceviche, patacones, rice, and other coastal specialties dominate the menus, and a long lunch beside the Pacific is entirely appropriate today.

Back at Canoa Suites, the beach is right outside. Swim in the Pacific, relax around the property, read, take a nap, or find a comfortable place with a cold drink and absolutely no plan for the next couple of hours.

Late afternoon is one of the best times to be on the beach. Fishing boats return, surfers are still chasing the last waves of the day, and paragliders may be drifting overhead from the cliffs as the sun begins dropping toward the horizon.

Then the Pacific puts on the evening show. Grab a frosty beer, find a spot facing west, and watch the sun disappear into the ocean. Tomorrow we're back on the motorcycles for another full day of riding, but tonight there is nowhere else we need to be.

Day 5
Canoa – Manta – Pile – Vinces – Hacienda La Danesa

Recharged from our rest day in Canoa, we head south through Manabí Province on one of the longer and most varied riding days of the tour. The landscape changes quickly as we enter Ecuador's coastal dry forest, where the remarkable ceibo trees rise above the hills.

With their enormous swollen trunks and thick branches reaching toward the sky, mature ceibos can look as though they've been planted upside down. They have long held spiritual importance in coastal cultures and produce a light, water-resistant cotton-like fiber that was once used to stuff pillows, mattresses, and even life preservers.

The road brings us into Manta, Ecuador's great fishing port and home to a powerful tuna fleet. The waters offshore are extraordinarily productive, and fishing has shaped the economy, food, and character of this city for generations.

We'll visit the working fish market to see what has come in from the Pacific and stop to watch local craftsmen building large wooden fishing boats by hand, using skills passed down through generations.

Manta is also an excellent place for fresh tuna and seafood. With one of Ecuador's most important fishing ports right in front of us, we won't miss the opportunity to eat well.

Farther south we stop in the small village of Pile, famous for producing some of the finest sombreros de paja toquilla in the world — the hats internationally known as Panama hats.

The hats are Ecuadorian. Their famous international name became associated with Panama because large numbers were exported there and worn by workers building the Panama Canal to protect themselves from the tropical sun. Theodore Roosevelt gave the hats enormous publicity when he was photographed wearing an Ecuadorian toquilla hat during his 1906 visit to the canal construction.

In Pile, we'll meet a master weaver and see the extraordinary amount of skill and patience involved. The finest hats are woven by hand from extremely fine strands of toquilla straw and can require months of work. Exceptional examples are valued as works of art and can sell for thousands of dollars.

Leaving the Pacific behind, we turn inland for a substantial afternoon of riding through Ecuador's coastal agricultural lowlands. Rice fields, cacao, bananas, plantains, cattle country, and tropical farms spread across a landscape crossed by rivers and irrigation channels.

This is a lesser-visited part of Ecuador and a good day to settle into the motorcycle and watch the country unfold. Small farming towns replace beach communities as we work our way east across the lowlands.

Eventually we reach Vinces, once known as Ecuador's "Little Paris." During the great cacao boom of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, wealthy families here developed strong ties with France, bringing European fashions, architecture, and tastes back to Ecuador. The town still celebrates that connection today, including with its own replica of the Eiffel Tower.

This region is also closely associated with Ecuador's famous Nacional cacao and the floral character traditionally known as Arriba. The story behind the name says that when traders asked where the particularly aromatic cacao was coming from, they were told arriba — upriver.

Cacao wealth helped shape towns like Vinces and played an important role in Ecuador's economic history, making this a fascinating region to ride through on our way deeper into the coastal interior.

Our day concludes with a mile-long driveway through stands of teak leading to Hacienda La Danesa, a beautiful working farm and country retreat surrounded by cacao, dairy cattle, tropical vegetation, and agricultural land.

After one of the longer riding days of the tour, La Danesa is exactly where we want to end up. The rooms are elegant and comfortable, the grounds are peaceful, and farm-to-table meals make excellent use of ingredients produced on the property and in the surrounding region.

If there is still energy left, the hacienda offers activities such as tubing on the river, bicycling, and exploring the farm. There is also nothing wrong with parking the motorcycle, taking a shower, finding something cold to drink, and enjoying a quiet evening in the countryside.

Day 6
Naranjito – Cajas National Park – Cuenca

This morning we leave Ecuador's tropical lowlands behind and point the motorcycles toward the Andes. We begin among the fertile farms around Naranjito, where pineapples, bananas, cacao, sugarcane, and other tropical crops thrive in the warm, humid climate.

Then we begin to climb. This is one of those Ecuadorian roads where the changes in elevation become part of the ride itself. The heat gradually eases, the vegetation changes around us, and mist begins drifting across the mountains. Before long we're riding through cloudforest, with the road twisting steadily upward through increasingly steep terrain.

It's a substantial climb from the tropical lowlands into the high Andes, with excellent mountain riding along the way. Curves follow curves as farms give way to forest and the temperature continues dropping. By the time we reach the upper elevations, the landscape we rode through this morning seems a very long way away.

Eventually the trees become smaller and more scattered and we emerge into the extraordinary landscape of Cajas National Park. Glacier-carved valleys, steep rocky ridges, wetlands, high-altitude grasslands, and hundreds of lakes spread across the mountains around us.

Cajas contains more than 200 lakes, many filling depressions carved by glaciers thousands of years ago. Water is everywhere up here, collecting in dark mountain lakes and wetlands before eventually feeding river systems flowing toward both the Pacific and the Amazon basin.

The park also protects an enormous variety of wildlife and high-altitude plants. Spectacled bears and pumas live in these mountains, although seeing either requires considerable luck. Birds are much easier to find, and the park's strange Polylepis trees — often called paper trees because of their thin, peeling bark — are specially adapted to survive cold, wind, intense sunlight, and thin air at elevations where few trees can grow.

We'll stop in Cajas for lunch and have fresh trout, a local specialty that fits particularly well with the cold mountain air. It's worth keeping a warm layer handy today. We began the morning among tropical crops and humidity; now we're eating trout surrounded by glacial lakes and high Andean páramo.

From Cajas, we begin descending toward Cuenca, considered by many to be Ecuador's most beautiful city. After a day spent climbing from the tropical lowlands into the high Andes, arriving among Cuenca's tiled roofs, church towers, plazas, and cobblestone streets is another dramatic change of scenery.

Cuenca is a UNESCO World Heritage City with layers of history stretching back long before the Spanish arrived. The Spanish founded the present city in 1557 on the site of Tomebamba, an important Inca city established decades earlier and described as having rivaled Cusco in its importance and grandeur.

Much of what makes Cuenca special is that the historic center remains a living part of the city. Old churches and monasteries stand beside cafés, restaurants, shops, markets, homes, and workshops. Four rivers run through the city, and the combination of water, historic architecture, plazas, trees, and mountain air gives Cuenca a character quite different from Quito.

Tonight we check into the elegant Hotel Victoria, right in the heart of Cuenca's historic center. Once the motorcycles are parked, nearly everything we want to see is within easy walking distance.

We'll head out on foot to explore some of the city. Parque Calderón forms the heart of the historic center, surrounded by arcades, cafés, historic buildings, and two very different cathedrals. The Catedral Vieja dates to the earliest years of Spanish Cuenca, while the enormous Catedral Nueva is instantly recognizable by its great blue-and-white tiled domes.

Nearby, the city's famous flower market adds another burst of color to the old center. Ecuador's equatorial climate makes it one of the world's great flower-growing countries, and the market is a small, everyday expression of an industry we'll get a much closer look at later in the tour.

Cuenca is also one of Ecuador's important centers for artisanal craftsmanship. Ceramics, textiles, metalwork, jewelry, and other traditional crafts are still produced in workshops around the city and surrounding valleys. We'll see much more of that culture as the tour continues.

For tonight, the motorcycles stay parked. Cuenca has one of Ecuador's best restaurant scenes, with everything from traditional Ecuadorian cooking to excellent contemporary and international restaurants. We'll choose a good place for dinner and enjoy the city on foot after another full day of riding.

Day 7
Cuenca – Saraguro – Loja – Vilcabamba

Today we leave Cuenca and ride deeper into Ecuador's southern Andes. This is a beautiful day on the motorcycles, with long stretches of mountain road carrying us through increasingly remote country as we make our way south toward Vilcabamba.

The road climbs steadily toward Tinajilla Pass, reaching more than 11,300 feet. Up here the landscape opens into high-altitude pampa, with broad views across the mountains and llamas sometimes grazing beside the road. The air is cool and thin, the horizons are enormous, and the road rolls through a part of Ecuador that sees relatively few international travelers.

Our next stop is the Indigenous town of Saraguro, home of one of Ecuador's most distinctive Indigenous cultures. The Saraguro trace their ancestry to people brought north from what is now Bolivia by the Incas, who relocated communities throughout their empire and established populations along the Royal Road.

The Saraguro have maintained a particularly strong cultural identity. Traditional clothing is still part of everyday life: black garments contrasted with white, broad-brimmed hats, and elaborate handmade jewelry. Saraguro women are especially recognizable for their intricate beaded necklaces, sometimes built from hundreds of tiny beads arranged into broad, brilliantly colored patterns.

We'll spend some time in town and visit the market, where people from the surrounding farming communities come to sell produce, textiles, jewelry, and other goods. Saraguro gives us a chance to see a living Indigenous culture that has preserved its identity for centuries while continuing to adapt to modern Ecuador.

From Saraguro we continue south through the mountains toward Loja, one of Ecuador's oldest cities and the cultural center of the southern Andes.

Loja has a long association with music, literature, education, and the arts. Universities bring students from across southern Ecuador, musicians are part of the city's everyday life, and its plazas and cafés give Loja a character quite different from the smaller agricultural communities we've been riding through.

We'll pass through the city and see its distinctive Puerta de la Ciudad before continuing south. Once beyond Loja, the road returns to the mountains and begins carrying us toward a greener, warmer valley tucked between the ridges ahead.

Our destination is Vilcabamba, the famous Valley of Longevity. The town became internationally known in the 1970s after reports of an unusually large number of residents living beyond 100 attracted researchers, journalists, and eventually National Geographic.

The longevity claims have been debated ever since, but Vilcabamba's reputation stuck. The valley has a mild climate, clean mountain air, abundant fresh produce, and a relaxed pace of life that has attracted people from around the world.

Vilcabamba also has a much older history. The valley was known to the Incas and has long been regarded as a place of retreat. Today the small town has an unusual mixture of local farming families, Ecuadorians from other parts of the country, travelers, adventurers, and international residents who came for the climate and decided to stay.

The center is compact and easy to explore on foot, with cafés, small restaurants, shops, and people lingering around the plaza. After spending most of the day crossing the southern Andes, it's an enjoyable place to put the motorcycles away and settle in for the evening.

Tonight we stay at the award-winning Descanso del Toro Lodge, a well-managed hotel and spa with spacious rooms, a spectacular pool, and an excellent on-site restaurant and brewpub.

After a day of mountain riding, this is a good place to unwind. There are massages and spa treatments for anyone who wants them, the pool is waiting, and we're still close enough to the center of Vilcabamba to wander into town. We'll have dinner, relax, and enjoy the warmer valley air before another day on the motorcycles tomorrow.

Day 8
Vilcabamba – Loja – Zaruma – San Bartolomé – Chordeleg – Gualaceo

Leaving the tranquility of Vilcabamba, we head north through Loja and back into the mountains. Soon the road begins climbing through the spectacular landscapes of Podocarpus National Park, where cloudforest, high grasslands, and subtropical valleys crowd together across a relatively small area.

This is one of the great riding sections of southern Ecuador: continuous curves, changing elevations, deep green mountains, and mist hanging over the road. The park is also extraordinarily biodiverse, with spectacled bears, jaguars, rare amphibians, orchids, and thousands of plant species found within its boundaries.

The road descends toward Zamora, known as the "City of Birds and Waterfalls." Here we briefly reach the edge of the Amazon basin, where the air becomes warmer, vegetation thickens, and rivers and waterfalls appear throughout the landscape.

The riding through this section is especially rewarding, with broad sweepers through lush foothills before we begin climbing back toward the Andes. In the space of a few hours, we experience another of Ecuador's dramatic transitions from cool mountains to subtropical forest and back again.

We continue through Sígsig and on to San Bartolomé, a town famous for its family-run guitar workshops. Generations of luthiers here have built instruments by hand, choosing woods for tone, shaping necks and bodies, and refining each guitar through hours of careful work.

We'll visit one of the workshops and see the process up close. The smell of cut wood and varnish fills the room while guitars in different stages of construction line the benches and walls. San Bartolomé's reputation has spread far beyond Ecuador, and musicians from around the world have sought out instruments made here.

From San Bartolomé we continue to Chordeleg, one of Ecuador's great jewelry towns. The streets are lined with workshops and small stores displaying intricate gold and silver filigree, a tradition with deep roots in Cañari metalworking and later Spanish influences.

The most recognizable pieces are the elaborate earrings known as candongas, along with necklaces, rings, and brooches formed from extremely fine strands of metal. Even the street lamps reflect the town's identity, decorated with oversized filigree designs.

If jewelry is your thing, Chordeleg has a way of turning a quick stop into a much longer one.

Our final stretch takes us toward Gualaceo, another important artisan and agricultural center in this part of the Andes. The area is known for leatherwork, footwear, markets, and traditional textiles, including the colorful macanas woven using ikat techniques in nearby communities such as Bulcay.

The valley is also famous for its orchards, especially peaches, and has a softer, greener character than the higher mountain country we crossed earlier in the day.

Tonight we stay at Uzhupud Garden, a peaceful hacienda-style hotel surrounded by beautiful gardens. After a full day of mountain roads, rainforest, artisan towns, and changing elevations, it's a comfortable place to settle in for dinner and a quiet evening.

Day 9
Gualaceo – Ingapirca – Alausí – Chimborazo Volcano – Baños

Today is one of the longest and most spectacular riding days of the tour. After an early breakfast, we head north through Ecuador's southern Andes, climbing through pine and eucalyptus forests toward high passes above 11,000 feet. The air cools, the trees thin, and broad páramo landscapes open around us.

This is a day for riders who enjoy time in the saddle. The roads are excellent, the scenery changes constantly, and some of the most important historic and natural sites in Ecuador are spread along the route ahead.

Our first major stop is Ingapirca, Ecuador's most important Inca archaeological complex. Built in the late 1400s on a site already important to the Cañari people, Ingapirca gives us a close look at two cultures that occupied these highlands before the Spanish arrived.

The centerpiece is the elliptical Temple of the Sun, built from carefully cut stone and aligned with the movement of the sun. We'll walk through the complex with a guide who explains the differences between Cañari and Inca construction, the site's ceremonial importance, and its connection to the great Inca road system that once linked Quito with Cusco.

From Ingapirca we continue north through the mountains toward Alausí, a colorful Andean town built along steep hillsides. For generations it was best known as the departure point for the famous Devil's Nose railway, one of Ecuador's great engineering achievements.

Alausí remains an important market town for the surrounding highland communities. Indigenous families come in from farms and villages across the region, and traditional clothing is still part of everyday life. We'll stop for lunch and enjoy the hearty soups, trout, and other highland dishes that suit the cool mountain climate particularly well.

Continuing north, we pass Laguna de Colta, where totora reeds grow in the shallow water and are harvested for baskets, mats, and other traditional handicrafts. Roadside stalls and small restaurants here also offer one of Ecuador's best-known traditional foods: roasted guinea pig, or cuy, for anyone curious enough to try it.

Nearby stands Balbanera Church, built in 1534 and the oldest Catholic church in Ecuador. Its small stone façade has stood through nearly five centuries of Ecuadorian history, making it a worthwhile stop before we turn toward the day's highest elevations.

From Colta, the road begins climbing toward Chimborazo Volcano, Ecuador's highest mountain at 20,548 feet. The mountain grows steadily larger ahead of us until its enormous glaciated summit dominates the horizon.

Because the Earth bulges outward around the Equator, Chimborazo's summit is the point on the Earth's surface farthest from the planet's center — farther from the core than the summit of Mount Everest.

We ride through the Chimborazo National Wildlife Refuge, where herds of wild vicuñas graze across the high páramo. These graceful relatives of llamas and alpacas were once nearly eliminated from Ecuador but now thrive here under protection.

Our route takes us above 14,500 feet, into a stark landscape of volcanic soil, high-altitude grasses, glaciers, and enormous sky. Weather can change quickly at these elevations: bright sunshine can give way to freezing rain, hail, or even snow. Keep your warm and waterproof layers where you can reach them.

Then we begin a long descent from the high Andes. The temperature rises, farms and trees reappear, and the road carries us through the outskirts of Ambato before dropping toward the deep green valley surrounding Baños de Agua Santa.

Baños sits at roughly 5,000 feet beneath Volcán Tungurahua and is one of Ecuador's favorite mountain resort towns. Waterfalls pour from the surrounding cliffs, thermal springs bubble up beneath the town, and restaurants, cafés, adventure outfitters, and small shops fill the compact center.

After spending much of the afternoon above 14,000 feet, arriving in the warmer air of Baños is quite a change. The town's famous hot mineral baths are especially appealing after one of the longest riding days of the tour.

Tonight we stay at the welcoming Posada del Arte Hotel, one of our favorite small hotels in Ecuador. It's filled with Ecuadorian art and personality, and its location puts us within easy walking distance of the thermal baths, restaurants, cafés, and center of town.

Once the motorcycles are parked, the evening is easy. Take a soak in the hot springs, walk through town, find a good dinner, and enjoy the contrast between where the day began and where it ends. We've ridden from the southern Andes through Inca history, highland towns, Chimborazo's extreme elevations, and finally into the green valley of Baños.

Day 10
“Rest” Day in Baños

We call this a rest day, but Baños gives you plenty of reasons not to rest at all. Sitting in a deep green valley beneath Tungurahua Volcano, the town has become Ecuador's adventure capital, with waterfalls pouring down the surrounding mountains and the Amazon Basin beginning just beyond the eastern edge of the Andes.

Today is yours. Sleep late, soak in the hot springs, wander around town, or fill the day with as much activity as you want. Baños has experienced local outfitters offering rafting, kayaking, canyoning, mountain biking, hiking, and other adventures, making it an easy place to try something you've never done before.

One of the best-known excursions is Casa del Árbol, home of the famous Swing at the End of the World. Perched high above Baños, the simple swing arcs out over the mountainside with tremendous views across the valley and toward Tungurahua when the clouds cooperate.

For something considerably wetter, Baños is surrounded by rivers and waterfalls. Whitewater rafting and kayaking take advantage of the rivers dropping toward the Amazon, while canyoning involves rappelling and working your way directly through a series of waterfalls. It's wet, physical, and a lot of fun.

You can also explore the famous Ruta de las Cascadas, the road that leaves Baños toward the Amazon and passes waterfall after waterfall as it descends through the gorge. Whether you explore it by bicycle, vehicle, or on foot at selected stops, it gives you a close look at the extraordinary geography surrounding the town.

If your idea of a rest day actually involves resting, Baños is equally good at that. The town takes its name from its natural thermal baths, fed by hot volcanic water emerging beneath Tungurahua. A long soak is particularly welcome after nine days of riding around Ecuador.

The compact town center is easy to explore on foot, with cafés, restaurants, artisan shops, small bars, bakeries, and plenty of places to sit and watch Baños go by. Massages and spa treatments are readily available, or you can simply have a leisurely lunch and enjoy having nowhere you need to ride today.

Baños also has an important spiritual side. The Basilica of the Virgin of the Holy Water is one of Ecuador's pilgrimage churches, dedicated to the Virgen de Agua Santa, whom many local people believe has protected the town through volcanic eruptions and other disasters.

Inside, paintings depict stories of accidents, eruptions, and miraculous escapes attributed to the Virgin's intervention. The church offers an interesting glimpse into the deep Catholic traditions that remain part of everyday life in Ecuador and into the relationship people here have developed with the powerful volcano towering above their town.

However you spend the day, we'll meet up again this evening in Baños. After nine days covering a remarkable amount of Ecuador by motorcycle, having an entire day with no departure time and no destination feels pretty good.

Day 11
Baños – Puyo – Hola Vida – Indichuris – Puerto Misahuallí

After breakfast at Posada del Arte — and perhaps one last soak in Baños' volcanic hot springs — we point the motorcycles east and begin descending toward the Amazon Basin on the famous Route of the Waterfalls.

This is one of Ecuador's great motorcycle roads. The Pastaza River cuts through a deep gorge beside us while waterfalls pour from the steep mountainsides above. The road twists continuously downhill, sometimes passing directly beneath cascades spilling onto the pavement. With every mile the air grows warmer, the vegetation thickens, and the Andes begin giving way to the Amazon.

There are opportunities for a little extra adrenaline along the way. Riders who want to can zip-line across the Pastaza River Gorge or try one of the area's swing jumps over the canyon. Those who prefer to keep their boots on solid ground can enjoy the spectacle from the roadside.

At Río Verde, we stop for one of the most impressive waterfalls in Ecuador: Pailón del Diablo, the "Cauldron of the Devil."

A short walk takes us into the gorge, where an enormous volume of water crashes roughly 250 feet through a narrow opening in the rock. The closer you get, the louder it becomes until conversation is almost impossible and spray hangs constantly in the air.

Walkways and suspension bridges give us several different views of the falls. It is wet, loud, dramatic, and absolutely worth getting off the motorcycle for.

Back on the bikes, we continue descending toward Puyo. By now there is no question that we've entered Amazonía. Broad-leafed tropical plants crowd the roadside, the humidity rises, and the mountains behind us begin disappearing into dense green forest.

From Puyo, we detour south and leave the motorcycles for a short jungle walk to Hola Vida. The trail passes through warm, humid rainforest before reaching a beautiful waterfall dropping roughly 100 feet into a natural pool.

The water here is considerably warmer than the mountain pools we've encountered at higher elevations, and swimming beneath the falls is an excellent way to cool down after riding through the tropical heat. We'll have time to enjoy the waterfall and surrounding forest rather than simply stopping for a photograph and moving on.

Nearby, we visit the Indichuris lookout, perched high above the Amazon Basin. From here the view opens across an immense expanse of rainforest, rivers, and distant hills stretching eastward toward the interior of South America.

It's one of those viewpoints that gives some perspective to the scale of the Amazon. We are still near its western edge, yet the green horizon seems almost endless.

The afternoon gives us another excellent stretch of riding as we turn north on paved roads through rolling tropical hills. The high Andes remain visible off to our left when the weather cooperates, while the landscape around us is thoroughly Amazonian.

Eventually we turn onto a smaller road and begin following the southern bank of the Napo River, one of the great tributaries of the Amazon. Small farms, jungle vegetation, rivers, and villages line the route as we ride deeper into the rainforest toward Puerto Misahuallí.

By evening we reach Puerto Misahuallí, a small Amazon river town that has long served as a jumping-off point for travel deeper into the rainforest.

Tonight we stay at El Jardín Misahuallí Lodge, where private cabins are surrounded by tropical vegetation. Wide verandas give us space to relax, and some cabins have their own plunge pools or jacuzzis — a welcome luxury after a full day in the heat.

The lodge also gives us a closer connection with the culture of the surrounding Amazon. Local Kichwa families share food, music, crafts, and traditions, and we'll encounter ingredients and customs that are very different from those of the Andes and Pacific coast we've already crossed.

Dinner blends Ecuadorian and Amazonian flavors, and once darkness settles over the forest the soundtrack changes completely. Frogs, insects, birds, and other jungle sounds surround the cabins as we settle in for our final night on the road before the ride back toward Quito.

Day 12
Puerto Misahuallí – Paccari Chocolate Experience – Baeza – Quito

Our final day begins with one last Amazon adventure. After breakfast we'll meet our longtime friend Marco, a native Kichwa guide who has introduced our guests to the Ecuadorian Amazon for many years. Rubber boots on, life jackets buckled, we board a long motorized canoe and head upriver into the rainforest.

Marco has an uncanny ability to make the jungle understandable. What first looks like an endless wall of green quickly becomes a living community where every vine, palm, insect, and towering tree has a purpose. Plants become medicines, baskets, fishing tools, food, and shelter. Animals you would normally walk straight past suddenly become impossible to miss. By the time we return, the Amazon feels much less like an impenetrable rainforest and much more like someone's backyard.

Back in Puerto Misahuallí, one of the westernmost navigable ports in the Amazon Basin, the resident monkeys patrol the malecón with complete confidence, helping themselves to unattended snacks whenever visitors underestimate just how organized they really are. They're fantastic for photographs, but sunglasses, wallets, and sandwiches should stay close.

Before we begin the long climb back into the Andes, we have one of the most memorable food experiences of the tour: the Paccari Chocolate Experience.

Ecuador is one of the great cacao-growing countries of the world, and here in the Amazon we get to see where that story actually begins. We visit a local Indigenous community where cacao is part of everyday agricultural life and learn how the pods are grown and harvested and how the beans are fermented and dried before becoming chocolate.

Then we get involved ourselves. We'll roast cacao beans, work through the traditional preparation process, and discover just how far a raw cacao bean has to travel before it becomes something we'd recognize as chocolate.

Paccari has built an international reputation for Ecuadorian chocolate while working directly with local cacao producers. Experiencing cacao here, surrounded by the climate and communities where it grows, gives an entirely different appreciation for the finished chocolate.

We'll also share a traditional lunch prepared with local Amazonian ingredients. After nearly two weeks of eating our way around Ecuador, it's fitting that one of our final meals on the road connects the food directly to the people who grow it.

The road now turns west through the lush forests of Sumaco National Park. Before leaving the Amazon behind, we'll stop at a mushroom farm we never seem to drive past without pulling into. Oyster mushrooms and shiitake grow in carefully controlled rooms, while the little shop sells Amazonian teas, medicinal herbs, spices, chocolates, and other products from the surrounding rainforest.

It's a fascinating little stop and one more look at the extraordinary variety of things grown and produced in this part of Ecuador before the road begins climbing toward the Andes.

By the time we reach Baeza, it's time for one last essential stop at our friend Gina's.

Gina seems to know absolutely everyone. She served as Governor of Napo Province, and spending ten minutes in her café is enough to convince you that half the people walking through the door are old friends. The other half soon will be.

We always stop here because in the next hour we'll climb more than 8,000 feet (2,450 m) back into the Andes. Strong coffee is mandatory. So is Gina's famous chocolate cake — thick, rich, unapologetically chocolatey, and made with locally grown Amazonian cacao. Somehow the combination of caffeine and chocolate arrives in your bloodstream at exactly the right moment, just as the oxygen begins quietly negotiating for a little more attention.

Gina's café is also a gathering place for hardcore whitewater kayakers who travel from around the world to paddle the legendary rivers nearby. We always seem to end up talking with them because they're our kind of people. They wear helmets, disappear into remote places, spend unreasonable amounts of money on specialized equipment, and constantly hear that their hobby is going to get them killed. Adventure motorcyclists recognize their own immediately.

Leaving Baeza, the road begins one final climb into the Andes. Waterfalls tumble beside the highway, the air cools with every switchback, and within an hour we rise from the Amazon foothills to more than 13,300 feet / 4,050 meters. The thick green forest gradually gives way to open páramo as the road crosses the Continental Divide.

It's an extraordinary final ride. In a remarkably short distance we climb from the warm, humid Amazon through cloudforest and into the cold, open high Andes. The vegetation changes almost by the minute, waterfalls appear along the mountainsides, and the curves keep coming as we gain thousands of feet of elevation.

From the high pass, the highway descends toward Quito through mountain valleys, high lakes, and sweeping bends. The temperature begins to rise again, traffic gradually returns, and the capital appears ahead as the final miles bring us back to where the journey began.

The final approach to Quito always feels a little different.

Twelve days ago, the motorcycles were unfamiliar, Ecuador's roads were unknown, and many of the faces around the breakfast table belonged to strangers. Since then, we've ridden from the high Andes to the Pacific coast, crossed the southern mountains, climbed beneath Chimborazo, descended into the Amazon, and watched Ecuador change around us mile after mile.

Somewhere along the way, the motorcycles became second nature, the roads began to make sense, and strangers became riding partners.

We roll back into Ecuador Freedom's La Carolina headquarters with dusty motorcycles, memory cards full of photographs, and a much better understanding of why we love sharing Ecuador with people who appreciate real adventure.

Our job has never really been renting motorcycles. It is introducing people to friends, places, and experiences they probably never would have found on their own.

We hope you'll come back. There are still plenty of roads we haven't shown you yet.

This guided twelve-day motorcycle adventure begins at Ecuador Freedom’s La Carolina headquarters in Quito, in one of the city’s safest, most convenient, and vibrant neighborhoods. We recommend arriving a day or two early to settle in, enjoy Quito, and complete the necessary paperwork so your first riding day starts smoothly and stress-free. You can learn more about our headquarters, facilities, and location on our Our Shop page.

On departure morning, your guide will lead a detailed orientation covering Ecuadorian road etiquette, traffic norms, hand signals, and group riding protocols. Your motorcycle of choice will be equipped with a waterproof luggage system, and a tank bag is available if you’d like one. For groups of five or more riders, a support truck accompanies the tour, carrying luggage, bottled water, and providing roadside support when needed. For smaller groups, ample saddlebag or luggage systems are provided on each motorcycle to comfortably carry your personal items.

The route has been carefully refined over years of riding, research, and scouting throughout Ecuador. Your guide knows it intimately and has selected roads for their outstanding riding, scenery, minimal traffic, and access to places and communities most visitors never encounter. The riding is almost entirely on paved surfaces, with only short stretches of unpaved roads and occasional construction zones. Some days involve substantial time in the saddle because this tour is designed for riders who want to cover a lot of Ecuador and enjoy the roads along the way. We still make plenty of well-timed stops to meet locals, discover interesting places, enjoy good food, and learn about Ecuador’s history, traditions, landscapes, and people.

The day-by-day itinerary presented on this page is a general outline of the journey. One of the advantages of traveling with an experienced local guide is the ability to make adjustments along the way. Routes, stops, and timing may be adapted according to riding abilities, group dynamics and interests, weather, road conditions, and other circumstances. The goal is to give each group the best possible experience rather than rigidly following a schedule when a better option presents itself.

Throughout the journey, our Ride for a Purpose program gives us opportunities to support the communities we travel through. We encourage riders to bring useful items that can be distributed personally along the route, allowing our motorcycle tours to contribute something to the places and people that make these adventures possible.

When you return to Quito at the end of the journey, you’ll have access to our Freedom After-Ride Lounge with hot showers, jacuzzi, gym, library, honor bar, and staff who can assist with transfers or onward travel. It’s especially convenient for riders whose flights depart later that evening.

Weather and Temperatures

Ecuador’s weather is remarkably consistent year-round. In the highlands, expect occasional passing showers, but full days of rain are rare. On the western Andean slopes, March through early May can bring heavier rains. This journey spans an extraordinary range of elevations and climates, from sea level on the Pacific coast, where temperatures can reach around 90°F / 32°C, to high mountain passes above 14,500 feet, where temperatures can fall into the 30s°F / around -1°C. Dressing in layers is essential because temperatures can change dramatically during a single riding day. For more detailed guidance, see our weather guide for Ecuador.

Accommodations

Each night, you’ll stay in carefully chosen hotels, inns, haciendas, and lodges selected for their comfort, character, location, and connection to the places we visit. These are mid- to high-end accommodations and include historic haciendas, distinctive small hotels, and boutique eco-lodges that become part of the experience rather than simply places to sleep. Single occupancy is included as standard at no extra charge, giving you your own private room each night. In rare cases, Ecuador Freedom may substitute accommodations of equal quality when necessary due to availability and will notify you of any changes.

Packing and Preparation

Ahead of your trip, Ecuador Freedom will provide detailed preparation information and a packing list for the wide range of elevations and climates encountered on this tour. We recommend reviewing our motorcycle tour packing guide before you travel.

No knowledge of Spanish is required. Your multilingual guide handles communication along the way while helping you understand the people, customs, food, history, and traditions you encounter throughout Ecuador.

• Adventure-ready motorcycle – unlimited mileage and fully prepared for the tour with panniers, crash protection, Motoz tires, and premium accessories
• Expert local guide – an experienced, multilingual Ecuador resident with deep knowledge of the roads, culture, history, and places we visit
• Guaranteed departure – your tour operates even if you are the only rider booked
• Dedicated support vehicle – provided for groups of 5+ motorcycles to carry luggage, bottled water, and provide assistance when needed
• Private accommodations – your own single-occupancy room or cabin every night at no additional charge
• Meals on riding days – full breakfasts, lunches, and dinners throughout the riding itinerary
• Fuel and tolls – every tank of gasoline and all road tolls on riding days are included
• Admissions, tours, and activities listed in the itinerary – including the Amazon canoe excursion with our native Kichwa guide, Paccari chocolate experience, Ingapirca guided visit, zip lines and adventure activities included in the itinerary, cultural visits, parks, museums, and other scheduled experiences
• Ride for a Purpose participation – opportunities along the route to support rural schools and communities with useful supplies and other donations
• Freedom on rest days – keep your motorcycle and use it to explore if you choose while the group takes a break from the scheduled riding itinerary
• Exclusive rider perk – 20% pre-tour discount on premium riding gear from our partner Klim
• Freedom keepsakes – Ecuador Freedom T-shirt and tour decal
• Freedom After-Ride Lounge access – hot showers, jacuzzi, gym, library, honor bar, and a comfortable place to relax at the end of the journey
• Secure storage – luggage storage and personal locker use at our Quito headquarters while you are on the road

No surprise tour charges: on riding days, your motorcycle, accommodations, meals, fuel, tolls, scheduled admissions, cultural visits, and activities described in the itinerary are included. On rest days, you choose how you want to spend your time, so meals and any optional activities you select are at your own expense.

• Airfare – flights to and from Quito (UIO)
• Airport transfers – taxis or shuttles between the airport and your hotel
• Travel insurance – including trip cancellation, medical, and emergency evacuation coverage; strongly recommended
• Meals on rest days – lunch and dinner on the rest days in Canoa and Baños
• Activities you choose on rest days – including spa treatments, surfing lessons, rafting, canyoning, additional tours, or other optional experiences not included in the scheduled itinerary
• Alcoholic beverages
• Personal purchases – souvenirs, snacks, laundry, items from the honor bar, and other personal expenses
• Gratuities for your Ecuador Freedom guides, hotel staff, excursion guides, drivers, and others who help make the trip run smoothly
• Refundable motorcycle security deposit – a credit-card hold to cover any damage to the rental motorcycle

Good to know: Ecuadorian tour packages for qualifying non-resident international travelers are not subject to Ecuadorian VAT, so there is no additional Ecuadorian tour tax added to the advertised package price.

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