Backroads of Ecuador Self-Guided Tour

You'll begin your 10-day "Backroads of Ecuador" self-guided tour from our shop in Quito, Ecuador. In 1978, Quito became the first place on the planet to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for having the best-preserved historic center in all of Latin America. Quito is high on the Altiplano Plateau (the highest capital city in the world) in the Andes at 9,350 feet.  We suggest that you arrive a day or two early to experience our magnificent capital city while getting acclimated to a high altitude before beginning the tour.  Our shop is located in the most luxurious and modern part of the city, so we suggest you get a hotel near our shop and take advantage of all that this city has to offer. 

During the first morning of the tour, you’ll be outfitted with the motorcycle of your choice and given a thorough orientation answering all questions concerning local customs, rules of the road, riding signals, Ecuadorian driver courtesies, and more.  We'll review the route with you in detail, providing you with your pre-programmed GPS navigation unit along with a "Road Book" containing daily maps, including descriptions of local highlights, history, gas stations, suggested lunch stops, and other "hidden gems" that aren’t common knowledge. You can use this information to tailor your days, including as much or as little as you like.  We'll show you how to call us using the pre-paid cell phone and what to do if you have any problems along the way.  You'll head out on the bike, taking the tunnel, which is just a few blocks from our office, that takes you to the highway out of the city with very little traffic.

Inti-ñan means “path of the Sun” in the Quechua language, and the Inti-ñan Museum is situated directly on the Equator. The indigenous peoples have revered this site for thousands of years, and you will learn how ancient people came to understand that this was the center of the world centuries before the advent of modern geography or GPS devices. During your first stop directly on the Equator “red line,” you will experiment with gravity, including witnessing how water drains either clockwise or counter-clockwise, depending on which side of the Equator you are standing. You will also have the opportunity to see how Ecuador's indigenous populations live by visiting their homes' models. This will enable you to understand better the cultures and ways of life that you will experience as we pass through the various regions.

Departing the Inti-ñan Museum, you are now officially outside of the Quito metropolitan region and have begun riding in the Northern Hemisphere. The second suggested stop is to view the beautiful Pululahua Crater Geo-Botanical Reserve, a crater formed by a volcanic eruption 2,500 years ago. From there, head onto the Andes' western slopes full of dense, green forests and steep mountains. The roads have been recently paved, and riding these sharp curves is certain to be exhilarating fun.  

You can have lunch in the garden of a fantastic restaurant in the heart of the cloud forest.   You'll watch in amazement as hundreds of colorful birds surround us as you enjoy the local cuisine.

From here, you'll continue descending the western slopes of the Andes, passing several dairy and fruit farms and small welcoming villages.  The air will be a bit thicker and warmer as you descend to the lowlands. 

Check into a unique hotel and spa - built right into a waterfall.   The Kashama Resort was designed based on the layout of the cliffside town of Manarola, Italy.  It resembles an artist’s palette; vibrant buildings jostle each other for space.  The first thing you'll probably want to do is jump in for a swim in its inviting, private waterfall.  You'll be dining here with its first-class service. Dinner is included.

Enjoy breakfast alongside the waterfall and then head towards the coast, passing through landscapes of rounded, green hills peppered with horseback farmers and small friendly villages. The fertile agricultural lands produce passion fruit, cassava, melons, and other exotic fruits. Wild orchids line the side of the road, providing you with delightful aromas.

Stop in the small city of Pedernales - the center of Ecuador's shrimp trade.  Here it's your first look at Ecuador's magnificent Pacific Coast and a chance to enjoy shrimp ceviche made of the freshest, sweetest shrimp you will ever have.  Pedernales is the center of Ecuador's shrimp trade - one of its major exports - and there is no better place in the world to enjoy them!

South along the Pacific Coast, you will be passing over the Equatorial line once again and into the southern hemisphere.  Wave to the local fishermen in the villages.  Ride up on high cliffs with breathtaking vistas of the ocean below. 

You will ride through the fishing/surfing village of Canoa and continue along the coast and across the bridge at the Bahia de Caraquez.  Here - if the tide is right - you can drop onto the beach and continue for about 18 miles riding right on the beach along the cliffs.  

There are not many places left in the world where you can ride so far, right on the beach, so we hope this will be a memorable experience!  If you prefer to stay on the main road - that's entirely up to you, and you'll be rewarded with a changing climate and topography of deserts and cattle farms.

You'll end the day's ride at the luxurious and beautiful Palmazul Hotel & Spa and explore the friendly beach town that is popular with retired ex-pats and locals alike.

0 km | 0 miles | ? hours riding time

Break Day! Relaxation and sunshine! 

You can take the bike out and explore the beautiful backcountry of Manabi Province.   Or, take a boat expedition to explore the famous bird-watching mecca of El Corazon Island.  Corazon Island is a haven of mangroves, located between Bahia de Caraquez and San Vicente in the Chone River estuary in Manabi. Inside, there is a path through the mangroves where native guides interpret the mangrove's life and rich biodiversity. It is a community ecotourism project that seeks to educate and preserve mangrove resources through its inhabitants and visitors' education.

San Clemente offers many activities, including fishing, surf lessons, snorkeling, and swimming.

Or, you can pull up a chair at some of the great hang-outs, beachside bars, and restaurants and enjoy a relaxing day away from the bike.

294 km | 183 miles | 8 hours riding time

Enjoy a last swim on the beautiful beach in San Clemente and enjoy a filling breakfast (we recommend the shrimp omelet).  

Then you will head away from the coast and into the lowlands farmlands and forests. This part of the country is full of fishing birds of all types and a natural wood kept intact by the locals, where hundreds of South American squirrels live in the wild. You will hear - and may be lucky - to glimpse the famous howling monkey.  

The population in this area of Ecuador make their living from agriculture, mostly rice and cattle.

Here you will see many of the majestic Ceibo Trees.  These trees were fabled by the ancient people to be the Earth's ties to the spiritual world.  Since the only place they grow in the world is along the equatorial belt, their bare branches were thought to be roots that kept the world attached to heaven. They flower only once every five years and can store thousands of liters of water in their massive trunks.

You will pass through the friendly town of Santa Ana and the tranquil countryside of Los Rios and Guayas Provinces.  Here you will see the landscapes change as you enter the flood plains.  The farming changes here, and you will see plantations of bananas, teak, and chocolate - crops that require abundant water and sunlight.

Stop for a refreshment in the town of Vinces.  French chocolatiers settled Vinces in the 19th century and still retains its French architectural heritage.  

The region is famous for producing the world's best chocolate, known as "Arriba" chocolate. When the first European chocolate makers came here, they noticed the locals were carrying some of the best smelling and delicious chocolate in their canoes.  When asked where the chocolate came from, the locals replied, "Arriba," which meant up-river, where you find Vinces today.  

You are in for a treat tonight.  Before heading into the Andes, you will spend the night at the Hacienda La Danesa.  This award-winning Hacienda offers discrete luxury, a subtle traditional aesthetic, privacy, and graciousness. Hacienda La Danesa models hospitality with enduring land and family expressions that foster and sustain the Olsen-Peet family charming 6-bedroom farmhouse.  It is a working dairy and cacao farm.  You will have a chance to milk the cows and turn cacao into tasty chocolate. A three-course dinner and full farm breakfast are included here.

235 km | 146 miles | 5 hours riding time

After a great farm breakfast (you may be asked to milk the cows yourself), you'll head back towards the Andes this morning, passing through pineapple and banana farms.

You'll climb, passing through layers of clouds into the Cajas National Park, one of Ecuador's most beautiful wilderness areas.   It is a primeval landscape of steep hills and glacier-scoured valleys studded with over 200 glacier lakes.

The park is home to wildcats such as the puma and spectacled bear and teeming with rabbits, guinea pigs, and wild alpaca.   Stop here for lunch to enjoy some of the world's best trout fished from the glacier lakes and enjoy the landscape.

Then you'll arrive in Ecuador's most beautiful city - a UNESCO World Heritage City - the city of Cuenca.  It features narrow, cobblestone streets, harmonious houses with balconies and flowery interior courtyards, and lots of churches and monasteries built of precious stone.  The Spanish founded it in 1557 on the site of Tomebamba - a city established by the Inca in 1470, which was said to have rivaled Cusco in Peru with its pomp and majesty.

You'll check into one of the city's most renowned hotels - the Hotel Victoria - right in the colonial center of Cuenca. Have a stroll around the center of this city, visiting the Catedral Vieja - a cathedral built in 1557 and the Parque Calderon, as well as the famous flower market.  Cuenca offers an outstanding fine restaurant choice and lots of new fun bars in this lively, prosperous city.  Click here for a motorcyclist's guide to Cuenca and consider adding a rest day for this tour (see "extensions" on this page).

298 km | 185 miles | 8 hours riding time

After a hearty buffet breakfast, pack up your bikes and ride through Cuenca on its cobblestone streets to depart the city, heading east.  The road will first bring you past fantastic rock outcroppings and then drop down into a warmer, greener valley.  The valley is replete with fruit orchards, flower plantations, and orchid nurseries.  This is a newly paved road, and this beautiful valley is becoming a popular place for Cuencanos to buy their weekend homes.  You will ride the famous "Route of the Guitars"- the road along which several famous guitar makers have their shops. Musicians from around the world come to have a custom guitar made here.  The ride is stunning, and a visit to the town of San Bartolomé is a must - it is a gorgeous mountain village.  

You'll ride along the pleasant Rio Cutilcay, which brings you to the town of Paute.  Paute is a beautiful town with a well-manicured central park.  The town is famous for its fruit, and you can pick up a great jar of the local jam from exotic fruits grown here to bring home.

From here, you'll climb again in altitude before descending on a road that cuts along the side of the Sangay National Park and leads to the Amazon basin and town of Sucua - the home and center of the Shuar people.  "Shuar" in the Shuar language means "people."  But the Shuar refer to Spanish-speakers as apach and non-Spanish/non-Shuar speakers as inkis.  The Shuar were primarily left undisturbed by the Inca for a good reason.  

The Spanish, in their quest for gold, tried to colonize them.  When they tried to impose taxation and laws, they became deeply angered and attacked a Spanish outpost, killing thousands of settlers.  The Spanish Governor was then killed by having molten gold poured down his throat until his bowels burst - their attempt at poetic justice.  The Shuar are famous for shrinking the heads (Tzantzas) of their enemies, which ceased some two generations ago; the process evolved to take revenge from the bewitchment of the enemy over others as well as serving as a warning to any would-be future attackers and predators. Most recently, the Shuar continued their culture of being great warriors in the war with Peru in 1995, where they consistently outwitted the Peruvians.  They have been fully integrated into Ecuadorian society, and this area of the Amazon, protected by the Shuar, remains one of the most pristine parts of the jungle in Ecuador.

Continue your ride, passing a display of waterfalls on all sides, and arrive in the town of Macas.  Macas is a very orderly and clean town with amicable people.  You'll settle into the comfortable and friendly Arrayanes & Piedra Lodge for a stay full of relaxation and fun.

329 km | 204 miles | 9 hours riding time

Today's ride is through a wide variety of terrains and changing climates, so you will need to be prepared with extra layers of clothes and a heavy set of gloves.  You'll set out of Macas, heading west to enter the pristine Sangay National Park on the smooth new tarmac.  The government had been promising to create this road for the past 111 years- and it was just completed in 2014.  There had been a lot of controversy about bringing vehicles into what is considered one of Ecuador's most beautiful natural areas.

We're delighted they built this road - and you will see why! It starts, in the lower elevations, with a show of several dramatic waterfalls and provides the perfect cambering in the many curves it climbs in altitude.  You'll pass into the cloud forest and through the small town of Zuñac- with amiable residents.  You'll have some fantastic views of this Amazon jungle and the active Sangay Volcano, which constantly belches out ash and smoke a few miles in the distance.

From Zuñac, you'll start climbing again - with more dramatic tumbling waterfalls to entertain as you twist and turn.  The forest will begin to give way to a windswept paramo, and you will come upon the stunning Lagunas de Atillo. The ancient natives of this region, the Puruháe people, used to drown their convicted criminals in the icy waters.  Jagged, pointy peaks frame the lakes.  You'll be stopping here for some photos. You'll descend a bit in elevation to arrive in a patchwork of bright and dark green fields interspersed between cold, flowing brooks.  Here the people are raising sheep, and the scenery is stunning.  You'll come through a dusty little horse-powered town of Calceta and turn to the west to re-join the Panamerican Highway north.  You'll pass the Laguna de Colta from which the local women gather the reeds and sell baskets alongside the road. You can stop to see the ancient Balbanera Church,  the first chapel the Conquistadors raised in 1534.  It still has carvings of angels and gargoyles and makes a great photo with the snow-capped Chimborazo mountain behind it.

Begin rising into highlands paramo, climbing the base of the mighty Chimborazo Volcano.  With permanent glaciers at its peak, Chimborazo is the highest point in Ecuador and is the highest point on Earth.  This vital fact is because the Earth bulges at the Equator and Chimborazo's peak is the furthest piece of land from Earth's core.  You can say that it is the closest place to Heaven on Earth, literally.

The road crosses through the Chimborazo National Wildlife Refuge, home to thousands of wild vicuña, the smaller, lighter, faster, high-elevation cousin of the llama and camel.  Ecuador has one of the best-protected vicuña populations in the world, and you will be sure to see these majestic creatures as you wind around the colossal mountain.  You'll reach an altitude of over 14,500 feet (4.500 meters), and here, the weather is unpredictable.  Be ready for bright sunshine, freezing rain, hail, or even snow!  

You'll come around the north side of Chimborazo, and you'll start to feel your fingers again.  Then you'll drop down to about 6,000 feet in elevation on the eastern slopes of the Andes.

It's a series of small, narrow, twisty backroads through beautiful farms and along raging whitewater rivers.  Cross a narrow gorge of the Pastaza River and enter the small city of Baños at the active Tungurahua Volcano base.  Baños was settled in 1553 and enjoys a warm, subtropical climate nestled among soaring green hills lined with waterfalls.

Volcan Tungurahua (meaning "throat of fire") rises above the town at 5053 meters (about 16,500 feet) and erupts frequently. These mild eruptions provide an exuberant display of pyroclastic flows and ash, which we can view from the hills above the town.

You'll check into the cozy and friendly Posada del Arte Hotel.  Just a block up the street is the volcanic baths that make this town famous.  There are various pools of different temperatures and sizes. One is so hot that it will leave a red mark around you like a cooked lobster once you get out!  These baths are a great way to relax after a day of excitement and great riding. 

161 km | 100 miles | 4 hours riding time

Take another steamy volcanic bath and enjoy a full breakfast at the comfortable Posada del Arte hotel before you head back on the road; you won't want to leave this place!  You will ride down what is known as the "Route of the Waterfalls" through the eastern Andes' slopes, which will eventually descend back deeper into the Amazon River Basin.

On the way down the Eastern Slopes, you will have several opportunities for exhilarating zip lines across the Pastaza River Gorge.  You can also try one of the "swing jumps," which is like a bungee jump but with an ordinary rope.  The idea is to jump out off a high bridge and then fall while swinging under the bridge.   It will give you a high surge of adrenaline!

In the town of Rio Verde, stop to view the tremendous "Pailon del Diablo" or "Cauldron of the Devil" waterfalls.  The falls crash about 250 feet into a hole that has been bored into the rock over centuries.  To get the best view of the falls, take a small hike and cross over a suspension bridge, which leads to steps that will bring you down into the "cauldron."  The updrafts are amazing.

Again,  you will see the vegetation and cultures change dramatically on today's ride.  The air will become warm as you arrive in Puyo - and you are now officially in the Amazonia region.   You will be riding north, and with a great view of the Sierra to your left as we ride the comfortable, newly paved road with rolling hills and plenty of sweeping curves to keep it fun.

Take a right, turning onto a road that follows the Napo River, and go even deeper into the Amazon jungle.  The Napo River is the fifth most significant tributary to the Amazon River.
You'll leave your bike in a secure lot next to the Napo River and board a motorized canoe that will take you down the river a few miles, yet deeper into the jungle.  You'll arrive at the Casa del Suizo Amazon Lodge - one of the best in the country.  Its pool and balcony area is a comfortable spot to sit and listen to the sounds of the jungle that will envelop you through the night.

164 km | 102 miles | 4 hours riding time

In the morning, you will be treated to a full breakfast buffet at the lodge with fresh fruits, juice, and eggs and then taken to the boathouse where you will be fitted with a life vest and rubber boots.  You'll board a long, motorized canoe that will take you up the Napo River.  The Lodge provides many exciting excursions to local communities who will teach you to hunt with a blowgun, pan for gold, and make the local drink - chicha.  Or you will go tubing down the river after visiting a local animal shelter.  There are many interesting activities in the jungle that you will enjoy with your local guide.

Back on the bike, you head west a few miles and cross a one-lane metal bridge into the town of Puerto Misahualli, the most western navigable port of the Amazon river basin.  From here, you could take a boat to the Atlantic ocean via the Amazon river.  Puerto Misahualli has a mischievous monkey population that loves to play with the local dogs and tourists. Be sure to bring your camera!
You will pass through the cloud forest town of Baeza and start the climb back into the Sierra.  

End the day's ride soaking limbs in a private hot spring bath outside your private adobe thatched cabin at the Termas Papallacta Hot Springs Spa & Resort. There is no better way to relax than staying at this award-winning luxury lodge high in the Andes. After these past few days of riding, you will deserve the pampering!

 

159 km | 99 miles | 4 hours riding time


Relax and enjoy the hot springs - check out time isn't until 1:00 pm.  There is no rush today.

Once back on the bike, you'll cross over the Papallacta Pass at 13,400 feet and descend the twisties into the valley. You'll head on another set of narrow serpentine roads to take us into the Jerusalem Dry Forest Reserve.  The average rainfall is about 500 mm per year, and temperatures range between 16-19 degrees Celsius.

Despite having fewer species than the Rainforest, the Andean Dry Forest is a particularly rare and endangered ecosystem with unique species. This desert-like section of the road will give you one last taste of Ecuador's incredible diversity and beauty.

You'll finish the day carving through the Guayllabamba river canyon.  This road that cuts through here is one of the world's twistiest roads and will give you one last thrill before ending the tour at our headquarters in Quito.  Our shop is equipped with a hot shower, hot tub, and an honor bar so you can relax and refresh before catching your flight home or going for a night on the town in the South American capital of cool, Quito.