At a glance
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Don't forget that all of our itineraries are totally customized and so this is just an idea of what we can build for you.
Not every trip to Ecuador needs the Amazon or the Galápagos, and four or five unhurried days between Quito and the cloud forest make the case for stopping there.
The trip opens in Quito, the first city named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where colonial architecture, gold-leafed churches, and a historic centre still very much in daily use give the first two days their own sense of depth without the pressure of a longer itinerary pulling you toward the next region.
From Quito, a short drive climbs into the clouds, and the forest on the other side holds more recorded bird species than most countries do in total. A private lodge sits suspended in the canopy here, glass-walled and quiet, with hummingbirds working the feeders outside the window and trails leading to waterfalls that few visitors ever reach.
This is Ecuador at its most concentrated rather than its most expansive, built around staying still rather than covering ground, and there is a particular kind of freedom in a place this quiet, a canopy trail with no one else on it, a lodge where you are simply two travellers watching hummingbirds rather than anything else.
This is a private, tailor-made trip rather than a fixed-date group tour, and our LGBTQ+ travel specialists build the pacing entirely around you, down to how many of the cloud forest’s trails make it onto the schedule before it is time to leave.
In detail
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Don't forget that most of our itineraries can be totally customized. Our expert team will be able to talk you through all the options.
Day 1: Arrival in Quito
A private transfer from the airport into the city, settling you into a hotel chosen for its easy reach of the historic centre.
Quito sits at roughly nine thousand feet, ringed by volcanoes on every side.
The rest of the day is left open to adjust to the altitude before the days ahead.
Day 2: Quito
A private, English-speaking guide leads you on foot through the historic centre, generally considered Latin America’s best-preserved colonial old town, through Plaza Grande and the gold-leafed interior of the Compañía de Jesús church.
The afternoon is left free, whether that means a return visit to a favourite corner of the old town or a stop at Mitad del Mundo, the monument marking the equator just outside the city.
Day 3: Quito to the Cloud Forest
A private transfer climbs roughly two hours from Quito into a private cloud forest reserve of primary rainforest largely untouched by development.
Check in to a glass-walled lodge suspended in the canopy, and spend the late afternoon on an easy trail near the lodge itself, an introduction to a forest that reveals more the slower you move through it.
Day 4: The Cloud Forest
A full day inside the reserve is split between guided hikes through primary forest; a ride along the Dragonfly, a gondola strung through the canopy for a view over the treetops rarely available on foot; and time at the lodge’s hummingbird feeders, where a dozen or more species can pass through in a single hour.
A night walk after dinner reveals the forest’s nocturnal life: frogs, insects, and the occasional mammal moving under cover of dark.
Day 5: Departure
A private transfer back to Quito connects with your onward flight home, timed to allow one last unhurried morning in the cloud forest before the return to the city.
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