DAY 1 Quito - Mindo (94 km)

Welcome to Quito- one of the most irresistible cities in Latin America. After a short brief we’ll take our bikes and get ready to start our first riding day at the humming bird route. As it name tells, the biodiversity of this route has made it the perfect spot and one of the main places in South America for bird watching activities. Due to this Eco- Route, Ecuador has been placed between the top 10 destinations worldwide for bird watching with over 650 species living in between its vast flora preserved in the warmth of Mindo valley. Once we have taken the best of this route, we’ll take the asphalt to get to Mindo, the final stop of the day. Here you will find a hidden paradise with a protected forest called Nambillo, one of the places with more biodiversity on the planet. Overnight in Mindo.

DAY 2 Mindo – Otavalo (175 km)

After a tasty breakfast, we’ll head towards Nanegalito town – the home of the only reserve oriented to the protection of orchids at their natural state. This town will be the starting point for today’s adventure as we’ll take the Intag road. We continue riding to reach Cuicocha lake, a lake inside of the crater of an active volcano. We’ll enjoy a great meal in front of the lake to recover our strength. With the batteries recharged we head to reach the final stop of the day - San Pablo lake. Here warm rooms and a delightful dinner with the lake on sight from the restaurant are waiting for us.

DAY 3 Otavalo – Papallacta (135 km)

After breakfast we leave behind the lovely city of Otavalo and head towards the Peguche waterfall. Having a rest from the off-road, we’ll take our bikes to a pretty nice paved road to reach Cayambe, Here is the home of the fourth highest mountain in Ecuador and the only mountain in the world that seats on top of the Equator. We continue our journey riding to the town of Papallacta, known for its thermal waters that are perfectly surrounded by the Andean Range. The Papallacta highlands has few fragments of the Polylephis forest. They are also known as the paper trees, an endemic specie that grows way high up in the mountains, higher than any other species of tree. We’ll spend a relaxing afternoon here. The thermal waters that feeds the swimming pools in Papallacta comes from deep geological layers carrying with them all sorts of minerals, no need to express its health potential. Overnight and dinner in a lovely accommodation in Papallacta.

DAY 4 Papallacta - Puerto Misahualli (185 km)

In the morning we take our bikes and ride towards Misahualli Port in the Amazon basin. We’ll descend through the West flank of the Andes Range, and little by little see changing the flora around us. Once we reach Misahualli, we’ll enjoy lunch. In this lovely fluvial port, we’ll have direct contact with cappuccino monkeys. On the way to our Eco-Lodge, we’ll have one more hour of riding, through hanging bridges, dirt roads with few rivers to go across. At night, dinner will be ready with Maito fish, a local dish that prepares fish covered in a Maito leaf. To sleep better a local guide will take us to a night walk in the middle of the jungle close to the Upano river. Many species come at night and is easy to spot them with your lantern.

DAY 5 Puerto Misahualli – Puerto Misahualli

Today, after breakfast, we’ll spend the day increasing our knowledge, learning, and experimenting from the Amazon. The diversity here is endless. The Amazon is the biggest last extension of tropical forest in the world. Also, the place with more fauna noises there is, and that one single acre of tropical forest in this area is also home of more frogs than all North America. The 40% of the whole sweet water in the world flows through the Amazon river, this is more than the flow of the next six bigger rivers all together. In the Amazon river, there are islands with the size of Switzerland. This region is also home of millenarian cultures. The tribes in the Ecuadorian territory are the ancestral guardians of the Amazon biological inheritance, having lived here for over 10000 years, they know their plans and properties, their animals and secrets better than no one.

DAY 6 Puerto Misahualli - Baños (160 km)

After a tasty breakfast at our Eco Lodge we get our bikes and head to Baños. Baños de Agua Santa is the perfect venue to enjoy an adrenaline rush due to all the sports you can practice there: Rafting, canopy, canyoning and puenting (sort of bungee jumping). Baños is also known as the “little piece of heaven”, due to the tranquility of its surroundings. Here you will find over 80 restaurants with a great variety of dishes, enough for the most demanding. After we reach our hotel and enjoy a good lunch, we’ll take a tour around the city to see the main attractions. A chiva (party bus) will take us to see Tungurahua, an active volcano, few kilometers away, and also around the city. Overnight in Baños.

DAY 7 Baños - Baños

Today is activity day so we’ll have the chance to experience different activities depending on your likes, from sightseeing to jumping on an amazing swing. Spas are also one of the top attractions. Recharge your batteries with a massage while enjoying an amazing view of the Pastaza river from the top and having fresh fruit. Today we’ll ride to Pailon del Diablo, a pretty famous waterfall where you can be few meters away from these 100 meters (300 ft) high flow monster. Mountain bike or a a zip line over the Pastaza river are also on option to spend the time. Or you can try a party bus (also called chiva). It departs every hour from the city to the main attraction points, including a sightseeing point in front of Tungurahua volcano, which has been erupting since 1999. Overnight and dinner in Baños.

DAY 8 Baños – Chugchilán (172 km)

Today we leave behind Banos and head towards Chugchillan. Soon we’ll be at the base of Tungurahua, the active volcano we saw few days backs. We continue riding till we reach Guano, one of the ancient towns in Ecuador. The museums are one of the main attractions in this town that presents the story civil wars and earthquakes that destroyed the city over and over again. After enjoying the local cuisine we’ll continue with the riding towards a perfect twisty asphalt road for you to enjoy the breeze in your face while seeing the amazing landscape. We’ll admire the famous Quilotoa Lake - one of the beautiful 15 lakes with volcanic origin in the world. Close to Quilotoa, we’ll hit a nice offload to our day’s last destination, Chugchillan. Here a great restaurant presents a beautiful view of the Valley and our rooms and a hot shower will be waiting for us. We’ll spend a relaxing night in Chugchillan.

DAY 9 Chugchilán – Quito (217 km)

Today we have two option for riding. A mild off-road is awaiting and from there, the chance to select either asphalt or a wonderful backroad to take back to Quito. Rivers and waterfalls will be on both ways for you not to miss any of it, regardless which way we take. A good 7-hour riding is awaiting through the back-road and 3 hours through the main road. As we close the Quilotoa Loop, we'll be seeing spectacular landscapes: from the Quilotoa lake inside of a volcano crater, to ride behind the Illinizas sisters (two of the oldest mountains in the Andes chain) You will finish your Ecuadorian experience in Quito, where it all began.