Ecuador Mainland Complete Guide 2026: Quito, Cotopaxi, Cuenca, Otavalo & the Amazon
Browse more guides: Ecuador travel | South America destinations Ecuador Mainland Complete Guide 2026: Quito, Cotopaxi, Cuenca, Otavalo & the Amazon TL;DR Mainland Ecuador packs four worlds into a country smaller than the United Kingdom. I crossed the equator at Mitad del Mundo, climbed to 4,100 m on the TelefériQo above Quito, watched Cotopaxi's perfect 5,897 m cone glow pink at dawn, walked Cuenca's four-river old town, shopped the Otavalo Saturday market with 700-plus Kichwa vendors, swung above a canyon at Baños, and slept under howler monkeys in Yasuni. This guide is my honest 2026 read on costs in USD, altitude, the post-referendum oil situation, Cotopaxi National Park reopening in March 2024, the Devil's Nose train status, and how to thread Andes, Amazon and cloud forest into a single trip without burning out at altitude. Why Visit Ecuador in 2026 Three reasons pushed Ecuador up my list this year. First, Cotopaxi National Park reopened in March 2024 after a...