Birds of Ecuador
13 nights, 6 stops — cloud forest, páramo and amazon.
Quito → Mindo Cloud Forest → Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve → Antisana Ecological Reserve → Papallacta → Yasuni National Park.
Round trip · returns to Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve
What you'll see
The journey, one day at a time
Arrive Quito
Arrive in Quito, met and transferred to your accommodation. Quito pairs one of the Americas' great old towns with reach to cloud forest, Amazon and islands.
Quito
A city day before the cloud forest or the islands. Historic Quito before the wild.
To Mindo Cloud Forest
Transfer to Mindo Cloud Forest. Hummingbird feeders and the cock-of-the-rock lek. Cloud-forest birding for Chocó endemics.
Mindo Cloud Forest
Cloud-forest birding for Chocó endemics. A full day of feeders, leks and forest trails. Mindo's feeders bring dozens of hummingbird species within camera range — the essence of Chocó birding.
To Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve
Transfer to Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve. Ridge birding for mountain tanagers and toucans. High cloud-forest trails and feeders.
Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve
High cloud-forest trails and feeders. Bellavista's ridge forest adds the higher-elevation birds that complete a Chocó list.
To Antisana Ecological Reserve
Transfer to Antisana Ecological Reserve. Watch condors over the high páramo of Antisana. High-Andes birding beneath the volcano.
Antisana Ecological Reserve
High-Andes birding beneath the volcano. Antisana is the surest place within reach of Quito to watch Andean condors ride the wind.
To Papallacta
Transfer to Papallacta. High-Andes birding and a soak in the hot springs. Páramo and temperate-forest birds at the pass.
Papallacta
Páramo and temperate-forest birds at the pass. Papallacta offers high-Andes birding by day and steaming thermal pools to finish.
To Yasuni National Park
Transfer to Yasuni National Park. Parrot clay licks and a canopy tower. Oxbow-lake canoeing for giant otters and monkeys.
Yasuni National Park
Oxbow-lake canoeing for giant otters and monkeys. A full day of western-Amazon wildlife. Yasuni packs more species per hectare than almost anywhere on earth — the Amazon at its richest.
Yasuni National Park
A full day of western-Amazon wildlife. Rainforest trails and night canoe for caiman.
Departure
A final morning in Yasuni National Park — a last outing or a slow start as time allows — before the transfer onward and the journey home.
The season changes what you see.
Peak season
Drier highland months — clear skies over the city.
Good season
A year-round capital and hub.
Where this journey goes
Hand-picked camps & lodges
Bellavista Lodge
The famous dome lodge on the Tandayapa ridge, immersed in high cloud forest.
Mashpi Lodge
A glass-walled luxury lodge deep in the Chocó rainforest, a wildlife landmark.
Casa Gangotena
A restored mansion on Plaza San Francisco, Quito's finest heritage hotel.
Napo Wildlife Center
A community-owned ecolodge on an oxbow lake in Yasuni, with a canopy tower.
Hacienda Guachalá
A historic hacienda near the equator, a comfortable base for Antisana.
Sachatamia Lodge
A comfortable cloud-forest lodge with superb hummingbird feeders near Mindo.
Make it yours.
Add nights, swap a park, extend to the coast — this route is a starting point, not a fixed menu. Tell us how you travel and we'll route the rest.