Cuenca, Ecuador Travel Guide
Cuenca is the prettiest city in Ecuador. Expect curved, narrow streets dotted with cute cafes, more patisseries than you’ve seen in the rest of Ecuador put together, and historic churches and squares.
Author: Luke Nicholson
Quito Travel Guide
Quito’s UNESCO-listed old town is a sight like none other. Distinctive green and gold domes, grey-faced churches with glittering baroque interiors, indigenous street sellers with stacks of avocados, cherries, mangoes and blueberries and endless buses spewing petrol fumes combine to make a heady cocktail.
Quito Food Guide
Eating out in Ecuador can either be dirt cheap or surprisingly expensive, as restaurants seem either to be holes-in-the-wall or high-end. Our favourite local dishes were quinoa soup and llapingacho (a potato, cheese and egg concoction), as well as arepas often prepared in hole-in-the-wall joints owned and run by the Venezuelan community.
A Guide to Otavalo Market in Ecuador
Otavalo is home to Ecuador’s most famous market and it is the place to shop for ponchos, jumpers and other textiles in Ecuador. This highland town has a strong indigenous community who earn a living making and selling their beautiful textile products.
Crossing the Colombia/Ecuador Border at Rumichaca
According to travel guides, the only safe place to cross the overland border between Colombia and Ecuador is Rumichaca. The closest Colombian town is Ipiales (but we recommend staying in Pasto) and the closest Ecuadorian town is Tulcan (but we’d go straight across to Otavalo).
Stopover in Pasto — Colombia’s Unappealing Border City
Pasto is a small city near the Colombia/Ecuador border and a frequent stopover for those making the long overland journey from Colombia to Ecuador. It’s an unappealing city and we wouldn’t recommend more than an overnight stop here, but it’s a better option than stopping in Ipiales.
Popayán, Colombia’s White City
Popayán is known by two names: the white city (la ciudad blanca) and the fertile city (la ciudad fecund). It’s known as the white city because the old town is whitewashed and the fertile city because no other town has contributed as many Colombian presidents.
Salento & Hiking Cocora Valley
Wax palm trees and coffee farms — those are the two things that Salento is famous for. The little Colombian town of Salento is nestled in the verdant green Andes mountains and is just a short ride from the Valle de Cocora hiking trail.
El Cocuy National Park Hiking Guide
Adventurous souls can see can see glaciers, the mighty condor and the other-worldly fraijones in El Cocuy National Park. Snow-capped peaks and wide valleys make the hiking in this Andes mountain range spectacular.
A Practical Travel Guide to Bogota
Is Bogota just “a big city with big city problems” as one Colombian told us, or is there more to Bogota than first meets the eye?
Villa de Leyva, Our Favourite Colombian Town
Villa de Leyva is paradise in Boyaca, according to one Colombian that we spoke to and we’d agree.
8 Best Things To Do on a Stopover in Santa Marta
After our incredible weekend hiking in Tayrona National Park, like many tourists we hopped out into Santa Marta and based ourselves in the town for a few nights.
