Ecuador

The highlands (Quito, the Avenue of the Volcanoes, Cuenca) are driest and clearest June–September, best for hiking and volcano views; the wetter months still see clear mornings with predictable afternoon showers. The Amazon is hot and humid all year. The Pacific coast flips the usual logic: December–May is the hot, sunny beach season, while June–November turns grey and cool — but that cooler stretch is when humpback whales pass Puerto López. The Galápagos runs on its own two seasons entirely (see below).

• you want to hike the volcanoesSkipthe wet Oct–May highland months for summit attemptsGoJune–September, when the Andes are clearest and driest
• you’re chasing Galápagos marine lifeSkipassuming the sunny Dec–May season is "best" for everythingGoJune–November garúa season — choppier, but whale sharks and whales
• you want beaches and whales bothSkiptrying to pair the coast’s hot season with whale seasonGoJune–September: cooler coast, but humpbacks off Puerto López

Most Western visitors get 90 days visa-free, and because Ecuador is dollarised there’s nothing to exchange — you arrive already holding the currency. A yellow-fever certificate is not required for entry, but vaccination is recommended if you’re heading into the Amazon (the eastern lowland provinces), so sort that well before you fly. Bring cash: it’s essential for remote highland and jungle areas and for the cash-only Galápagos park fee.

The Galápagos has its own two seasons: the warm, wet months (December–May) with calm seas and the best snorkelling, and the dry “garúa” season (June–November) — cooler, mistier, choppier, but the peak for whale sharks, whales and seabirds. On top of the airfare you pay two charges: the USD 200 national-park fee (USD 100 under-12, doubled in August 2024, cash on arrival) and the USD 20 Transit Control Card, bought at the mainland airport before you check in.

Budget the Galápagos as airfare plus two compulsory fees that tours and flights don’t include: the US$200 national-park entry fee (doubled in 2024), paid on arrival at the islands, and the separate transit-control card bought before you fly out from Quito or Guayaquil. Both are paid in cash — and since Ecuador is dollarised you already hold the currency, so carry enough US dollars to cover them rather than relying on an ATM once you land on the islands.

Overland, Ecuador’s long-distance buses are the cheap, comprehensive backbone, with Quito and Guayaquil an hour apart by air. The Galápagos is reached only by flights from those two cities to Baltra (for Santa Cruz, via a bus-and-water-taxi hop across the Itabaca Channel) or San Cristóbal — and once there you’re either on a cruise or island-hopping by passenger speedboat and small plane between Santa Cruz, San Cristóbal and Isabela.

Quito’s old town was inscribed in 1978 among the very first UNESCO World Heritage Sites — the first capital city listed, and the best-preserved colonial centre in the Americas — and it’s the base for the Avenue of the Volcanoes (Cotopaxi, reopened to climbers in 2024 after its 2022–23 eruptive spell; the Quilotoa crater lake) and the adventure-and-hot-springs town of Baños. Cuenca is the refined, UNESCO-listed (1999) southern city.

The Amazon splits between biodiverse Yasuní and the canoe-and-flooded-forest Cuyabeno reserve, both reached via community and jungle lodges; the coast around Montañita is the surf-and-nightlife strip, with Puerto López the base for whales and Isla de la Plata (the budget "other Galápagos"). And the Galápagos is the headline: giant tortoises, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies and snorkelling with turtles and sea lions.

On the coast it’s seafood: tangy ceviche (often shrimp, served with plantain chips or popcorn) and encebollado, the onion-dressed fish soup that doubles as the national hangover cure. The highlands turn hearty — hornado (market roast pork) with llapingachos (cheesy potato cakes), locro de papa, and the traditional cuy (roast guinea pig). And the quiet star is cacao: Ecuador grows some of the world’s finest aromatic beans, so seek out single-origin chocolate.

Narco-gang violence has pushed coastal and port cities and the northern border into the highest travel-advisory tiers — parts of Guayaquil (notably south of Portete de Tarqui Avenue), Esmeraldas and several coastal provinces, and the 20 km zone along the Colombian border — and a rolling state of emergency with overnight curfews was in force through 2026, which can disrupt roads and airport access on short notice. The mainstream tourist circuit — Quito, Cotopaxi, Baños, Cuenca and the Galápagos — sits outside the top warnings, but this is the one thing to re-check against your own government’s current advisory before you book, because it moves.

As of late 2026 the US rated Ecuador Level 2 overall, with Level 3–4 pockets on the coast and border; the UK FCDO advised against all-but-essential travel to the named coastal provinces and the Colombian border zone. Both the advisory tiers and the state-of-emergency decrees change frequently — treat any figure here as a prompt to check the live page, not a fixed fact.

Quito sits at 2,850m, one of the world’s highest capitals, so altitude (“soroche”) is real — spend a night or two acclimatising before going higher to Cotopaxi or Quilotoa, hydrate, and ascend gradually. The country is dollarised, so there’s no exchange hassle, but carry cash for remote Amazon and highland villages and the cash-only island fees. The indigenous Kichwa heritage is strong in the highlands — the Otavalo craft market is the renowned showcase. Tipping runs around 10% where no service charge is added.

Tap water isn’t reliably potable — stick to bottled or filtered. The nationwide emergency number is 911, run through the integrated ECU-911 service. Spanish is the official language, with Kichwa and other indigenous tongues spoken in the highlands.