Compare Yasuni Eco - Comfort Lodge | Amazon-Adventure in Sani Lodge by Latin Adventures vs Flavors of Ecuador by Gray Line Ecuador

Day 1: Coca

Your journey starts with a 35-minute flight from Quito to Coca where the staff will pick you up and transfer to a local hotel located on the banks of Napo River. There, your bilingual guides will explain about safety before embarking for a 2 ½ boat trip on the largest Ecuadorian affluent of the Amazon, the Napo River. During the journey you get a taste of the Amazon; ancestral communities, birds such as: herons, egrets, vultures, while enjoying delicious packed lunch. The canoe ride is followed by a 15 minute walk through flooded forest and 20-minute paddle canoe across the beautiful Challuacocha Lake. The staff will welcome you with refreshing cold drinks and snacks before you settle down in your cabins. Late afternoon, you will have a short walk on the nearby trails or a canoe ride with many chances to observe primates, Amazonian birds, black caimans and a close encounter with the amazing flora represented by cedar trees, orchids, and bromeliads. Return to the lodge, where our chef will be happy to offer a wide variety of national and international cuisine that caters vegetarians and vegans. Briefing about Amazonia will be given by one of our bilingual guides, while enjoying Ecuadorian beers, spirits and cocktails prepared by our bartender.

Day 2: Amazon

After breakfast, experience the life on the tree tops from the 36 meter (108 ft.) observation tower. To get there your leaders will paddle on the Challuacocha Lake for 30 minutes followed by a short 10-minute walk. Over 565 species of birds have been registered so far, including colorful birds such as macaws, toucans, honeycreepers, tanagers, flycatchers, hummingbirds and with a bit of luck a close view of howler, squirrel monkeys or sloths resting on the canopy. The tower gives you a unique perspective, opening up a whole new world of Amazon biodiversity that is often difficult, if not impossible to see from the understory. The journey continues exploring the nearby trails searching for more Amazonian creatures. Return to the lodge for lunch After lunch there are many alternatives for your enjoyment, bird-watching from the dining hall or simply get relaxed on the hammocks. In the afternoon, hike Chorongo or Coto trails, fantastic terra-firme forest to discover the relationships among the different living creatures and the rol they play in this complex ecosystem. Orchids, vines, strangle figs, ancient trees; bromeliads are all part of this fabulous tropical rainforest. Diner at the lodge. After diner explore our black-water Oxbow Lake, one of the increasingly rare havens for the endangered black caiman, supporting a healthy population of these large up to 6 meter (18ft.) long south-American crocodilian. Back to the lodge.

Day 3: Napo River

After breakfast departure to the Napo River to board the boat and visit the parrot-clay lick at Yasuní National Park for a wonderful view of hundreds of parrots searching for a gap to land and eat the earth. Here you will see Mealy Amazon, Yellow-crowned, Orange-winged and Blue-headed parrots. Continue with a hike on the south of the Napo inside Yasuní National Park considered for scientists like the mostbiodiverse area in the world, here, some species that cannot be found in the north might be spotted: golden–mantled tamarins and spider monkeys, Blue and yellow macaws and with a bit of luck a close encounter with white-lipped or collared peccaries. Head back to Sani Community Center to visit a native house to get a taste of how a typical Kichwa family lives. Enjoy their food, drinks, customs, and culture of the Sani community and learn how the lifestyle of the locals is environmentally sustainable. Return to the lodge late in the afternoon for a well-deserved dinner. After dinner take a night walk to see how myriads of insects, spiders and frogs come alive.

Day 4: Anakonda Amazon Cruise

After our experience in the Anakonda Amazon Cruise after breakfast head back to Coca, on the way have another look of the parrot clay lick. Arrive to Coca at 10:00 a.m. for the flight back to Quito. The operator reserves the right to change the itinerary without previous notice due to weather, regulations or unforeseeable circumstances.

Day 1:

Transfer Airport / Hotel. Lodging.

Day 2:

Meals: Breakfast

1914 Original trolley city tour of Quito + Northern and south Hemisphere Experience in the Middle of the World

We will visit the historic center, the largest and best preserved in South America, in one of our original trolleys, which are a replica of the trams that circulated in Quito in the last century.

Visit to the Basilica del Voto Nacional Church, where we will make a brief stop during which the passengers will be able to climb up to its high domes, to later move towards the Panecillo viewpoint, an iconic place in the city, renowned for its beauty, and where is a giant statue of the ""Winged Virgin"", where you can admire a beautiful landscape of colonial and modern Quito. Later we will continue to the Plaza de San Francisco, one of the representative places of the city and full of history, from where we will walk to the Plaza Grande, historical and political center of the city, surrounded by innumerable attractions including: the Cathedral, the Palace of Government, the Archbishop's Palace and the La Compañía church.

We continue our tour meeting the traditional La Ronda neighborhood, in whose romantic setting we can find workshops where our visitors will learn with a group of authentic artisans, how their works are elaborated, and trades of yesteryear that keep alive the cultural traditions of this charming city. (Entrance to churches are not included).

We will stop at the “Zona Rosa” of the city, approximately an hour and a half to have free time for lunch (not included), and later we continue with our excursion “Northern and south Hemisphere Experience in the Middle of the World”.

We go to the ""Middle of the World City"", where you can see the monument that divides the northern hemisphere from the southern hemisphere of the planet. It was built during the XVII century when a French Expedition defined the precise location of the equatorial line that divides the world and it is a must-see place for those who visit Quito. Includes entrance to the Middle of the World complex ,where you can live experiences that defy the laws of physics and occur only in this part of the world. After visiting this privileged place and registering it in your passport, you will always see Ecuador and the Middle of the World in a different way.

Day 3:

Meals: Breakfast

Culture & Traditions of Quito + Quito, street food & art.

Route that starts in the center-north of the city in the commercial, banking and hotel area of Modern Quito.

We will move to one of the traditional markets of the city, where you can enjoy the colorful landscape produced by the stalls full of fruits and vegetables from all regions of our country.

Undoubtedly, this is a place full of familiar flavors, and the best opportunity to meet a variety of local consumer products that are mixed with the offer of very striking items such as herbs and healing, world-renowned roses and liquors of national production, among others.

Later we will visit the Guayasamín House Museum also known as “Capilla del Hombre” (entrance included), of the most important plastic artist of Ecuador in the modern era, and know the great value of the artistic heritage assets that this artist left the country.

Quito, street food & art.

We will move to the traditional and historical Guapulo neighborhood, where we will walk through its picturesque cobblestone streets as the founders of the city of Quito did, and we will enjoy its incomparable viewpoint of the landscape of the valleys that surround the city and the church of Guapulo , old monastery of colonial construction.

We will continue to La Floresta, considered among the most emblematic neighborhoods of the city, nowadays the bohemian and artistic place of Quito, where we can admire the diversity of culture through its murals and graffiti.

We will visit some workshops of independent artisans, to know their informal exhibitions that give life to this neighbourhood.

Finally we will have the opportunity to know the neighborhood food, recognized by by the locals, as the gastronomy offered in the streets and that is a trend of local consumption and unique flavors. At the same time we will learn the traditions that sourround the preparation of delicious dishes.

Day 4:

Meals: Breakfast

Free Day.

Day 5:

Meals: Breakfast

Transfer Hotel / Airport in Quito.

Excursion To Choose (based on operating days):

The original Quito craft beer tour (Wednesday)

In this tour, we want to convey the passion for beer art that tells the story of Quito Cheers!

We will go to the Plaza de San Blas, entrance of the historic center of Quito, from where we will walk to the first Pub located in a traditional neighborhood where we will have a tasting guided by a master brewer specialist, using the 5 senses to discover the flavors of craft beer. Then we will walk through the beautiful streets of the historic center until we reach our next stop, places that were formerly the craft breweries of the city, to continue enjoying the pleasures of beer and understand its process.

Andean Cooking Class (Saturday)

A true adventure of local gastronomy, unique of the Andean region because it is enriched by the diversity of climates and cultures that we have in Ecuador.

Although little known in the world, Ecuadorian cuisine surprises our visitors.

Learn to combine the variety of products that exist in the country and developing your creativity will have an exquisite culinary effect, the result of an experience you will never forget, always guided by a chef, who recommends having previously done our “Quito Culture and Traditions” tour that includes a visit to a typical market in the city to know the ingredients of the food in this region.

Urban Legends of Quito at Night (Wednesday to Saturday)

We begin in the northern part of the city with a tour along the most important commercial areas, where you can find most of Quito's hotels and nightlife. Then we head to the historic center to admire the spectacle of thechurches and historic buildings illuminated and its main tourist attractions. (Tickets not included).

The tour continues to the Mirador del Panecillo, recognized for its beauty, where you can delight with a beautiful view of colonial and modern Quito.

During the tour, you can get to know the people who live in this city better, you will be able to recognize them by their way of speaking, thinking, and to visit our city, as our guide will tell you about urban legends that are part of the history of Quito and that are a tradition and the cultural heritage of the people of Quito.

At the end of the tour, dinner included in one of the recommended restaurants (return to the hotel, by the passenger).