Travelers' reviews about Ecuador
4 reviews
Ecuador
Coast to Cuenca
Ecuador
Family
Our stay in Mandala was definitely the highlight of our trip. We really enjoyed spending time at the beach and the room accommodations were amazing. The Mandala staff spoke English and were very helpful. The breakfast and coffee were very good--we all loved the fresh fruit, variety of juice and friendly staff.
My sons also enjoyed the music/game room located in the office building. This is a great place for families to vacation!
The best parts:
We loved the room and location near the beach at the Mandala hotel where we stayed. We were also able to walk down the beach to visit a marine animal rescue facility. There were also local restaurants where we could find affordable meals for lunch and dinner.
The accommodations at Casa Kokopelli were also fabulous. Maria was amazing and I would highly recommend this place to any future travelers.
The best connection we made would be at the Otorongo Apartments. It was close to the river, we went on a tour of Cuenca, Ecuador, and we were close to food and shopping.
The worst parts:
I was under the impression that we would have an English-speaking tour guide when I booked the trip. This trip was for me and my family to become familiar with Ecuador on our way to move to Cuenca for a year. I am the only one who speaks Spanish, which made traveling and ordering very difficult for my husband. We also only had transportation between hotels and on two guided tours, which was unexpected.
The tour at Agua Blanca was done entirely in Spanish. Thank goodness there were placards in the museum that included an English translation of each exhibit.
Casa Kokopelli was difficult to find. We drove around for about an hour before finding it upon arrival. The local taxi driver could not find it and we had to be picked up by our hostess, Maria. The transport from Kokopelli also could not find it and was nearly an hour late to pick us up.
The city tour in Cuenca began over an hour late because the company had forgotten/misplaced our tour. We had an English-speaking guide and comfortable transport, but we were left in El Centro. This meant all five of us walked a mile back to our hotel less than 24 hours after arriving at altitude. Most of us were sick that afternoon.
Evaneos
Hello Jody,
Thank you for taking your time to leave feedback regarding your trip to Ecuador. Evaneos strives in providing exceptional services for our travelers and all feedback is taken seriously. I am happy to hear that your accomadations were good and I see that your local agent has already reached out to regarding the transfers issue.
Best regards,
Philip
Sorry no photos
Ecuador
Couple
Ecuador is a lovely country very diverse with so much to see we plan another visit . The highlights were the trips were the birds in the Cloud Forests and our time spent in the Amazon. We also enjoyed lots of local food. The Albemarle was the best hotel we stayed and as I have stated above our guides Fausto Gomez and Katherine Celleri were excellent.
The best parts:
We had a wonderful trip to Ecuador. We had an excellent guide / driver Fausto Gomez who understood our interests and ensured that we maximised our time in Ecuador . We also found the naturalist guides who joined us very knowledgeable . With the exception of the La Fontana all the hotels were comfortable and the staff were very helpful. The two hotels we stayed in on in the Galapagos were very good and the Albemarle was particularly good and well run. Our guide Katherine Celleri on the 1st day on Galapagos was very helpful and knowledgeable it was a pleasure being with her.
The worst parts:
We were a little disappointed with our trip to the Galapagos as we felt we did not see as much of the unique flora and forna as we had hoped for example the trip on our second day on Santa Cruz we felt was a waste of time we spend 5 hours going to and from Bartolome and saw very little . Also some of the discussion we had in the planning of our trip was not reflected in the programme. Perhaps having a check list as well as the outline of the programme might have been helpful.
Roxane and Richard
Ecuador
Couple
Please see the note above.
The best parts:
The two of us loved everything about the trip birdng in Ecuador with Gustavo. Because we only had 5 days to bird in Ecuador, we loved being in a different lodge every day to cover as many different habitats and as much territory as possible. We loved Gustavo's professionalism, birdng expertise, patience, helpfulness with our spotting scope, and pace. We enjoyed the Ecuadoran culture, history, people, and indigenous food, as well as the beautiful birds and rainforest.
The worst parts:
Everything was fine with the trip.
Jan
Ecuador
Friends
After visiting several countries in South America I have to say that Ecuador is a great country to visit, it has everything (nature, lakes, vulcanos, national parks, colonial cities, tropical forest, beaches & islands, good local food) and good infrastructure & nice friendly people. To name a few highlights - Cuicocha lake, Cotopaxi vulcan, Cuilotoa lake, Cuenca, Cajas NP, Isla de la Plata, etc.
The best parts:
The whole trip was perfectly organised, itinerary, reservation of 10 different hotels along the route, reliable and comfortable car, national guide / driver Fausto & local guides in different locations. Thank you for such a diligent & professional job.
The worst parts:
Our Guide had to go abroad in the middle of the trip and was replaced by a driver who was not so knowledgeable as our original guide. To be precise we were allocated by the agency a different guide for the second half of the trip (however not a native from Ecuador), which we declined as we wanted a person form Ecuador to accompany us but the native driver, who replaced the guide for the second part of the trip was not so experienced.
