TRAIN CRUISE ADVENTURE

8 days / 7 nights (Quito – Guayaquil)

This awarded train ride will take you through amazing scenery, history, and culture.

You will discover the changing landscapes from the Andes highlands until the warm Pacific Coast. The crew will welcome you and offer an excellent service to make you feel like home. In every stop, you will discover stunning places and you will stay at selected historic residences along the route. An exceptional and unforgettable journey you cannot miss.

Day 1:  Arrival at Quito International Airport – Hotel (Sun)

• Transfer from airport to the hotel.  Accommodation.

Day 2:  Middle of the World Monument – Colonial Quito (Mon)

• After breakfast, departing from the hotel, we begin the tour driving to the north of the city to visit the Equatorial monument “Mitad del Mundo” (Middle of the World), situated at 0^o0’0” latitude where the French Geodesic Expedition according to planet calculations, designated the center of the world.  Visit the museum of the Ethnic groups of Ecuador.
• After this visit, we will drive back to downtown Quito and have a delicious lunch at a restaurant in the old city, and then we will go to visit the colonial site of Quito and its churches and cathedrals:  the gothic Basilica, the Compañía de Jesús, the Convent of San Francisco, among others.  We will visit the Plaza Grande where is located the Presidential Palace, the Major’s Office, the Cathedral, and the Archbishop Palace.  Return to the hotel.

Meals included:  Breakfast, lunch

Day 3:  Quito - Otavalo - San Antonio de Ibarra - Quito (Tue)

• We depart Quito early in the morning for a one-and-a-half drive north. In Otavalo, home of a millenary market, a carefully restored steam engine awaits us.
• At a slow pace we will discover the many wonders hidden in this part of the country: musicians, painters, weavers and the skillful woodcarvers who keep the renowned Quito School style alive. After a tasting of traditional Andean cuisine and a visit to very special export-class rose plantation we return to Quito.

Meals included:  breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 4:  Quito – Urbina - Riobamba (Wed)

• We board our convoy at Quito Chimbacalle station and begin our journey south along the Avenue of Volcanoes. If the weather permits, you can spot up to twenty volcanoes from the train –most extinct or dormant for centuries.
• Here, the Andes range splits into two arms that run parallel down south. The fertile valley trapped between these stone walls hosts a treasure trove of biodiversity. From the comfort of our panoramic cars we watch the change of vegetation and landscape as we slowly climb the Andean highlands to Urbina, the highest point in our itinerary at 11,800 feet above sea level. In the skirts of mount Chimborazo we meet the last ice-merchant and learn the story of his ancestral trade.

Meals included:  breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 5:  Riobamba - Nariz del Diablo - Bucay (Thu)

• We depart Riobamba towards Colta, where the Spanish conquerors built their first settlement in Ecuador. We cross colorful quinoa fields painted in purples, yellows and reds, alternating with endemic species of flora and wildlife, indigenous settlements and the remains of ancient cultures.
• We visit Guamote market, one of the last indigenous markets in the Andes, before continuing south towards the mythical Devil’s Nose pass. A vertiginous descent of 450metres zig zag takes us from the Andean highlands down towards the coastal plains.
• We continue our descent along the narrow Chanchán river gorge and crossing an impressive cloud forest towards the temperate city of Bucay.

Meals included:  breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 6:  Tren Bucay - Guayaquil (Fri)

• The landscape changes again as the train leaves the tropical forest behind. Rice, sugar cane, pineapple and banana plantations pass before our eyes.
• We have lunch at a traditional hacienda, where we can learn about the growing and harvesting of the best cocoa bean in the world. Later, the steam engine whites its way across the fields towards the shores of the Pacific Ocean and the end of our trip in a hotel in Guayaquil for overnight.

Meals included:  breakfast, lunch

Day 7:  Guayaquil City Tour (Sat)

• In the morning, after breakfast, we begin our tour in Guayaquil driving by the Centenario Park in remembrance of the Independence of the city, continuing to the Malecon 2000 known as well as Malecon Simon Bolivar, where we will admire some important historical landmarks such as the Moorish clock tower, the Rotonda monument to San Martin and Bolivar, leaders of South American Independence.  We will visit the legendary Barrio Las Peñas, one of the oldest neighborhood of the colonial times, with its wood houses and narrow cobbled streets, where you can have some fantastic panoramic views of the city and the Guayas River.  Then we will visit the Historical Park where we can found a wild life zone, urban architecture, and a tradition zone.   Lunch and back to the hotel.

Meals included:  breakfast, lunch

Day 8:  Departure from Guayaquil International Airport (Sun)

• Transfer from the hotel to the international airport.  End of the tour.

What to wear:

• Layer of clothes, warm clothing, rainwear, comfortable walking shoes, sunscreen, sunglasses, hat or cap, insect repellent.