Luxury Vacations in Ecuador

Balancing on the Equator, this is a country straddling many worlds. Ecuador is best known, perhaps, for the Galápagos Islands, where in 1835, Charles Darwin was inspired to develop his Theory of Evolution. But the rich biodiversity of the Pacific Ocean archipelago is mirrored on the mainland, 600 miles to the east, and as the country is small compared to its South American neighbors, it is possible to visit several of its 40 national parks and reserves in one trip.

Top of your list should be the Mashpi Rainforest Biodiversity Reserve, where visitors can glide through the cloud forest on a Dragonfly aerial gondola, looking out for birds and butterflies; Cotopaxi National Park in the Andean highlands, where wild horses roam and condors fly over a volcanic landscape of waterfalls and lagoons; and the Ecuadorian Amazon, home to caiman and the three-toed sloth. In contrast, Quito is a colonial city built on Inca ruins, its Old Town a maze of narrow cobbled streets. It is also now the center of a thriving culinary scene that takes full advantage of the abundant seafood, vegetables, fruits and other ingredients drawn from Ecuador’s lush coastline and varied landscapes.