Two Worlds, One Journey: Amazon Jungle and Galápagos Islands

Your journey begins in La Floresta, the creative nightlife and artist district of Quito: brick houses from the 1930s, small cafés, and the view down into the green Guápulo valley. You will stay here for two nights before moving on to the rainforest.

The heart of the city is the colonial center, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1978: narrow cobblestone streets, whitewashed facades, topped with the richly decorated domes of the old town churches. Together with a local guide, you will walk across Plaza Grande, past the Government Palace, the gold-adorned church La Compañía, and the San Francisco Monastery, whose first stone was laid just five days after the founding of the city in 1534. On Calle La Ronda, ancient crafts continue, while in the Casa del Alabado Museum, a curator tells you about the worldview of Ecuador's indigenous cultures.

How you spend the day will be determined together. For those interested in culinary experiences, we organize a tour of the Mercado de San Francisco, where a guide takes you to freshly pressed Andean fruits and a Locro Quiteño, before the afternoon concludes with a guided chocolate tasting of Ecuadorian Arriba cocoa. A private mixology session under the domes of a converted church, led by an experienced bartender, can also be arranged for you. For those who prefer to get hands-on, you can do so alongside a guide: by mixing your own juice at the market stall, participating in a traditional herbal cleansing with a local Curandero, or visiting the first agave museum in South America, complete with its own garden and distillery. For an excursion to Mitad del Mundo, less than 45 minutes away, your private driver will pick you up directly at the hotel. There, you stand with one leg in the northern and one in the southern hemisphere, overlooking the Pululahua volcanic crater.

A short flight takes you today from Quito to Coca, the gateway to the Ecuadorian Amazon. By motorboat, you will travel over the Río Napo, then in a paddle canoe through flooded forest channels to the Garzacocha Lagoon, where your eco-lodge lies, right in the buffer zone of Yasuní National Park, one of the most biodiverse spots on Earth. The coming days bring hikes through primary forest and canoe trips by day and night on the lagoon, where caimans and night monkeys are moving around, while a 30-meter-high observation tower opens up the view over the treetops at sunrise. Highlights include an early excursion to a clay lick where hundreds of parrots and parakeets gather in the morning, as well as a visit to a Kichwa family who will show you their daily life by the river.

From the forests of the Amazon, your journey leads back to the Andes, to Hacienda Zuleta in the high valley of Angochagua. This several hundred years-old estate has belonged to the same family for generations, two of whom have even served as Ecuadorian presidents, and to this day, it is actively farmed and lived in: with its own cheese factory, a large vegetable garden for the kitchen, and an embroidery workshop, where women from the area carry on the traditional Zuleta hand embroidery. On the estate’s own Zuleteño horses, you can ride over wide lands, accompanied by an experienced rider from the hacienda, with a view of the snow-capped summit of Cayambe and the striking Imbabura, passing fields and small farms. In the Cóndor Huasi rescue project, you will also learn how injured and captive-born Andean condors are prepared for their release into the wild. After the humid, warm days in the rainforest, the clear, cool Andean air feels good, and the silence of the old hacienda provides pleasant tranquility before continuing towards the Pacific, to the Galápagos Islands, where giant tortoises, sea lions, and blue-footed boobies naturally cross your path.

After Zuleta, your journey takes you to the Galápagos Islands, where you will spend a week aboard the Galapagos Explorer. The yacht was built in 1987 in an Italian shipyard; today, its newly redesigned interior by &Beyond combines European heritage with Ecuadorian design. On board, a maximum of twelve guests share three decks, accompanied by almost as large a crew, while stabilizers and a bow thruster keep the journey between the islands smooth.
Whether the route goes over the eastern islands Española and Genovesa or over the younger volcanic western islands Isabela and Fernandina, we will decide together with you. One way or another, the wildlife determines each day, which here shows no fear of humans: blue-footed boobies dance during courtship, frigatebirds inflate their red throat sacs, and marine iguanas lie on the rocks, undisturbed by your proximity. While snorkeling, you swim alongside Galápagos penguins, sea turtles, and sea lions, close enough to track every movement underwater. On land and in the water, you are always accompanied by a naturalist guide who shows you how to distinguish the species of the individual islands.

What shapes the days just as much as the wildlife unafraid of humans is the crew: the captain, cruise director, guides, bartender, and kitchen team quickly get to know your preferences—what water, which wine, and which cocktails you enjoy—and bring you new recommendations at the bar night after night. The journey is also a culinary delight: local ingredients meet international finesse.