Casual Hotels*
Accommodations may vary based on departure date. Any difference from what is listed below can be found by clicking on your desired date on the View Scheduled Dates or Private Dates tabs.
La Mirage Garden Hotel & Spa
Cotacachi (1 night)
Peacocks stroll freely in the lavish gardens of this stately inn, which combines Ecuadorian and European styles. (pool, spa)
Hacienda Zuleta
Zuleta (2 nights)
* Premiere Hotel
Luxuriate at this 4,000-acre working farm and living museum open only to select groups of travelers. Our host is Fernando Polanco, the great-grandson and grandson of former Ecuadorian presidents.
Golden Bay Hotel & Spa
San Cristóbal Island (2 nights)
This lovely eco-friendly hotel combines a modern touch that blends with its natural setting. Access Playa de Oro beach or enjoy the view from the hot tub on the panoramic terrace. (pool, spa)
Royal Palm Hotel Galápagos
Santa Cruz Island (2 nights)
Designed to complement its lush highlands surroundings, this serene hotel features a natural lava tube on its grounds. (pool)
This Trip Is Rated Levels 1-2
Every Backroads trip is designed to appeal to a wide variety of interests and fitness levels. We know your pace may vary from one day to the next—and your traveling companion's may differ somewhat from yours. So we present a range of mileage options, and each day you decide exactly what and how much you want to do.
Daily Route Options (drag to see full )
| Daily Route Options |
| 1 |
Walking/Hiking |
3 |
200 |
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| 2 |
Walking/Hiking |
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4* |
1300 |
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| Walking/Hiking |
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7 |
1300 |
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| Other |
Weaver's Studio Visit (1 Hour) |
| Other |
Women's Community Center Visit (30 Minutes) |
| 3 |
Walking/Hiking |
3* |
100 |
5 |
100 |
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| Walking/Hiking |
4* |
800 |
6 |
800 |
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| Other |
Afternoon Hiking, Embroidery Shop Visit or Optional Horseback Riding |
| 4 |
Other |
La Lobería Walking & Snorkeling (3 Hours) |
| 5 |
Other |
San Cristóbal Snorkeling (6 Hours) |
| 6 |
Walking/Hiking |
2 |
300 |
6 |
500 |
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| Walking/Hiking |
4* |
500 |
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| Other |
Tortuga Bay Kayaking & Snorkeling (2.5 Hours) |
| 7 |
Biking |
14 |
500 |
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| Other |
Giant Tortoise Walk (1.5 Hours) |
| 8 |
Other |
Trip End Flight from Baltra, Galápagos, to Quito |
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Note:
There is less than 10% of riding on hard-packed dirt on this trip. Since the overwhelming majority of the trip is paved, we've elected to use standard road bike tires on our titanium road bikes. Most guests find this to be the right answer. If you prefer to skip the dirt, a shuttle is always a possibility.
* Includes shuttle.
Learn more about how we determine our activity level and fully support a range of abilities and interests.
Please note that our distance and elevation figures come from Ride with GPS. Other sources may give differing elevation figures due to different GPS and mapping technologies and other external factors.
Meals
All breakfasts, 7 lunches, 7 dinners
Available Bike Options
The key to a stellar day’s ride is a bike that’s perfectly in tune with your cycling style… Backroads has you covered with the best bike fleet in the world! Read on for your available bike options for this trip.
Backroads Titanium Bikes (Included in your trip price)
Our custom-built titanium bikes are specially designed for you—and we offer different models for varied terrain so your bike is ideally suited to the region. Our custom-made bikes are included in your trip price.
Touring Bike (Included)
Also Included
- Expertise and services of our experienced Trip Leaders
- Snacks and beverages between meals
- Additional guides and experts from the region on many trips
- Van shuttles to support a variety of route options
- Comprehensive Travel Planner with detailed pre-trip information
- Private guided tours at museums, historic sites, wineries and other select attractions as noted in the Travel Planner
- All gratuities at hotels and restaurants
- Special events, including wine tastings and other select attractions as mentioned in the Travel Planner
- On biking and multi-adventure trips, use of fully equipped Backroads titanium bike plus helmet and accessories
- Trailercycles, carriers, and kid-sized helmets for Family Trips
- Equipment and experienced guides for kayaking, rafting, snorkeling, sailing and canoeing as described
- Park and other entry fees
- Fares for trains, ferries and other modes of travel as listed in the Travel Planner
- Select coach transfers
- Baggage transfers and porterage
Get the Straight Talk about This Trip
We want to make sure you're on the right trip and that you have the best experience possible. Every Backroads trip is unique and this one is no exception.
Travel Time, Internal Flights & Comfort
Please note that there is an ample amount of travel time on this trip, and we may have earlier mornings than you are used to on Backroads trips—including as early as 4 a.m.—due to our flights between the Ecuadorian mainland and the Galápagos Islands. We will be flying on commercial flights with Avianca aboard a twin-jet plane. Once in the Galápagos, the main form of travel is by boat, so be prepared for occasional wet, windy conditions and bring seasickness medication if you think you'll need it. Also, in summer months the waters can be a bit rougher.
Itinerary Changes
The Galápagos Islands are a welcoming and fascinating place, yet complex and at times logistically challenging due to national park regulations. Mid-trip itinerary changes are quite common. Rest assured, if we encounter changes to our planned activities, your Trip Leaders will find alternate activities that you're sure to enjoy.
Service Standards
Although the Galápagos Islands are part of Ecuador, they can feel worlds away from the mainland, including slow or no internet connectivity and ATMs possibly running out of cash. Service at inns and restaurants can lack a sense of urgency when compared with other regions. Your best bet is to sit back, relax and soak in the island way of life.
Terrain & Trail Support
Some hikes on this trip are remote and do not intersect with roads. Vehicles will get us to and from the trailheads, but the nature of these trails is such that we won't see our vehicles along the route. Significant trail support in the form of water, snacks and encouragement is provided by your Backroads leaders and local guides.
Hiking on Your Own
We provide plenty of hiking options and ample trail support so that you can hike at your chosen pace throughout the trip. However, in the Galápagos, in accordance with the national parks' environmental protection regulations, hikers need to be accompanied by our local naturalist and hike in designated areas.
Why Travel with Backroads in Ecuador
The Right Local Pairings
Our Trip Leaders combine deep local expertise with a firm grasp of North American expectations around quality of service. By the same token, we pair experienced Backroads leaders with local guides who know how to cater to your needs while cracking open the culture or natural history in ways that are meaningful, memorable and often magical.
We Invented the Multi-Adventure Trip
After more than 30 years of creating Backroads Multi-Adventures, our trip designers know how to blend the perfect balance of biking and hiking with other activities to showcase the best of a region. And then they arrange the seamless transitions that would be so hard to orchestrate on your own—adding dimensions to your trip that are exciting, inspiring and just plain fun.
Experts with Secrets to Share
In choosing the ideal experts to enrich your travel experience, we look for people with a wealth of local knowledge, but also the ability to convey their insights in English. Too often travelers find themselves smiling politely, not quite understanding what they're being told. Our experts share intriguing facts, anecdotes and inside stories that stay with you forever.
The Best Leaders in Ecuador
Backroads has the best-qualified people to lead your trip in Ecuador, and our guests back that up, rating our Trip Leaders an average of 9.75 out of 10 for all-around quality of performance. Get the facts (and no fluff) on how we recruit and develop the very best people for your trip.
We Speak the Language
If we told you many companies' leaders can't actually speak the language where they lead trips, you'd say incroyable... ridicolo... không the tha thú. At Backroads, fluency in the local language is a given. Find out more on the best leader recruitment, training and development in the business. (And by the way, that was "unforgivable" in Vietnamese.)
Kids Who Aren't Kids Anymore
Only Backroads offers active trips in Ecuador designed for families with older teens and 20s. These trips are aimed at you and the amazingly grownup members of your clan—whether they're almost high school grads, already in college or further along. Find out more in this blog post.
Quality You Can Measure
Since 1979, Backroads Founder and President Tom Hale has shown that staying #1 means constantly evaluating our performance using the best possible source of information: our guests. As we systematically analyze your feedback on our trip consultants, leaders, hotels, meals and on-trip activities, we never stop working to make a great company even better.
We've Set the Standard
For nearly four decades we've worked to earn and maintain our right to call Backroads the world's #1 active travel company. In pursuing that vision on behalf of our guests, we believe we've set the standard for our industry—captured in the Backroads Quality Guide, which clearly sets out the benchmarks of excellence, choice and support that we live by
