The Regions of Ecuador: El Oriente (Amazon) | La Sierra (Andes) | La Costa (Coast) | Galapagos Islands |
| Galapagos Islands |
| Related Galapagos Pages |
| Galapagos Tours |
| Galapagos National Parks |
| Domestic Flights |
| Interactive Galapagos Map |
| Galapagos Map |
| Galapagos Hotels |
| Galapagos Scuba Diving |
| Galapagos Diving Tours |
A modern Garden of Eden and a living laboratory of evolution, the Galapagos are unique on the planet. The Islands are peaks of enormous underwater volcanoes, and having never been connected with the South American continent, Galapagos’ flora and fauna developed in complete isolation, a fact that in many ways allowed Charles Darwin to form his theory of evolution. The Galapagos Islands are truly a wonder that should not be missed. Where else can you swim with hammerhead sharks, penguins, sea lions, and hundreds of tropical reef fish, and sleep on a volcanic peak?
Learn more about the Galapagos, or better, go there on a cruise!
| El Oriente (Amazon) |
| Related Amazon Pages |
| Amazon Hotels |
| Amazon Rainforest Tours |
| Amazon Peoples |
| Amazon National Parks |
| Domestic Flights in Ecuador |
| Tena Guide |
The Amazon jungle is without a doubt Creation’s greatest achievement, moreover, Eastern Ecuador, known as El Oriente, is blessed with some of the Amazon’s most biologically diverse, pristine areas. Experience nature’s most impressive orchestration of life; canoe along meandering rivers; climb into the canopy; hike along primary forest trails, learn about medicinal rainforest plants, or just “be” amidst the teeming forest.
Learn more about the Amazon, or better, visit the Amazon by staying in a rainforest lodge.
| La Sierra (Andes highlands) |
| Related Andes Pages |
| Andes & Amazon National Parks |
| Andes National Parks |
| Climbing & Hiking |
| Climbing & Hiking Tours |
| Haciendas |
| Mountain Bike Tours |
Quintessential Ecuador, La Sierra is the most visited region in the country. Boasting condors, glaciated volcanoes, bustling Indian markets, grand old haciendas, cloudforests, Incan ruins, and high-altitude paramo grasslands, it is hard not to love.
The Andes form a mountainous backbone that divides Ecuador’s lowland coastal plains and its treasured share of the Amazon jungle. In addition to serving as the physical middle, or spine, of Ecuador, La Sierra, as home to nearly 50% of the country’s population, and Quito, its capital city, occupies a place of chief political and economic importance.
Quito, Ecuador’s capital is where most travelers arrive and tend to use it as their base for the rest of their travels around Ecuador.
Learn more about the Andes!
| La Costa (Coastal lowlands) |
| Related Coast Pages |
| Coast Hotels |
| Coast National Parks |
| Paragliding/Handgliding |
| Scuba Diving |
| Scuba Diving Tours |
| Surfing Tours |
| Transportation in Ecuador |
| Whale-watching |
Almost a three-hundred-mile stretch, Ecuador’s Pacific coast is a combination of bikini-friendly beaches, mangrove forests, marshes, estuaries, and small fishing villages. The North is wet, wild, relatively undiscovered, and renowned for its vibrant afro-Ecuadorian communities which highlight the year with a Marimba dance festival. The drier and cooler Central and Southern Coast regions offer popular beach resort destinations. Furthermore, the vigorous port city of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city, sits tucked behind the Santa Elena Peninsula at the mouth of the Guayas River.
Learn more about the Coast!
On this page: El Oriente (Amazon) | La Sierra (Andes) | La Costa (Coast) | Galapagos Islands
Updated August 18, 2023