Ecuador is one of the smallest countries in South America and one of the most rewarding to travel. It sits exactly on the equator — the name gives that away — and its geography does something remarkable within a compact space: the Pacific coast, the high Andes, and the Amazon basin all coexist here, and you can move between them in a matter of hours.
The country neighbours Colombia to the north and Peru to the south and east. For all that Quito is the capital and Guayaquil the commercial engine, Ecuador's real draw is its extraordinary natural and cultural variety. Ancient volcanoes shoulder above the Andes on either side of what Alexander von Humboldt called the Avenue of the Volcanoes. Indigenous markets that have been running for centuries sell textiles at Otavalo. Colonial cities like Cuenca have UNESCO World Heritage status. And then there are the Galápagos Islands, sitting 1,000km offshore in the Pacific, in a category of their own.
Ecuador was part of the Inca Empire before Spanish conquest in the 1530s. It won independence in 1822 as part of Gran Colombia, becoming a separate republic in 1830. The country has had a turbulent political history, though the elected governments of the 2000s brought relative stability — a stability that has been tested again in recent years by drug-related violence spilling across from Colombia and the cocaine trade routes that run through Ecuadorian ports.
The people are mostly mestizo, with significant indigenous communities in the highlands and Amazon, and an Afro-Ecuadorian presence on the northern coast. The Kichwa-speaking communities of the Sierra maintain living cultural traditions visible in their markets, clothing, and festivals. Ecuador has more bird species per square kilometre than any country on earth — over 1,600 — and its Amazon rainforest is among the most biodiverse on the planet.
Travel here is relatively affordable, the infrastructure is decent, and distances are short. Most travellers can cover the country's highlights in two to three weeks. Many end up wishing they'd stayed longer.
