3 days / 2 nights hiking the Quilatoa Loop

Travel tips

• The Quilatoa loop is technically from the Panamerican highway through Tigua, the Quilatoa Crater, Sigchos and back to the highway at Saquisili – a whopping 180kms.  But most focus on the section between the Crater and Sigchos, which is around 40km
• You can start / finish at Sigchos or the Quilatoa crater.  We went for Sigchos first and ending up at the crater mainly because we thought it would be nice to finish with the crater and made sense with the altitude to go from the 3180m of Sigchos / 2700m of Isinlivi to the higher 3900m of the crater
• Most take between 2-4 days for the walk.  We did 3 days / 2 nights which was perfect.  You could definitely do it in 2 days / 1 night if you started in Isinlivi.  You could also take longer so that you have the afternoons free, especially if you’re a bit worried by the distance and the altitude.  But we found the 3 days / 2 nights was ideal for the distances and having the first morning and last day afternoon for buses from Latacunga to Sigchos and then the Crater back to Latacunga fitted perfectly
• Pack light – you’ll be carrying whatever you take for the 3 days, so pack light and leave your bags in Latacunga.  There are a few hostels / hotels that allow you to leave your bags there.  We took a private room in Hostal Tiana for the third night (and then on to Cotopaxi) and was perfect
• First day – get any of the regular buses from Latacunga to Sigchos and then its a easy(ish) 14km walk from there to Isinlivi.  Word of warning though – makes sure you get the bus all the way to Sigchos rather than doing what we did which was try to be clever and get off just beforehand.  This turned out to be around 15kms beforehand so we got lost and needed a major detour.  So, key point – don’t be an idiot
• First night make sure you stay at Hostal Taita Cristobal which has wonderful views of the valley and, through eating all together for dinner and breakfast, gives you a great chance to chat with fellow travellers and share routes / tips for the days ahead
• Second day – you have two choices on where to stay depending on how far you want to walk that day.  Option 1 is the standard route which is to walk Isinlivi to stay in Chugchilan.  We decided against this because we arrived there for lunch (Black Sheep Inn is fine) and had the energy to keep going.  So, your second option is to continue for an additional roughly 7kms to near the base of the Quilatoa crater.  We stayed at Hostal Rosita which doesn’t have the views of Hostal Taita Cristobal and is more basic, but its location is perfect
• Third day – you will walk up to the crater, walk around the rim from the North West point to the South West section where there are shops and restaurants, and from where you can take a bus back to Latacunga.  Only around 7kms for the day
• How hard is it?  The total walk is around 40kms and, according to my iPhone, 80k steps and 580 flights of stairs climbed, so its fairly challenging especially if you are not acclimatised to the altitude.  If fairly fit, I’d say the 3 days should be more than manageable.  For those not so fit, the 4 days gives you the time in case you’re super knackered.  Bear in mind a few things though to put you at ease.  Firstly, you can be very flexible with regards to places to stay on the second night, so can adapt depending on how you’re feeling.  Secondly, the walking path regularly passes by some of the roads, so you can ask someone to pick you up and take you to the next town if needed (as we did on the first day when we got hideously and idiotically lost).  There is no climbing or anything like that.  Only walking
• You’ll get lost – the route itself is not as clear as could be at times, which is all parts of the fun and adventure.  To make things even more fun, the locals often give you the wrong directions and the google maps / maps.me etc routes are not always correct.  Just accept that you’re most likely going to get lost!  But to help, follow some of the other hikers and ask for some clear directions from the hostels / hotels who tend to be spot on
• Rain – it could well rain, so so make sure have waterproof boots, jacket, backpack etc
• Altitude – it’s something you have to deal with in this part of the world and, generally speaking, giving yourself some time to acclimatise is key.  You can do various things to help such as take various pills (we took acetazolamide and felt like it helped), drink coca tea (less so in Ecuador interestingly), take pain killers to help with the headache etc, but the main way is simply to give your body time to get used to it.  For the Quilatoa loop, you should be fine by spending a couple of days in Quito at 2850m and then the first two days of the hike are at lower altitudes before the push on the last day to the crater at 3900m.  For those who haven’t been at high altitudes before, expect yourself to become tired quicker than normal and, as you get higher, the feeling a bit like various degrees of a hangover.  The good news is though that the nasty feelings of altitude sickness disappear as you descend.  I’ve had some brutal feelings of altitude sickness and have always been pleasantly amazed at how quickly they disappear by going down
• Safety – we felt safe throughout the time walking the Quilatoa loop
• Bring cash.  No ATMs on the route
• For something more challenging, try Climbing to the summit of Cotopaxi Volcano
• For general tips on having a great week in Ecuador, see A week for the best of mainland Ecuador