Where to stay in Ecuador

Quito

• La Floresta and Gonzalez Suarez are the comfortable neighbourhoods to base yourself in: residential, walkable in the day, plenty of restaurants.
• The old town is spectacular and empties at night. Staying there is fine; walking back to it at 23:00 is not.
• La Mariscal, the old backpacker district, has declined and is where a large share of visitor robberies happen after dark. Read a recent review, not a 2015 guidebook.
• A hostel or hotel with 24-hour reception is worth paying for in both cities.

The rest of the mainland

• Cuenca is the loveliest city to stay in and is cheap by any standard.
• Banos, Mindo, Otavalo and Vilcabamba all run on small family-owned places that are excellent value and rarely need booking far ahead.
• Amazon lodges are all-inclusive packages bought with the transport, not rooms you book separately.
• Haciendas in the sierra are a genuine highlight: converted estate houses, fires lit in the evening, and far cheaper than the equivalent anywhere in Europe.

The Galapagos

• This is where the budget goes, and there are two ways to do it.
• A cruise covers the outer islands and is the only way to see several of them. It is expensive and it is the real experience.
• Island-hopping from hotels on Santa Cruz, San Cristobal and Isabela is far cheaper, uses day tours and the inter-island ferries, and misses the remote sites.
• You must have a booking before you fly. It is checked with the transit control card.
• Book the cruise well ahead for June to September and around Christmas.

Practical checks

• Hot water at altitude is worth confirming. Electric shower heads are common and produce a trickle of warm water rather than a shower.
• Heating almost never exists in the sierra, where nights are cold all year. Ask for extra blankets.
• Mosquito nets on the coast and in the Amazon.
• Ask how to get back at night before booking somewhere out of the centre. The answer should be "a taxi we call for you".