Packed like a knee-cap between Peru and Colombia , Ecuador contains within its borders an improbable variety of landscape and culture. For the mountaineer, it is bisected by an epic stretch of the northern Andes . For the jungle explorer, there is a biological mother lode within the Amazonian Oriente. The sea-minded are rewarded with miles of Pacific coastline, to say nothing of the living wonders of the Galapagos Islands . Not only are these regions highly defined, but excluding Galapagos they are also wonderfully contiguous. The entire country is about the size of Washington state, and it is home to some of the world’s most extraordinary national parks. In a matter of two hundred miles, the traveler can penetrate all of the mainland’s defining regions–the coastal lowlands in the West, the volcanic central highlands, and the rainforests of the East, or Oriente.
Ecuador’ s climate is equally generous to the traveler. Embracing the Pacific, Ecuador rests squarely on the equator (hence its name). Here, seasons are defined more by rainfall than temperature. A warm rainy season lasts from January to April, and May through December is characterized by a cooler, drier period that is ideally timed for a summer trip.
In one small country that spans from the Galapagos Islands , to the Pacific Coast , up to the Andes Mountains and down to the world´s largest rainforest, the Amazon Basin .
Ecuador’ s unequalled natural beauty, diverse population, and fascinating history make it an incredible travel destination.
Ecuador is located on the northwestern coast of South America , between Peru to the south and east and Colombia to the north. Ecuador also owns the famous Galapagos Islands , located approximately 1,000 kilometers off the coast. Ecuador covers 256,370 square kilometers of land and is the smallest country in South America after Uruguay and the Guianas.
Despite Ecuador’ s diminutive size – about equal to the North American state of Colorado – it is one of the most geographically diverse countries in the world. Ecuador is comprised of four distinct geographical regions: El Oriente (Amazon jungle) in the east, La Sierra ( Andes mountains) in the center, La Costa (the Pacific coastal lowlands) in the west, and the majestic Galapagos Islands off the coast.
On account of Ecuador’ s varied regions and because of its location directly atop the equator, it is an excellent travel destination year-round. Rather than rotating through four seasons, most of Ecuador experiences oscillating wet and dry periods.
