Cotopaxi Volcano: Biking Small Group Full Day Tour

Spectacular excursion with our guide Daniel. Adapting to what we were looking for and the weather and our state at each moment. Ascent to the refuge and second phase up to 5000m, with mountain bike descent with incredible views. Best quality price and excellent conversation, explanations and lunch.

Amazing experience. Breath taking from start to finish. Highlight of my time in Ecuador. Transportation was on time. Meals were basic, but enjoyable. Guide was great and very thorough. Trip is not for the faint of heart.

Please make it to Cotopaxi if you’re able. Making it up to the glacier was the highlight of the week. It really is amazing up there. The hike was a little tough but even if you’re in a serges shape it is doable. Our guide was great and very friendly. We did not get to bike down due to a sudden gale storm but with the weather would not have felt safe doing it anyways. The meals were adequate but nothing amazing. Get your own cocoa leaves or chocolate and water before hand. The shop in the park is airport prices.

Great tour with a great company! The tour guides were excellent and provided tour members with great information on the region and the volcano. The hike up was not easy, but doable. Bring a warm hat, coat and gloves!!

The daily tour from Quito to the Cotopaxi volcano is amazing, as far as the weather is okay. We had extreme luck with the weather so both activities were really fun. The only thing I have to say negatively about the tour is that when you book the tour in a hostel, you can pay 50 Dollars. But as far from the price difference everything was perfect. The guides are well educated too. So, to sum up, I can really recommend this tour.

<p>If you are a tourist, wait at least 5 days of being In Quito before you remotely consider doing this tour. I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and thought this would be definately be a piece of cake. I was only in Quito less than 48hours and got extreme mountain sickness. After making it to the Refugee I tried to hike to the glacier. After passing the first bit of snow/ ice on the ground and seeing the glacier I had to turn back because I felt I was getting mountain sickness even though I had been drinking water the whole way up. I threw up a few times and was extremely sick for the remainder of the day. My guide helped me get back to the bus. I did not get to do the bike part of the tour I felt so awful I could not lift my head off the seat infront of me on the bus let alone get off the bus. Everyone else who arrived just a few days ago felt just as bad as I did. I was given Coca Tea to help break up the headache but I really did not feel any good til the next day and was dehydrated. I highly warn anybody who considers doing this tour please wait at least 4-5 days after arriving in Quito to do this tour. Dont push it you will not enjoy it. The views on the mountain are worth the wait. The tour operators should also post a warning in the Important info area warning tourists that are just arriving about having time to acclimatize to a high elevation country. </p> <p>If you actually dont get sick the breakfast/ lunch is good and the views are amazing. There are wild horses on the mountain.</p>

Early in the morning we were picked up with a van, which was easily around the corner. Both breakfast and lunch were included, which made the trip from Quito very easy. It was a hot day, but it got colder and colder as we got higher. Luckily the van drove on for a long time and we only had to climb a short distance. Because the hut we walked to was already higher than Mont Blanc, the altitude could be felt. That made reaching the cabin extra beautiful, which is immortalized as a stamp in our passports. Of the trip to Ecuador, the climb of the Cotopaxi volcano is one of the highlights that sticks with you.

<p>Very well organised tour . The agency made sure they contacted us in advance to agree meeting place . Our guide was incredibly informative and fun . The hike itself was really demanding , this certainly shouldn’t be promoted as suitable for abilities .Overall fantastic day out !</p>

We scheduled the Cotopaxi hiking and biking tour for our third day in Ecuador. Honestly, as we are in the “older” category I had some concerns about hiking at such a high altitude and worried if two days in Quito was enough acclimation. It turned out OK for me but not for my husband (who is six years older than I). We all assembled for the hike at a meeting place in Quito and got on our way. We stopped at a small restaurant for a delicious breakfast of eggs, pancakes with fruit, juice, and coffee. Then on to the national park. Our van climbed and climbed to the parking lot at about 14,000 ft where we started hiking. The trail was a series of switchbacks going up the volcano. It was tough due to the altitude but I wasn’t the last of our group. There were many other people hiking at the same time, including families with children. The view from so high was incredible. My husband decided to return to the van after hiking some. At the end of the trail is a stone house with food and drinks. You can also get your passport stamped, so bring it along. Some of our group continued up further on the volcano to the glacier. We returned to the van by a different, more direct route. Then, the guides drove us further down the volcano so we could start biking. The guides gave us detailed instructions about biking and using our brakes. It was a tough ride down – steep and bumpy with loose gravel. Surprisingly no one wiped out. The van was always near by if you wanted to abort your ride. I made it all the way down. We were very lucky at the end of the ride – the clouds lifted from Cotopazi and we got a full view of the volcano. The ride ended at a small lake, where we loaded up and headed back to Quito, stopping at the same restaurant for a basic but good dinner of chicken, rice, and veggies. Marco was the head guide for the trip. He spoke in Spanish and English, giving us background information about the area and volcano. He was knowledgeable and well spoken. He and the other guide were also attentive to the safety considerations of the tour. And, the van driver did a good job. Overall, this was quite an adventure and exciting.

The tour is very well-organized, breakfast and lunch was very good and the English-speaking guides were friendly and explained us a lot. The hiking was amazing, we even climped until the snow-covered part! When you would like to see as much as possible around the Cotopaxi in just one day, I can really recommend this day trip!