Travel in Ecuador

The Galápagos Islands, although remote, attract a lot of tourists — more 20,000 every year, to be precise. While it’s easy for those tourists to reach the island of San Cristóbal or Baltra thanks to daily commercial flights from the Ecuadorian mainland, getting around the rest of the archipelago is a different story.

When is the best time to visit the Galapagos Islands? As a bucket list destination for so many, the answer might be “anytime you can.” This archipelago in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Ecuador is near the equator, which means the weather is manageable all year long. It varies only slightly in temperature (warm or hot) and wetness (a little rainy or dry). But regardless of season, there is always plenty of wildlife to see while visiting the archipelago: Wildlife spotting on land, as well as while diving and snorkeling, is most visitors’ focus. And there are also several ways to do these activities—so it’s important to strategize when to go in order to decide how to spend your time and money on your trip.

Travel advisors had a chance to see the otherworldly landscapes and iconic animals of the Galápagos Islands during a series of recent FAM trips hosted by HX (formerly Hurtigruten Expeditions).

After saving up for years, my partner and I spent 17 months traveling around the world.

Dec 19, 2024 • 6 min read

Australian officials have issued warnings for travelers to be alert for potential methanol poisoning after seven tourists were hospitalized in Fiji last week after drinking alcohol-based cocktails at a luxury resort bar. The alert comes less than a month after six backpackers in Laos died, and others were hospitalized, from what some officials worldwide suspect was methanol poisoning. An investigation into causes behind the hospitalizations in Fiji is ongoing, according to the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, which said the cases are an isolated event.

In 1994, just after I graduated from college, I put on a backpack and set off to see the world. I climbed the Andes in Ecuador, taught English in Cambodia and spent months visiting monasteries in Tibet. It was the most transformative period of my life.

Dec 2, 2024 • 10 min read

I was lying wide awake on a hospital bed in Ecuador, hoping for sleep yet fearful that if I dozed off, I'd miss something crucial.

Traveling around the Galápagos Islands is a straight-forward affair: All you have to do is show up with the right gear, and the islands (and their precious animal inhabitants) will put on the best show you’ve ever seen. This should be simple. Surely, if the 100-year-old giant tortoises can stay calm and strike a pose while a dozen teary-eyed tourists gawk at them from six feet away, you can pack the right kind of socks.

Whale!” Mark shouted at breakfast. The rest of us passengers, the ship’s captain, and the naturalist guides stood up at once. We lifted the binoculars strapped around our necks and scanned the horizon from the sundeck. The Bolivar Channel is the best place to see whales around the Galápagos Islands, and eagle-eyed Mark, with his patience and determination, had spotted a splash nearby. A fin appeared and we all gasped and whooped.

In a holiday promotion to end them all, one cruise line is giving away a sailing that lasts more than 120 days and visits dozens of countries. If you've ever dreamed of setting sail on a world cruise, Holland America's latest contest, which kicks off in early December, is one you won't want to miss.

For 60 years, Baltazar Ushca worked a rare but rigorous trade: ice merchant. Once or twice a week, he climbed snow-capped Mount Chimborazo, Ecuador’s highest peak, to hack ice from a glacier with a pickax, wrap the 60-pound blocks in hay and transport them on the backs of his donkeys. He would then sell them to villagers who did not have electricity and needed refrigeration to conserve their food.

While women have been traveling the world on their own for decades (centuries, really), a 2024 report from Booking.com reveals that solo travel is surging this year, in particular.The booking engine says 54 percent of women are embracing solo journeys.A separate report from Road Scholar, which offers educational travel for older adults, says up to 85 percent of the company’s tour participants that travel solo are women. These reports underscore what plenty of female travelers have long known: Solo women travelers are a force to be reckoned with. Write us off at your own peril.Within the travel industry itself, there are a number of high-profile solo female travelers who are constantly serving up an inspiring look at what it’s like to be a woman exploring the world boldly - doing so with comfort, ease, and a level sheer joy that’s contagious.So, rather than publish another staid round-up of destinations that might be worth considering if you’re a woman traveling alone, we asked a handful of these fearless, globetrotting women what their favorite destinations are to explore solo and why.Consider this your insider’s destination guide, curated by a handful of women who, collectively, have visited nearly every corner of the globe and have done so with abandon.

Born in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, Nemonte Nenquimo, an Indigenous Waorani woman and activist, traveled a long and arduous path to become one of the earth’s fiercest defenders. In her new memoir, We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People, released September 17, she shares the story of that journey, charting her experience growing up in the forest—a place where months are measured in moons, shamans and plant medicines heal, and dreams and intuition guide one’s path in life—as well as the pain and trauma inflicted by missionaries, oil companies, and governments that have long attempted to erase Indigenous culture and exploit their homelands. Now a leading figure in climate activism, Nenquimo’s book is also the first of its kind to be written by an Indigenous person from the Ecuadorian Amazon, where ancestral knowledge and wisdom about life in the forest have been passed down orally for millenia and the tradition of storytelling never manifests on paper. “For us, stories are living beings,” she writes in the introduction. “Our stories have never been written down. Not like this.”

Members of American Airlines AAdvantage have a new option in South America via budget airline JetSmart.

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Always wanted to see Antarctica? Holland America Line this week unveiled an unusual new option for getting there.

Galapagos cruises are the best way to experience the collection of remote, mostly uninhabited islands about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. But cruises to the Galapagos Islands aren’t like cruises anywhere else. The ships here are smaller, with some carrying as few as 16 passengers. There are no water slides, elaborate Broadway shows, casinos, or wild nightclubs. And don’t expect big bus tours in port either.

Whether you’re going on a mellow road trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway or trekking the entirety of the John Muir Trail, one thing’s for certain: you’re going to need an awesome pair of hiking socks. Though top brands might seem pricey at first glance, it’s important to remember that hiking socks are your first (and best) defense against blisters on the trail. Natural fibers, like Alpaca and Merino wool, are great at odor-prevention, insulation, and wicking away sweat. Synthetic materials, on the other hand, are likely to be a bit more durable and affordable.The long and the short of it is that having the right hiking socks makes a big difference.

This is part of Global Sounds, a collection of stories spotlighting the music trends forging connections in 2024.