Hiking the Quilotoa Loop

The Quilotoa Loop is a self guided hike (you can get a guide but really no need) through the Andean Mountains taking anywhere between 2-4 days but most people do it in 3 days. It’s an undulated ring path that travels between the little Andean towns of Sigchos, Isinlivi, Chugchilan and Quilotoa. You can either start at the crater lake or finish there. The whole loop is roughly 36 km in total. Make sure to bring enough cash with you as there are no ATMs along the way and most places will only take cash.

Although the trail will be easier starting at the lake as it will be mostly don hill from here, we preferred finishing at the lake as you have something to look forward to for the three days leading up to it.

We stayed in Latacunga the night before starting the hike and left our big rucksacks in the hostel and just took day bags with us. From Secret Gardens in Cotopaxi we got dropped to the bus terminal in Latacunga and checked the times of the buses heading to Sigchos the next day. We stayed in a lovely hostel in Latacunga called Hostel Sendero de Volcanes. We had a private room including breakfast and locker storage for $7 a night. They also did our laundry for us late that evening and had it ready in two hours.

From Latacunga we got the bus at 7am the next day to head to Sigchos, the start of the Quilotoa loop for us. As much as I give out about it, downloading maps.me is essential for this hike especially without a guide. The bus cost $2.30 and takes 2 hours to get to Sigchos from Latacunga. For anyone not used to buses winding around hair pin bends on the side of mountains, this journey can be hard to relax on.

Day 1:

The hike starts going downhill for a bit into the valley, then when you cross the river the trail goes basically vertically up and you’ve to climb to the top before it levels out and you walk along the road to Isinlivi. We weren’t initially planning on staying in Isinlivi, we were planning on just smashing it out and walking straight to Chugchilan but we had heard of a really nice hostel, LluLlu Llama so we decided to stop for lunch and check it out. By the time we decided we would go to Isinlivi, we had come off the main route for it so ended up walking through fields with bulls and having to scramble under barbed wire twice. I’m fairly sure that wasn’t on the most direct route. It took us about 3 hours to reach the village of Isinlivi and we were delighted to see LluLlu Llama at the end of the village.

It was so nice here we decided to stay. It’s definitely the nicest hostel in Isinlivi, but that wouldn’t be hard as there is literally nothing there bar a shop, another hostel and an internet cafe. LluLlu Llama has a yoga studio, a sauna and jacuzzi and a lovely common area to chill out in. Their dog Baloo is the friendliest Saint Bernard and so cute. In LluLlu Llama we had a three course meal, breakfast the next morning, free coffee and tea all day, use of the sauna and jacuzzi and a private room for $19 each. Only thing is there is no wifi here. Great value.

Day 2:

We set off early (8 am), too early as there was no need but it does start to get cooler past 2 pm, to Chugchilan. The route is more through fields, by streams and over logs acting as bridges. It is downhill for the first hour, then flat and then a horrific uphill for the last hour or so. The hostel we stayed at, Cloud Forest Hostal, is well sign posted the entire way. Along the way we met children who were very curious and asked me if i had candy. I said no but I had a banana. The little girls face lit up when I offered her the banana. The banana had seen better days and I cant imagine any Irish child being thrilled with a beaten, black banana. A few children along the way asked me if i had food to spare so it’s worth bringing a bag of sweets or fruit for the children. We arrived to Cloud Forest at 11.30 am which was too early as there is nothing to do in this village. But the hostel was lovely and had WiFi so we caught up on some life admin. This hostel was great, one of the best free breakfast we had yet. We had a private room again with two massive double beds, a private bathroom, three course meal and breakfast the next day for $15, can’t beat it.

Day 3:

This was by far the toughest day, partly due to my poor navigation skills and inability to read a map and also due to the highest point around the crater sitting at over 3900 m. From Cloud forest, the trail continues uphill until the end of the village and then starts to decline from the Country Pub until the bottom of the valley. This climb was a tough one out of the valley, unlike the other days, this is only the start of the climbing out of valley.

We arrived at the crater lake at 12 pm and were rewarded with the most magnificent view of a blue and turquoise lake that looked as smooth as marble and changed colour as the clouds moved.

The trail around the crater can take up to 5 hours to hike we had been told and we started off hiking around the lake hoping to find a turn off for Quilotoa village soon. We started to hike the long way around the lake and then turned around when we realised we would have to hike the entire way around to get to the village.

We turned around and got back to the start point but feeling a bit tired and being too lazy we opted to go for the trail which descended around the crater first, not knowing if we start down, we’ll have to come back up at some stage. In the middle we saw a trail above us and had to scramble on hands and knees basically canyoning without ropes up to the top of the crater to find the trail. This was the toughest part but is easily avoided by sticking to the most direct route and the signs! At 2 pm we arrived to Quilotoa, it is by far the busiest of the Andrean villages and has plenty of hostels, a few hotels, shops and restaurants. A lot of people just arrive here by car or bus to view the lake or hike around the crater and go home. Smart people. We got lunch here and caught a bus back to Latacunga completely exhausted at 3 pm. On the last day we had racked up 20 km of hiking and the previous two days had both been 15 km. Overall during the three days we had walked in excess of 51 km. The bus goes every hour back to Latacunga from Quilotoa and costs $2. The bus took just under 2 hours and was pretty comfortable.

Along the way we met some friendly faces, more animals then other hikers, the trail was fairly quiet. It will be one of the most memorable few days in Ecuador.