Otavalo Tour from Quito Visiting Cayambe, Indigenous Market

Visiting Cayambe was very fascinating! Learning about the making of bizchocos and tasting the final product very nice. Our guide Carlos was very knowledgeable about the origin and customs of the places we stopped. A well spent day!

Our guide, Irene, was wonderful. She shared a lot of interesting facts, took us to unusual places, and we learned more than we were on our own.

Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. We had a small group of 6 people, and we stopped in Cayambe at a bizcocho store to enjoy a delicious treat and coffee. Then we went to the equator line at Quitsato to see the sundial which was informative and fun. The lake was a short stop for a photo. The waterfalls were beautiful and the hike was a nice break. We had lunch together as a group near Otovalo market then had 1.5 hours to spend there- enough time on a Tuesday. Enjoyed everyone we met in our group, and would recommend this!

Cayambe and its biscochos was mildly interesting, but the marketplace at Otavalo was huge. However, it mostly featured garments. 3 hours was a bit too long to spend there (including getting lunch (not included) at a restaurant nearby).

You can’t go wrong with a Quito Tour Bus tour led by Irene! This was my first or three tours with Irene during my week-long visit to Ecuador. Her English is very good, she is very knowledgeable, and is very enthusiastic about sharing her country with tourists. It was a really great day. And I got lots of great items at the market. I highly recommend this tour!!!

Nice trip. Guide was great. Charging double for going solo will keep me from booking in the future. The stop at the lake is unnecessary. Fill that with something interesting.

The driver and guide were nice however gave barely any history on Ecuador. Loved talking about 2 local fruit. We started by going to a Café in front of the real mitad del mundo. A local makes biscoche (flaked bread that comes out crispy and you eat it with a slice of cheese and some cajeta). It's a tourist trap because the aim is for you to buy their products which are absurdly overpriced (15 dollars for a tiny bottle of jam). We spent way too much time there. Way too much time. Almost 2 hours doing that and then having a basic breakfest and I mean basic as in eggs and cofee. Then we took pictures at the mitad mundo. We then went to Lake San pablo. We literally got out for 30 mins and just stared at the lake. It is surrounded by 3 volcanoes. It is not a special lake. It is not crater lake. It is NOT Laguna Cuicocha like the ad says. I repeat they did not take us to what the ad says we do. We didn't even take a boat trip. I overheard the driver and guide talk about where is the boat. They then talked amongst themselves some more and we all literally sat there at just looked at the lake. There was a small boat disembarking. We then got back on the van. We then proceeded to go down a very twisty messed up road to take us to the falls. That was the highlight. It was nice (although after leaving the falls, there was a quicker flat surface route as evidenced by our drive out of there). At some point we went to a local artisan house where the woman artisan said o let me go get dressed in traditional costume. Came back and started carving a flute and then played. Another tourist scam. It said it was a music academy. Lots of flute trinkets to buy. I walked out after the mini performance hoping to spur others to come out as we were just sitting there looking at each other. We then went to eat in Otavalo(1 block from the market). That restaurant was actually good and very well priced. We then got 1.5 hours foe the market . The market was ilon a Wed. And was so so. This is not the Tours fault. The market is typical of any other market in peru or ecuador. Same stuff and the prices are barely lower than the city....15 to 18 dollars for a blanket negotiated vs 25 26 in the city for example...tip forego the long excursion to literally save a few bucks and waste hours. And that's it. Back on the road. With traffic. We got back around 730pm. We left at 715am. Had I known we were not going to the crater lake, I would have rented a car. Got the market, lake and falls done and been back before 3pm. A lot of time was wasted at that Cafe and the "artisan" house. So this tour promised something and it did not deliver. I asked the guide on the way back. And she started bumbling and then said "we are not in charge of the itinerary, the tour company gives us the itinerary, we were not aware that the app says we would go to that lake." Fair enough I don't expect the workers to know what people bought and what they expected. I would never do this again and I would never book with this tour again, next time. I'm grabbing a rental car or some other company that actually takes you to where they say they will when they sold the package. The vans seats don't recline which was just irritating but whatever. It's there for details.

Patricia and Alex were fantastic I had a great day they were very knowledgeable and enjoyed the day.

This was a poorly managed trip - from pick up to drop off, the tour lasted 12 hours and 35 minutes. The first 90 minutes of the tour was picking up the last 2 parties joining the trip. The ad says 30 minute stop at Cayamba - we were there over 90 minutes - long delay for breakfast stop. We had to pay for visit at equator (only $3). Enjoyed the visit at the textile shop but again we were late and only saw last part of presentation. Stopped for lunch outside the market, again - very slow service, we left without eating after 45 minutes and the lunch had been preordered. Finally got to the Otavalo market at 3:45 pm. Left the hotel at 7 am so it was a very long, slow trip. Sorry, can't recomend this vendor.

Our guide was Marco and was wonderful. We received much more than was described. There was plenty of time and never felt rushed.