Cotopaxi National Park and Inca Ruins Day Trip from Quito

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.00 (8 reviews)

Free cancellation

1/26

Duration8m–9m

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN · ES

PickupAt your hotel

Hike through páramo and forest to reach a volcano, then eat lunch surrounded by Inca walls

A private day trip from Quito to Cotopaxi National Park combines hiking through high-altitude ecosystems around Ecuador's second-most-visited national park with a visit to San Agustin de Callo, a colonial hacienda built over Inca structures where you eat lunch inside an Inca temple. A certified bilingual guide leads the day, hotel pickup is included, and you return by mid-afternoon.

8m–9m

Step-by-step itinerary

Cotopaxi National Park and Inca Ruins Tour

Start at 8:00 a.m. from hotel
Explore Cotopaxi Volcano and surroundings
Observe wildlife in Cotopaxi National Park
Visit San Agustin de Callo hacienda
Enjoy traditional lunch at Inca temple
Return to hotel by 4:30 p.m.

The Experience

The tour starts with pickup from your Quito hotel at 8:00 a.m. and heads toward Cotopaxi Volcano, which rises to 5,897 meters. By around 9:30 a.m. you're hiking through the 33,300-hectare national park, moving through changing ecosystems as elevation increases—pristine forests, páramo grassland, mountain lakes, and wild horses. The guide points out the fauna that lives in the reserve: condors, pumas, spectacled bears, Andean foxes, llamas, and endemic species like the carunculated caracara. The park is the second most visited in Ecuador, and the day's hiking lets you see why.

After the morning in the park, you visit San Agustin de Callo, a colonial-era hacienda built directly over Inca stone structures from the 15th century. Lunch happens inside an Inca temple—a room with original Inca walls still standing. You eat surrounded by that history and by friendly llamas that roam the hacienda grounds. The guide explains the site's past while you eat, connecting what you saw in the park to the human settlement that once occupied this region.

The return to your Quito hotel happens around 4:30 p.m. Private transportation, the certified bilingual guide, all park fees and taxes, and lunch are included in the booking.

What’s included

Private transportation with hotel pickup and return.
certified bilingual tour guide.
lunch served inside an Inca temple at San Agustin de Callo.
all national park fees and taxes.

Good to know

Easy physical levelWheelchair accessibleInfant seats availableNot for pregnant travelersNot for heart conditionsInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Ecuador Best Tours

Is this one for you?Choose this tour if you speak English or Spanish and want a guide who can explain the park's ecology and the hacienda's history in real time. The private format and bilingual guide mean you move at your own pace and get commentary tailored to what you're seeing, rather than following a fixed group schedule.