Inca Trail to Ingapirca

very friendly guide, wanted to tell us a lot, however there was sometimes a language barrier. In 1 hour we went up 800 m and that was pretty tough. We could have taken longer because we still had to wait 40 min for the driver because the driver did not answer his phone.

The booking process for this tour was very easy and felt very secure. We ended up having to cancel at the last minute since we decided to postpone our trip to Cuenca because of recent unrest. Cuenca Bestours were willing to cancel our tour and processed a full refund within a couple of days. We will definitely book with them again when we return.

A highlight of our trip to Ecuador! The hike starts at the beautiful Laguna Culebrillas. We walked past ruins, along the mountains, on the Inca Trail, and finished at the Ingapirca ruins. Absolutely stunning mountain views the entire time. Our guide, Wilson, was fantastic! He was perfectly professional and extremely knowledgeable; we learned a lot over the course of the day.

The hike was incredible, Juan was so knowledgeable about the landscape, plants, and animals. We were the only people we saw for the entire hike and had Sangay all to ourselves! El trek fue increíble, Juan tuve mucho conocimiento sobre el paisaje y la naturaleza. Fuimos solos en todo el trek y no vimos a nadie.

While staying in Cuenca, we did two half-day hikes at nearby national parks. Both were arranged ahead of time through Cuenca Bestours. Great communication all the way along, and our guides were wonderful. Each tour included pick up and drop off at our hotel. The Ingapirka/Inca Trail hike started in Sangay National Park at Laguna Culebrillas. From there our guide, Luis, led us along a portion of the Inca trail that once connected Quito with Cusco, including a stop at the ruins of an Incan way station. We never saw a single other hiker along the way—just a couple of caballeros going in the opposite direction. It was a fairly easy hike, not too much going up, but it’s soggy and there was a lot of puddle & stream jumping toward the end, so we were glad to have waterproof boots because our shiny new hikers were COVERED in mud by the end of the hike. I also recommend wearing quick-drying wool socks because I sometimes slammed a foot into water that flooded my entire boot. This biosphere was also a paramo, but it felt different from Cajas. Cajas is, like, this crazy terrain that completely changes every time you turn a corner, whereas the scenery along this portion of the Inka Trail is more uniform with incredible views of mountainscapes and clouds. We hiked for 3 ½ hours with gorgeous views, and then a driver brought us to the town of Ingapirka where we relaxed in a local restaurant and enjoyed a hot lunch and warm Ecuadorian moonshine (which I suspect was a perk of being with Luis, a homegrown Ingapirkan). Next came a short guided tour of the Ingapirka ruins. It was interesting to see the blending of Cañari and Incan traditions in the structure, and Luis provided great background to what we were looking at. The drive from and back to Cuenca was an hour and a half each way. Luis pointed out interesting sites along the way and told their stories. He was also happy to stop along the road when we wanted to take a picture. Once you get to the town of Ingapirka, it’s a very bumpy vertical drive of almost an hour to the starting point of the hike.