Cotopaxi Volcano Tour from Quito – with Lunch & Entry

Pedro was an excellent guide and gave plenty of information on a wide variety of topics. He went above and beyond with the volcano hike!

It was a stunning hiking to Cotopaxi on a wonderful day! The guides Andrés and Jimmy were very professional, caring and informative. I learned a lot about Ecuadorian volcanoes, local language and customs as well as indigenous flora. We saw driving through the nature reserve wild horses, dear, coyotes, lizards, condors steering in the ski and other birds. Lunch was excellent, trip timing was perfect and the weather was gorgeous! Most important, I felt very safe. I warmly recommend this trip as well as the excellent guides who contributed making the hike and entire trip a memorable experience!

The very special, trained Andres guide, accompanied us at every moment sharing his knowledge and being present for each of us and our needs, a great boy and the driver Jorge equally excellent.

+5

Unforgettable One-Day Trip to Cotopaxi — Pedro Made It Exceptional! My one-day trip to Cotopaxi National Park was absolutely unforgettable, and a huge part of that experience was thanks to Pedro, my outstanding guide. Even the booking process over WhatsApp was incredibly easy and straightforward, which gave me confidence from the very beginning. From the moment the tour began, Pedro demonstrated deep knowledge of the volcano, the park, the flora and fauna, and the cultural history of the region. He explained everything with clarity, passion, and genuine love for the mountain. What impressed me the most was his patience and calm attitude, especially during the hike up to the refuge. The ascent can be challenging at that altitude, but Pedro took the time to guide me at the right pace, making sure I felt safe, comfortable, and confident. His encouragement made a big difference. And then — the highlight: We reached the refuge with perfect weather! Clear skies, bright sunshine, and a spectacular view of the volcano. It felt like a reward from Cotopaxi itself. Pedro made the experience not just a hike, but a memorable journey. His professionalism, kindness, and expertise elevated the entire day. Highly recommended — if you visit Cotopaxi, ask for Pedro!

This was truly an incredible experience! Our tour guide, Irene, not only welcome us , but made it clear we were her priority for the day! She introduced Jimmy, our driver, gave us a rundown of the days events, and in general, gave us a ton of information, not only on Cotopaxi, but Quito and Ecuador as well. Jimmy was a bit more reserved, but very competent in getting us everywhere we needed to go safely and with no concerns! Cotopaxi volcano is the 2nd highest in Ecuador, and though it’s not an easy climb, it is extremely satisfying to reach 16,000 ft and your guide is with you for every step! If you like a bit of a challenge in your tours, consider this one and ask for Irene and Jimmy. You won’t regret it!!!

The Cotopaxi tour was an amazing experience. I learned so much about its history and got to admire the breathtaking volcano up close. Our guide was outstanding—very knowledgeable and always ready to answer our questions, which made the trip even more enriching

Pedro has excellent English skills and a deep knowledge of of Ecuador in almost every aspects, biology, geology, history, business, politics etc.

Pedro was so encouraging. We made it to the halfway point and he gently suggested that we keep going. If we felt good enough, he said, the views were worth it. He was so right!

Pedro was our guide for a great tour of Cotopaxi and the Middle of the World. We chose the private tour so we could adjust things on the fly. He was a great guide and alternated between explaining the culture and history of the places we say or letting us nap on the long drive. We went to Cotopaxi for a hike and it was cloudy and started to hail so we did just a short half hour hike and did see some of the volcano through the clouds. We saw wild horses, a condor, and a resigned looking fox waiting out the hail storm. We decided to check out the lagoon quickly and had a great lunch and then Pedro suggested going to Middle of the World, which we thought we would not have time to see because it's in the opposite direction from Quito. But we did get to see all of these things, as Pedro adapted to the weather and what we were interested in seeing. There are actually two Middles of the World, the original one and the newer GPS corrected one. The newer one has a museum with a tour of pre Columbian history of the area and demos of the odd physics that happen exactly at the equator. We were so glad to have Pedro as our guide on our adventures.

+6

Pedro was a terrific guide. Very experienced and knowledgeable, but also, very wise and kind. These are equally important when bringing average Americans who live at sea level to Cotopaxi. I was not able to complete the full hike because I became short of breath. I happily sat on a rock and took time-lapse photos of the amazing cloud movements below me. My spouse carried on with Pedro and experienced the debilitating effects of altitude sickness for the first time in his life. Pedro picked us up right on time at the hotel and we were fortunate to be the only two people in his group on April 1st. No fooling, he said it was the end of the busy season (school holidays). Pedro's wise plan, from years of experience with newbies, was to take as up the mountain gradually with appropriately paced and interesting stop-overs. We spent about 15 minutes acclimating at each one: a view of the city of Quito from a park where I loved to see the dogs that hang out on residential rooftops, a cash-only artisan shopping visitor center where I could decide whether to buy some coca leaf to try later, a lagoon full of wild birds and so on. Weather changes fast. This will be said to you in Quito and in the Galapagos and you need to really imagine what that means. It's sunny and perfect and you cannot see a dark cloud in the sky, but you MUST bring a rain jacket. As I decided to stop hiking, Pedro suggested that I take the key to the car. I declined as I imagined the ease of great weather and a slow descent to retrace my steps back to the car. Sure enough I found myself photographing freezing rain in a warm but not waterproof jacket. That's on me! Despite a lot of light-headedness and a bit of disorientation, my Spouso™ took great photos. And Pedro kindly assisted him to get some more portraits in great spots. What was most important and skillful is that Pedro accepted our decisions, he gave us HONEST assessments of what lay ahead and he offered but did not force anything. He did not encourage either of us at anytime and this was indeed KIND and WISE. Each of us needed to know ourselves and not try to please him. His neutral, matter-of-fact, pleasant, accepting manner was the safest choice. You will be in good hands, trust this tour group, Real Dreams.