The best months to hike in Ecuador areย June to Septemberย andย December to January, which align with the region’s two primary dry seasons, offering clearer skies and more stable, albeit windy, weather.
JuneโAugust is ideal for trekking, while NovemberโFebruary is often preferred for climbing volcanoes like Cotopaxi.ย
My first trip to Ecuador was January / February 2026.
Locals told me it had been rainier than usual โย with rain starting almost every afternoon. Normally stopping around sunset.
I was happy with my itinerary and consider myself something of a veteran now. ๐
Acclimatization is critical. Therefore I recommend you start with this sequence of hikes:
If I had more time, next would have been a summit attempt to either the top of Cotopaxi 5,897 m (19,347 ft) or Chimborazo 6,263 m (20,548 ft). Chimborazo summit is the farthest point on Earth’s surface from the Earth’s center due to its location along the planet’sย equatorial bulge.
Finally, Ecuador may be the least expensive of the great hiking destinations of the world. Get planning. ๐
Spoiler. Lexi, Tahel, and myself all made it to 4,643m. Super happy here. Our guide was terrific.
Rumiรฑahui is considered a lead-up to Cotopaxi (5,897m) and then Chimborazo (6,263โ6,310m).
Rumiรฑahui is a dormant, heavily eroded stratovolcano 4,721 metres (15,489 ft) above sea level.
Situated in the Andes mountains 40 km south of Quito, Ecuador, it is overshadowed by its famous neighbour Cotopaxi.
This mountain is in Cotopaxi National Park, so we drove directly towards the big peak. Excellent weather early morning.
We parked at Lake Limpiopungo at approximately 3,850m. Many different species of birds alight here.
Headed to that central peak.
We saw rabbits at the beginning while climbing up through paramo.
And condors floating in the updraft.
On the way down, our guide spotted wild horses below.
We had amazing views of Cotopaxi.
I call it a scramble because this mountain is quite jagged. We used our hands quite a bit at the top. Tahel put spare socks on her hands. I used a buff for protection. None of us had opted to carry gloves.
I flew to Ecuador for 3 weeks hiking & climbing in preparation for Kilimanjaro.
A good decision.
Logistics getting to and from trailheads is complicated in this nation.
BEST for me was adventuring out of Secret Garden Cotopaxi Hostelโ perhaps my favourite hostel in the world. At around 3,800 metres (12,500 feet), you’ll feel some altitude symptoms for sure if coming from sea level. I’d been in Ecuador for about 9 days and still had minor headaches.
Most popular is a 3-day, 2-night package starting at $120 with transportation from Quito, the capital.
60 Minutes has much been in the news of late. New CBS News editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss pulled a segment on President Trump’s deportations just hours before broadcast. It was widely seen as political pandering to Trump. His move to deport people from the USA to the El Salvador prison CECOT, is likely a human rights abuse and potentially criminal.
If you believe in Freedom of the Press as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, know that the episode showed on Global TV Canada and was widely available around the world. By trying to protect the President, Bari Weiss ended up bringing even more attention to the potential criminal act.
BUT their feature on the Sherpas of Everest is quite good, bringing public attention to these important guides and porters.
Machame Route (Whiskey Route) for me should be relatively easy. BUT many have to turn back due to altitude sickness symptoms.
My plan is to spend some weeks in Ecuador above 3000m and โ hopefully โย have some acclimatization โ then fly directly to Kilimanjaro airport. Altitude sickness is near impossible to predict. (I’ve never had any despite hiking higher than 6000m many times.)
I’ll stay on in East Africa following Kili. My first visit.
This is the 2nd time I’d signed up for Kilimanjaro. The first was in 2020 โย cancelled by Covid.
I’ve mostly been very lucky with the weather over 4 months in S.E. Asia and Taiwan.
BUT it’s rained every day since I got to Palawan island.
A.I. enhanced photo. No actual lightning at the waterfall.
They have frequent earthquakes, cyclones, and volcanic eruptions here. Who knew? ๐
The dry season in the Philippines generally runs from December to May. ย
But 2025 has been wetter than normal. I spoke with one tour guide with a group of Romanian tourists who’s had to change plans most days for the past 2 weeks.
Many tours, especially those by boat, are cancelled by government order.
I started a day hike to Pamuayanย Falls out of Port Barton in good weather. The rain pounded down for perhaps 20 minutes. Then cleared up again.
Cristina Calvillo Tovar, 37, and Julian Garcia Pimentel, 36 โ Nadine Lichey, 45, and Andreas von Pein, 52 โย and Victoria Bond, 40.
Could these deaths have been avoided?
… On November 16, the weather was mild, and the usual number of hikers, 40 or 50, crossed the pass without incident. By that evening, those who would suffer the worst of the storm had converged at Los Perros campsite, the last sheltered refuge before the exposed John Garner Pass. …
On November 17 between 5 to 7 am, about 30 hikers left Los Perros for John Garner Pass.
Conditions started drizzly, but deteriorated rapidly after 10 am. Winds reached 193kph, and visibility dropped to less than three meters. The temperature fell to โ5 ยฐC, but the wind chill was far below -20ยฐC. …
Those who turned back barely made it down safely. …
A distress post appeared on the Torres del Paineย Facebook groupย around 2 to 3 pm. Initial response by CONAF was slow, and bad weather grounded the helicopters. …
Twenty-seven hikers required medical attention, according to the final tally released by the Regional Government of Magallanes on November 20. …
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