Need to know

When to go

The weather is dictated by regional microclimates. The lowland rainforest is wet and hot (30ºc) throughout the year. The Andean highlands tend to be dry and sunny (20ºc) in summer (Jul– Sep) and rainy between February and April, with the latter coinciding with peak bird migration season in the cloud forests of Cosanga and Mindo. The Pacific coast sees migrating humpbacks travel up from Antarctica to breed between July and October.

Getting there & around

There are no direct flights to Ecuador from the UK. Connections from London to international airports in Quito and Guayaquil usually go via New York and Atlanta in the US, Madrid and Amsterdam in Europe, or Bogotá in Colombia. Airlines flying these routes include KLM (klm.co.uk), Avianca (avianca. com) and Jetblue (jetblue.com). Return flights cost around £714 and take from about 14 hours.

Tour operators offering tailor-made trips to Ecuador include Metropolitan Touring (metropolitan-touring.com), Biotropica Expeditions (biotropica-expeditions.com) and Wildlife Worldwide (wildlifeworldwide.com).

Carbon offset

A return flight from London to Quito via Madrid produces 1,057kg of carbon per passenger. Wanderlust encourages you to offset your travel footprint through a reputable provider. For advice on finding one, visit wanderlust. co.uk/sustainable-travel.

Currency & visa

Currency: Ecuador has used the US dollar ($) since 2000. It is currently $1.27 to the UK£. Visa: UK nationals don’t require a visa for stays of up to 90 days.

Further information

Birds of Ecuador (Helm Field Guide, 2018) by Robin Restall and Juan Freile – A useful primer.