Ecuador Motorcycle Tours

Ecuador packs an absurd amount of riding into a country you can cross in a day. The spine of it is the Andes, and the stretch of highland between Quito and Riobamba is the one riders come for: the Avenue of the Volcanoes, named by Alexander von Humboldt in the early nineteenth century for the line of snow-capped cones flanking the valley. Cotopaxi rises to 5,897 metres and is one of the most active volcanoes on the continent. Chimborazo, at over 6,200 metres, is the highest point in Ecuador and — thanks to the equatorial bulge — the point on the planet furthest from its centre. You ride between them on the Panamericana, then peel off onto secondary roads that climb into open páramo grassland where the only traffic is cattle.

The side trips are what turn a good week into a great one. The crater rim at Quilotoa sits at nearly 3,900 metres above an emerald lake. The Papallacta pass east of Quito tips you over the continental divide and drops thousands of metres into cloud forest and, eventually, Amazon lowlands — a temperature swing of twenty degrees and a complete change of vegetation inside two hours of riding. West of Quito the Mindo road does something similar in reverse, falling through orchid-heavy cloud forest towards the Pacific coast. South and east, Baños sits at the foot of Tungurahua with waterfall roads and tunnels leading down the Pastaza gorge.

Surfaces are better than most visitors expect. Ecuador has invested heavily in its main highways, and the Panamericana and the principal access roads to Cotopaxi, Quilotoa and Chimborazo are paved and well maintained. What catches riders out is weather and altitude, not asphalt. Highland afternoons cloud over fast, fog on the páramo can cut visibility to a few metres, and heavy rain triggers mudslides that close roads without warning. Above 3,500 metres both you and a carburetted engine will feel the thin air.

Moto Mass currently lists one Ecuador trip: Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental's four-day Journey to Middle Earth, a Quito–Baños–Quito loop on KTM machinery — a 1050 Adventure for riders who want road comfort, a 690 Enduro R for those who want to leave the pavement. It is a good introduction to the pattern of Ecuadorian riding: short transfers, huge altitude changes, and a different climate zone at each end of the day.

Because Ecuador sits on the equator, season is driven less by month than by altitude. In the Sierra the drier, clearer window runs roughly June to September, with a second calmer spell around the turn of the year; October to May brings more frequent afternoon showers. Whatever the month, pack for cold at 4,000 metres and heat at 1,000.