Ecuador - Useful information for your trip

Ecuador is situated in the north-western part of South America and takes its name from the Equator, which runs across the country. It faces the Pacific Ocean to the west and its capital city is Quito, which was declared Unesco World heritage in 1970 as its old town center is the best preserved in Latin America.

From a geographic point of view, the country can be divided into four areas: the coast, mainly flat land, the sierra, mostly mountainous, the orient, covered by rainforest and the islands, including the Galàpagos archipelago. Even if Ecuador is not a large country, it is characterized by a considerable variety of climates: the coast is affected by a tropical climate, the sierra has cooler temperatures, the orient is warm and dry while in the islands temperatures are generally always quite high.

Thanks to its variety of flora and fauna, Ecuador is one of the so-called 17 "megadiverse" countries: the tallest mangroves in the world grow in the western part, while Galàpagos are famous for their turtles. After its studies here, Charles Darwin was able to elaborate its theory of evolution.

Ecuador economy is the eighth in Latin America and the 61st in the world. Poverty rate has decreased over the last few years. Petroleum takes up 40% of national exports. Service industry has also been developing quite well over the last few years: Ecuador used to be mainly an agricultural country, but nowadays its industries are generally increasing. Tourism is growing as well: a special ministry was created in 1992 to help its development.

Visitors usually love Quito, the capital city, but also the cities of Guayaquil and Cuenca deserve a visit, since they are the most populated in the country. Galàpagos islands do not need presentations: an archipelago of thirteen volcanic islands, with 560 spieces of plants, including coffee, cotton, chili pepper, passion flower and tomato. Yasuni National park, in the provinces of Pastaza, Napo and Orellana, is considered a biosphere reserve by Unesco since 1989 thanks to the vast presence of amphibia, birds, mammals and plants.