Montanita Travel Guide

Montanita is a growing surfing village on the west coast of Ecuador. Montanita has developed in to a mecca of surf enthusiasts which come from all over the world to experience possibly Ecuador´s best surfing location. The town is small and basically is  two exciting and funky streets filled with cafes, surf board renters, and vendors.

During the week, the town is somewhat quite with tourists drinking in the small cafes while not catching waves. The weekends fill up as party goers get ready for a few drinks at Montanitas many resturants adn bars. Montanita is quite full of Ecuadorian tourists along with the international backpacker scene.

Designed for the international and ecuadorian tourist, Montanita is great place to get relax, surf, and drink. It´s an easy place to spend a few days which can easily turn into several weeks or more. It is like an oasis on teh coast, and many come back time and time again.

Their are plenty of hostals down the two tourist streets. Recomendations include Casa Blanca (although thurs-sat night, their bar makes is quite loud to sleep through), Ricky´s (for a laid back cheap place to stay), and my personal favorite, Charo´s (make sure to ask for their new rooms as they are a lot better than the older ones). Accomodation ranges from $5USD for a dorm to $15 for a nice private room. The centre of town can be noisely, so those staying awhile often graduate to the quieter hostals further down the main beach

Montanita is also an excellent place to learn Spanish. Montanita Spanish school is located right on the main beach and is highly recommended.

Montanita is two ATMS, and also a small bank (in front of the Montanita Hotel) that is open Thursdays to Tuesdays. It is possible to pull out up to $1000USD on your Visa/Mastercard with your passport.

Warnings: The west coast of Ecuador does not get much sun during late October and early November