Vilcabamba Travel Guide

Vilcabamba is one of the top tourist destinations in the South of Ecuador. Both national and international tourism florishes, resulting in a wide and qualitative offer of restaurants, places to stay and organised trips. In a dry vally with a comfortable climate (at an altitude of 1800 meters) , the place is ideal to chill for a few days. If you´re into nature, the excellent Podocarpus National Park is only hours away by horse. Day trips and multiple day treckings can very easily be arranged.

Vilcabamba is a bit of a surrealist place: a small town inhabited by normal mountain folks, crowded with white people from all over the world. In the valleys nearby, an American guru used to live, which attracted hundreds of pilgrims back in the seventies. Search for Johny Lovewisdom om wikipedia.org . There still is an organic farm, part of the Wwoof-network in a valley near the city, fitted to offer you a fruitarian diet.

The city is on the road south from Loja to San Ignacio and Jaén in Peru. There you get to choose between going to Chachapoyas (with it´s famous Gocta falls and the ruins of Kuelap) and further into the jungle to Iquitos, or to the Pacific in Chiclayo or Piura on the Northern Pacific to Amazon crossing. One of the reasons this recently opened border crossing is little used, is that it takes a whole days travel to get to San Ignacio from Vilcabamba. However word is that it's worth taking the bumpy road - the scenery is fantastic.