- Abras de Mantequilla Wetland
A Ramsar-listed floodplain lake system near Vinces in Los Ríos that swells in the January–May rains and shrinks in the dry season.
- Agua Blanca Community
Ancestral Manta community inside Machalilla National Park that runs its own archaeological museum, guided trails through dry forest and a sulphur lagoon.
- Alto Nangaritza
Upper Nangaritza River in Zamora Chinchipe: boat trips from Puerto Las Orquídeas through rock canyons, waterfalls and Shuar territory near the Cordillera del Cóndor.
- Amazonía
Sigue el curso de los ríos y descubre otra escala del paisaje: la del bosque, la lluvia y la vida que lo habita.
- Antisana
A broad, glacier-covered volcano of 5,758 m southeast of Quito, protected since 2021 as Antisana National Park and known for Andean condors and páramo.
- Atacames
A busy beach town southwest of Esmeraldas city, known for its long seafront, weekend crowds and the marimba traditions of Afro-Ecuadorian Esmeraldas.
- Atillo Lakes
A chain of páramo lakes beside the Guamote–Macas road in Sangay National Park, where the highlands start to drop toward the Amazon.
- Ayampe
Small village at the southern edge of Manabí where the Ayampe river meets the Pacific, with a long surf beach and forested hills behind it.
- Baños de Agua Santa
Town at about 1,820 m below Tungurahua volcano, known for municipal thermal baths, the waterfall-lined Pastaza gorge toward Puyo, and outdoor activities.
- Bartolomé Island
A small volcanic island off Santiago where a guided staircase trail climbs to a viewpoint over Pinnacle Rock and the lava fields of Sullivan Bay.
- Busa Lake
A small lake at the foot of San Pablo hill near San Fernando, Azuay, with a lakeside path, pedal boats, municipal cabins and a camping area.
- Cajas National Park
A páramo national park west of Cuenca with hundreds of glacial lakes, Polylepis woods and marked trails that start from registered control points.
- Canoa Beach
A broad beach below sandstone cliffs in San Vicente, Manabí, where a fishing village has become a base for surfing, paragliding and mangrove trips.
- Carihuairazo
A jagged, eroded volcano of 5,018 m beside Chimborazo whose small glacier disappeared in 2024; a place of páramo, rock summits and a story of climate change.
- Cayambe
Glacier-covered volcano of 5,790 m whose southern slopes are crossed by the equator, rising east of Cayambe city inside Cayambe Coca National Park.
- Charles Darwin Research Station
The Charles Darwin Foundation's research base in Puerto Ayora, with a free public exhibition hall, native gardens and next door the park's tortoise breeding center.
- Chiles Volcano
A 4,748 m volcano straddling the Ecuador–Colombia border west of Tulcán, with high páramo, sulfur-tinted lakes and a restless seismic record since 2013.
- Chimborazo
Ecuador's highest mountain at 6,263 m, ringed by a páramo reserve where reintroduced vicuñas graze; visiting the refuges and climbing the summit are different trips.
- Colta Lake
A highland lake ringed by totora reeds near Riobamba, with waterbirds, a railway along its shore and the colonial Balbanera church nearby.
- Cotacachi Volcano
The dormant volcano that dominates the Cotacachi and Otavalo valleys, at the Andean end of the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve.
- Cotopaxi
Ecuador's best-known active volcano, 5,897 m, rising over the páramo of Cotopaxi National Park south of Quito; park visits and summit climbs are separate trips.
- Cuenca
Southern Andean city whose historic centre, Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca, is UNESCO-listed; four rivers, Inca ruins at Pumapungo and a gateway to Cajas.
- Cueva de los Tayos, Coangos
A deep limestone cave on Shuar land near the Santiago and Coangos rivers in Morona Santiago. Visits depend on the Coangos community, and the entrance is a rope descent.
- Cuicocha Lake
A caldera lake on the southern flank of Cotacachi Volcano, with two lava-dome islands, a full-day rim trail and short boat trips from the dock.
- Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve
A 590,000-hectare reserve in Sucumbíos and Orellana where blackwater rivers link fourteen lagoons, reached by boat from the Cuyabeno bridge.
- El Altar
A horseshoe of nine glaciated peaks around a caldera with Laguna Amarilla at its heart, on the western edge of Sangay National Park east of Riobamba.
- El Ángel Ecological Reserve
A Ramsar-listed páramo reserve in Carchi where frailejón plants cover the slopes and lakes feed the rivers that supply the province.
- El Chorro de Girón Waterfall
A series of three stacked waterfalls about 5 km above the town of Girón in Azuay, reached on foot from a roadside parador with views and services.
- El Coca
Puerto Francisco de Orellana, known as El Coca, is Orellana's capital at the meeting of the Coca and Napo rivers and the starting point for many Napo river trips.
- Española Island
The southernmost Galápagos island and the only breeding ground of the waved albatross, visited at Punta Suárez and Gardner Bay on guided, authorized tours.
- Fernandina Island
The youngest and most volcanically active Galápagos island, uninhabited and free of introduced mammals, with guided visits centered on Punta Espinoza.
- Galápagos Islands
Ecuador's volcanic archipelago about 1,000 km offshore, protected as a national park since 1959 and visited under strict park rules with licensed guides.
- Genovesa Island
A low, horseshoe-shaped island in the northeast of the archipelago where Darwin Bay fills a collapsed caldera and seabirds nest in huge colonies.
- Guayaquil
The port city on the Guayas River: a 2.5 km riverfront promenade, the Las Peñas hillside quarter, museums, and access to nearby mangroves and the coast.
- Hola Vida Waterfall
A waterfall of about 20 meters at the end of a short forest trail in Pomona parish, a short drive south of Puyo in Pastaza.
- Hollín Waterfall
A set of forest waterfalls on the Hollín river, reached from the Narupa–Loreto road in Archidona canton, Napo, with a main fall of about 20 m.
- Iliniza Norte
The lower, rocky northern peak of the Ilinizas, about 5,100 m, in Los Ilinizas Ecological Reserve; a serious high-altitude scramble, not a casual hike.
- Iliniza Sur
The higher, ice-covered southern twin of the Ilinizas, about 5,250 m, in Los Ilinizas Ecological Reserve west of Cotopaxi; a technical guided climb, not a hike.
- Ingapirca Archaeological Complex
Archaeological complex at 3,160 m in Cañar where Inca builders raised a ceremonial center over a long-occupied Cañari site; managed by the national heritage institute.
- Isabela Island
The largest Galápagos island, built from six shield volcanoes, with the small port of Puerto Villamil on its south coast and Sierra Negra rising behind it.
- Isla de la Plata
Dry, cliff-edged island of Machalilla National Park, visited by guided boat tours from Puerto López for its booby and frigatebird colonies and surrounding reefs.
- Jatunyaku River
The large Andean river that meets the Anzu near Puerto Napo to form the Napo, and Tena's best-known reach for day rafting trips.
- José Rivas Refuge
The mountain hut at 4,864 m on Cotopaxi's northern slope, reached by a short, steep walk from the upper parking area. A visit here is not a summit climb.
- Jumandy Caves
A karst cave system north of Archidona, managed by the Napo provincial government, with an underground river and a rare cave-adapted catfish.
- Kicker Rock, León Dormido
A split volcanic rock rising almost 148 m from the sea off San Cristóbal, viewed from boats and visited by snorkelers and divers on guided tours.
- La Chocolatera
Rocky headland at the tip of the Santa Elena Peninsula, inside a marine-coastal reserve on military land, where colliding waves churn the sea brown.
- La Mica Lake
A high Andean lake near 4,000 m at the foot of Antisana, reached via Píntag, used as a water source for Quito and known for birdwatching on the surrounding páramo.
- Laguna Amarilla
The lake inside El Altar's breached caldera in Sangay National Park, about 4,200 m up, reached on foot from La Candelaria via the Collanes valley.
- Laguna Azul, Talag
A string of natural pools and a small waterfall on a stream beside the Jatunyacu River in Talag parish, about 30 minutes from Tena.
- Laguna Grande, Cuyabeno
The largest of Cuyabeno's fourteen lagoons, a blackwater lake ringed by flooded forest whose size changes with the rains.
- Las Grietas
A narrow, deep fissure filled with clear water between lava walls across the bay from Puerto Ayora, visited in small guided groups with advance reservation.
- Latas Waterfalls
Four forest waterfalls with pools and a natural rock slide, reached on foot from the Tena–Misahuallí road about 20 minutes from Tena.
- Limoncocha Biological Reserve
A 4,613-hectare reserve around a lagoon left by an old course of the Napo, known for waterbirds and guided canoe outings with the local Kichwa community.
- Limpiopungo Lake
A páramo lake at about 3,800 m on the plain between Cotopaxi and Rumiñahui, with a short loop trail and a good chance of Andean waterbirds.
- Loja
Colonial-founded city at about 2,060 m in southern Ecuador, known for its music and arts festival and as the gateway to Podocarpus, Vilcabamba and the Zamora slopes.
- Los Frailes Beach
A crescent of sand about 3 km long inside Machalilla National Park, reached through dry forest north of Puerto López, with no buildings on the beach.
- Los Túneles, Cabo Rosa
Lava arches and sheltered channels on Isabela's south coast near Cabo Rosa, visited on guided boat tours from Puerto Villamil for a short walk and snorkeling.
- Machalilla National Park
Coastal national park in southern Manabí protecting dry forest, beaches, Isla de la Plata and a marine zone, with Puerto López as its base.
- Manglares Churute Ecological Reserve
A Guayas reserve where mangrove estuaries meet forested coastal hills and the El Canclón freshwater lagoon, a Ramsar wetland since 1990.
- Manta
Manabí's port city, built on tuna fishing, with urban beaches, a Manteño archaeological heritage, kitesurfing at Santa Marianita and forest at Pacoche.
- Mindo
Small town in a cloud-forest valley on the western slope of the Andes northwest of Quito, known for birdwatching, rivers and the Mindo-Nambillo protected forest.
- Mitad del Mundo
A 30 m monument north of Quito marking the equator as traced in the 18th century; GPS places latitude 0° a couple of hundred meters north of it.
- Mojanda Lakes
Three lakes in the caldera of the extinct Mojanda volcano southwest of Otavalo: Karikucha, Yanakucha and Warmikucha, overlooked by Fuya Fuya.
- Mompiche
A small fishing and surf village in southern Esmeraldas, with a long beach, forested hills behind it and the island of Portete a short trip away.
- Montañita
Surf village in a hill-ringed cove of northern Santa Elena, known for the La Punta break and a busy nightlife, with quieter villages on either side.
- Napo River · Misahuallí
The upper Napo at Puerto Misahuallí, a river port near Tena where canoes leave for Kichwa communities, beaches and forest trails.
- North Seymour Island
A low, flat island just north of Baltra where a guided trail passes frigatebird and blue-footed booby nests and land iguanas brought from Baltra in the 1930s.
- Otavalo
Highland town of the Kichwa Otavalo people in Imbabura, known for weaving and its Plaza de los Ponchos, set between Imbabura and Cotacachi volcanoes and San Pablo Lake.
- Ozogoche Lakes
A high páramo lake complex in Sangay National Park, Alausí, known for Cubillín and Magtayán lakes and the yearly arrival of migratory cuvivíes.
- Pailón del Diablo Waterfall
An 80 m waterfall on the Río Verde near Baños, seen from two separately run trails with suspension bridges, viewing platforms and rock-cut steps.
- Papallacta
A high town in Napo province on the eastern Andean slope, known for volcanic hot springs, páramo trails and a lake that mirrors Antisana.
- Pasochoa Wildlife Refuge
A protected Andean forest inside the collapsed crater of the extinct Pasochoa volcano, near Amaguaña south of Quito, with short forest trails and a long summit route.
- Peguche Waterfall
A waterfall of about 20 m on the edge of Otavalo, fed by the outflow of San Pablo Lake and used for ritual bathing before Inti Raymi.
- Podocarpus National Park
A national park straddling Loja and Zamora Chinchipe, with páramo lakes on the Andean side at Cajanuma and lower montane forest at Bombuscaro.
- Portete Island
A palm-lined island beach just south of Mompiche in Esmeraldas, reached by a short boat crossing over the Portete estuary and mangroves.
- Puerto López
Fishing town on a curved bay in southern Manabí, headquarters of Machalilla National Park and the main departure point for Isla de la Plata and whale-watching boats.
- Pululahua Geobotanical Reserve
A volcanic caldera north of Quito with farms on its floor, three lava domes and a rim viewpoint at Ventanillas, protected since 1966.
- Puyo
Capital of Pastaza, Ecuador's largest province, founded in 1899 on the Puyo River and a meeting point for the province's Indigenous nationalities.
- Quilotoa
A water-filled volcanic caldera in Cotopaxi province, with a rim viewpoint, a steep path to the shore and a Kichwa community that runs visitor services.
- Quito
Ecuador's capital sits at about 2,850 m on the flanks of Pichincha, with a UNESCO-listed historic centre, high viewpoints and easy access to cloud forest and equator sites.
- Reventador
A forested stratovolcano on the eastern Andean slope, in near-continuous eruption since 2002 and best appreciated from a safe distance.
- Rucu Pichincha
The older, extinct summit of the Pichincha massif above Quito, usually hiked from the TelefériQo at Cruz Loma. Not to be confused with active Guagua Pichincha.
- Rumiñahui Volcano
A dormant, deeply eroded volcano in Cotopaxi National Park whose rocky ridges rise above Limpiopungo; its highest summit reaches about 4,712 m.
- Salinas
Beach town at the tip of the Santa Elena Peninsula, with a long urban seafront, a sea lion rock, salt-pond birding and humpback whale watching in season.
- Salinas de Guaranda
Andean parish at about 3,500 m in Bolívar, named for its old salt mines and known for the cooperative economy behind the El Salinerito brand. Not coastal Salinas.
- San Cristóbal Island
The easternmost Galápagos island, home to the provincial capital Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, an airport and a sea lion colony that lives along the town's shore.
- San Pablo Lake
Imbabura's largest natural lake, at 2,662 m beneath the Imbabura volcano, ringed by Kichwa communities, totora reeds and farmland near Otavalo.
- Sangay
One of Ecuador's most active volcanoes, erupting almost without pause for centuries, rising above the forests of Sangay National Park in Morona Santiago.
- Santa Cruz Island
The central and most populated island of Galápagos, rising from dry coast to misty highlands, with Puerto Ayora as the main base for land-based trips.
- Santay Island
A mangrove island in the Guayas River facing Guayaquil, protected as a national recreation area and Ramsar wetland, home to a small fishing community.
- Santo Domingo and Tsáchila Culture
Ecuador's crossroads between the Andes and the coast, and the home territory of the Tsáchila people, who receive visitors on their own terms.
- Sardinayacu Lakes
A remote complex of forest lakes at about 1,800–2,000 m in Sangay National Park, Morona Santiago, studied by biologists and reached only on foot.
- Sierra Negra
A broad, active shield volcano above Puerto Villamil on Isabela, with the largest caldera in Galápagos and guided trails to Volcán Chico and the sulfur mines.
- Tena
Capital of Napo province where the Tena and Pano rivers meet, and a base for rafting, waterfalls, caves and Kichwa community tourism.
- Tortuga Bay
A long white beach west of Puerto Ayora reached by a 2.5 km trail through cactus, with an open surf beach for walking and a sheltered cove for swimming.
- Tungurahua
The volcano that towers over Baños de Agua Santa, 5,023 m, active from 1999 to 2016 and calm since; best appreciated from the valley and surrounding hills.
- Vilcabamba Valley
Village and valley about 45 km south of Loja, at roughly 1,600 m, with a dry, mild climate, the Mandango ridge and trails toward Podocarpus National Park.
- Yahuarcocha Lake
A shallow lake a few kilometers from Ibarra, declared a sacred lagoon by Ecuador's heritage institute and ringed by a racetrack and shoreline road.
- Yambo Lake
A lagoon in a dry valley south of Salcedo, beside the Panamericana, with Panzaleo archaeological remains, local legends and a place in recent history.
- Yasuní National Park
Ecuador's largest continental protected area, between the Napo and Curaray rivers, visited with licensed guides through lodges and community projects.
- Zaruma
A hillside gold-mining town in El Oro at about 1,200 m, declared national cultural heritage in 1990 for its wooden republican-era architecture.