Flights to Ecuador from Europe, Asia, North America and other South American countries arrive daily at one of the country's two main international airports - Quito and Guayaquil. However, most flights to Ecuador from outside South America usually arrive in the capital city, Quito, and are usually routed through North America - either through Florida, Houston, Los Angels or New York, depending on where the flight to Ecuador originated from.

Once your flight to Ecuador has arrived in either Quito or Guayaquil, you can continue your journey to the other provincial towns and cities of Ecuador via either domestic air travel, or some other means of transportation - such as road.

Although Ecuador is a popular tourist destination, flights to Ecuador need not be too expensive, and it should not be too much of a problem to find cheap flights to Ecuador at your local travel agent. Having this, if you do find it hard trying to get cheap flights to Ecuador from your local travel agent, an alternative to overcome this problem is to fly to Lima, Peru and then to take an overland bus. You should keep in mind though that a bus from Lima usually takes 24 hours, and so if possible you should either look for alternative flights to Ecuador, or wait until such time as cheap flights to Ecuador become available.

Ecuador Map

Domestic Flights
It is not difficult to fly domestically in Ecuador, with flights to most provincial towns available from either Quito or Guayaquil. In fact, both the domestic airlines in Ecuador, and the availability of domestic flights in Ecuador, rate highly with international tour agencies. You will, however, need to keep in mind that airlines in Ecuador adopt a two-tier pricing scheme for their domestic flights - with tourists being expected to pay approximately twice the local rate for a flight.

The two main domestic airlines in Ecuador are TAME and SAN; however, there are a number of smaller airlines. It is also fairly easy to arrange charter flights in Ecuador. Popular among domestic flights in Ecuador are flights to the Galapagos Islands. Both of the domestic airlines in Ecuador fly daily to the Galapagos Islands, with flying time to the islands being around 3 hours. It is also possible to get international direct flights to Ecuador, which then travel immediately on to the Galapagos Islands.

For those who can afford it, a flight on one of the charter airlines in Ecuador around some of the superb snow-capped mountain ridges, or even the Galapagos Islands themselves, will provide you with some of the world's richest views - and are considered money well spent.

Due to its relatively small size, nearly all domestic flights within Ecuador (on either of the main domestic airlines in Ecuador) have flying times of less than 30 minutes.

Visas

Entry visas for Ecuador are, in most cases, not going to be of concern as Ecuador ordinarily issues 90-day tourist visas upon entry into the country. As such, unless you plan on traveling around for longer than this, you'll not need to obtain a visa prior to your arrival here.