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.
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.
