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Ride Ecuador’s rails from Quito to the coast

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Ride along a regenerated railway line between two dramatically different climate zones, negotiating the famous Devil’s Nose along the way.
Please note: Ecuador's railways are currently not operating.

There remains across South America a skeletal network of old railroads, harking back to a former age. However not all lie abandoned: Ecuador has recently breathed life back into key stretches of its railway, and the revived line between the capital and the coast now offers the chance to step into an era of steam.

Travelling the full length of the track requires you to slow down and savour four days of dramatically changing scenery, local culture and an old-fashioned rail experience. There are overnight stays in some of Ecuador’s most enticing locations and plenty of stops where you can stroll in scenic landscapes or discover traditional industries including rose cultivation and the perilous glacial ice harvesting of Chimborazo’s ‘icemen’.

You can travel in either direction, either voyaging down from the high Andes, past the permanent snows of volcanoes and into lush lowlands dotted with plantations of banana and sugarcane, or up from tropical coast to temperate highlands. Along the way you’ll have the chance to descend a near-vertical Andean mountainside via an impressive set of switchbacks on Ecuador’s most iconic rail engineering showpiece, the Devil’s Nose.

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    Juliet Ellwood - Travel Expert

    After graduating with a degree in Anthropology and History and having been fascinated by Latin America since childhood by the book featuring photos of Nazca, Juliet first visited the region in 2003. Since then, Juliet has visited the majority of countries in Latin America but has particularly extensive experience with Peru, a country she loves for many reasons but not least, its incredible archaeological richness and delicious food!

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    Having spent part of her childhood in Colombia and worked in Brazil and Costa Rica, Hannah's ties to Latin America run deep. Hannah is a much valued Travel Expert in our Tailor-made Holidays and Group Tours sales team.

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    A former Journey Latin America tour leader, Sally spent 7 years working, travelling and living throughout Latin America before returning to the UK to help people arrange their own adventures to this wonderful destination.

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    Anglo-Peruvian Chris grew up in Lima and spent much of his adult life in between London and Cusco as a tour leader, before settling permanently in our London-based Tailor-made and Group Tours sales team.

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