After a few weeks exploring Quito, we were ready to get into nature for the weekend. Mindo, Ecuador is only slightly over two hours from Quito by bus, but it feels like it’s a world away. After climbing to get out of Quito, you’ll notice the bus to Mindo traveling slowly downhill throughout the journey. As the elevation decreases, the grassy páramo changes to lush, cloud-forest greenery. Mindo is no stranger to tourism, in fact, it is well known internationally as a birding paradise and consequently has become a major destination for bird-watching. The atmosphere is a little touristy but doesn’t feel like a place revolving solely around tourism – you can also see locals going about their business and children playing in the streets. Mindo exudes a laid back atmosphere, a perfect break from the hustle and bustle of the capital. As a bonus, it’s easy to eat vegan in Mindo with just a little pre-planning. If you’re ready for a chill getaway in a natural paradise, read on and discover what to do in Mindo!
What to do in Mindo?
As mentioned, people mainly come to Mindo to enjoy the flora and fauna, particularly of the avian variety. If you, like us, are not exactly bird experts, there is still plenty for you to do here! Read on to discover the variety of activities available that will help you get into nature.
Bird Watching
Apparently, there are more than 500 species of birds recorded in Mindo and its surroundings, and the town has even won some prizes for bird diversity. If you’re lucky, you could spot hummingbirds, toucans, or the famous Andean Cock-of-the-Rock. Many bird watchers come to Mindo solely for this purpose. We are 100% not bird experts, but luckily you don’t have to be to enjoy this part of what makes Mindo so attractive.
We were able to spot several kinds of birds while having breakfast in our hostel; in fact, we highly recommend our hostel, El Descanso, for this reason. The hostel is set up in a tree-house atmosphere with open walls and beds with mosquito nets, so you can hear the sounds of nature at all times (including roosters – those guys crow not only in the morning, but apparently all day and night). We thought this was a super cool experience, but they also have private rooms, and, if this sounds too much like “roughing it” to you, you can come to this hostel and pay a small fee to enjoy their garden without staying the night.
Re the garden: they have a beautiful garden in the backyard with feeders for hummingbirds and other birds, with illustrated guidebooks to find information on the birds you are seeing. You can also see the guatusa, a kind of rodent found in Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. We are against zoos and animals as entertainment, but we felt good about this place because a) we could watch animals in their natural habitats that were free to come and go as they pleased and b) the owner, Carlos, is really involved in creating the perfect natural atmosphere for these animals in a location that before was just a soccer field. *Vegan note* Breakfast is included with your stay but the staff seems a little iffy on their understanding of veganism, so we recommend that for breakfast ask for just the fruit, juice and coffee.
Another way to see birds in Mindo is to simply walk in and around the outskirts of the town – try to rise with the sun as the birds do for the best chance to see them. We took a walk one morning around 6am and were able to see a few cool birds even just walking down the dirt roads surrounding the town.
Finally, if you are more of an avid bird watcher, there are several professional birding tours you can take with an expert who will drive you to prime locations, help you spot some birds, and be able to tell you what you are seeing. Just walk down the main street of the town and you’ll see several advertisements for birding tours. Expect to pay $50-75 for a tour.
Hike in the Cloud Forest
This is one of the top things to do in Mindo if you are a hiker! We are passionate about hiking, and the opportunity to hike in a cloud forest is what really drew us to Mindo. Cloud forests are extremely unique ecosystems with a huge amount of biodiversity. Located in the “foothills” of the Andes mountains (though still at an elevation between 900-2500 meters or about 2900-8200 feet), these forests get their name because they are almost always covered in mist and clouds.
Higher and cooler than the jungle or rainforest, cloud forests nevertheless have a humid, dense atmosphere and definite jungle vibes. Because of the constant moisture, these forests are covered in mosses and epiphytes (air plants). If you go in March-April, you have the chance of seeing thousands of orchids (which are epiphytes) in bloom – though just be wary that this period also coincides with the rainy season. There is also the possibility of spotting wildlife – birds, hummingbirds, butterflies, and if you’re lucky – Andean bears, toucans, monkeys, and quetzals.
Read on for a step-by-step guide to access our top two cloud forest hikes in Mindo.
Cloud forest hiking how-to
1. The Mindo Waterfall Hike, aka Tarabita y Santuario de Cascadas
How to get to the Santuario
There are a few ways to get from the town of Mindo to this hike, located slightly outside the town. First, be aware that in Ecuador there are two kinds of cable car – a “teleférico,” which is a traditional cable car with cabins or ski lift chairs that usually goes up and down a mountain. There are also “tarabitas,” which usually go horizontally across a river or valley. To access the waterfall sanctuary, you can either take a taxi to the teleférico then on to the tarabita, or go straight to the tarabita. The teleférico is closer to town – a taxi to the teleférico cost us $3 (you can probably negotiate lower) from the center and takes just a few minutes.
The most budget friendly version of this hike is to walk straight from the city center, about 5km to the tarabita or about 30-45 minutes to the teleférico. However, be aware that the walk from town will be uphill, especially the last part to the terabita. We wanted to save our energy for hiking in the sanctuary, and we heard from another traveler that the walk to the terabita itself isn’t the most scenic. What we did, and what we recommend, is taking the cable car and the terabita; it’s a little more expensive, but the cable car ride is longer than the terabita so you will have more time to enjoy the beautiful views from above. Both cable car rides round trip, plus access to waterfall territory is a total of $13 per person, which can be paid at the bottom.
You will need to pay $5 to access the waterfalls no matter what. The total ride up is about 30 minutes including the short walk in between the cable car and the terabita. If you only go on the tarabita, it would be $10 each. We took a taxi to the cable car, enjoyed our hike, and when we got back to the bottom, took a leisurely walk back to town instead of trying to find a taxi.
Hiking the waterfall routes
When you arrive, you’ll be shown a map with your route options outlined. There are basically three different paths: one short path (about 15 min) where you can see one medium-sized waterfall, one 1h path with one big waterfall at the end, and one 1h path with access to multiple, smaller waterfalls. We decided to do the two longer routes. First, we hiked to la Reina waterfall.
This hike was beautiful, taking us through the cloud forest where we could get some valley views as well as a chance to examine the many beautiful cloud forest plants. La Reina waterfall at the end was totally worth the hike, especially considering that the way there was also very interesting. This hike took us about 70 minutes including lots of stops for pictures.
When we got back to the start we took a short break at the cafe for coffee before setting out on the multiple waterfall route. We were hiking in our bathing suits and though it was cloudy and cool when we did this hike, we still decided to swim in the last two waterfalls. We thought this was super fun, and I imagine it would be even more refreshing on a hot, sunny day. If you have water shoes you’ll have a more comfortable swim, but we were fine without them. Both routes involve some ups and downs and have about an equal level of difficulty, so it doesn’t really matter which one you do first.
Make sure you confirm the hour of the last tarabita and cable car so you’ll know when it’s time to head back.
2. Hiking in a private reserve
There are several places in Mindo where you can pay a small fee to enter hiking trails on someone’s private property. We decided on our last afternoon to check out the Yellow House hiking trails before catching the bus back to Quito. While we didn’t see any birds here (maybe because it was the middle of the day), we did see several beautiful butterflies. Also, because this location is at a lower elevation than the waterfall sanctuary, we noticed that the cloud forest flora was a little different.
If you have time to go to the Yellow House, it can be accessed on foot right from the center of town. You must pay $6 to access the trails and will be given a map. Or, you can stay at the Yellow House and get access to the trails for free. If you only have time for one day of hiking in Mindo, we’d recommend the waterfall hike. However, if you love hiking and have some extra time, we enjoyed our hike on these trails and the possibility of seeing some different plants and butterflies. We spent about 3 hours here and if you do all the routes it’s possible to stay even longer.
Get your thrill on with some adventure sports
While Mindo doesn’t have the reputation Baños does as the adventure capital of Ecuador, there are still many opportunities here for adventure sports. Ziplining (or “canopy” as it is known in Ecuador) comes highly recommended and is only $20 for access to ten different cables. You can also go tubing down the Mindo, Blanco, or Cinto rivers. Again, the easiest way to book one of these tours is through an agency in the town once you get there, but if you want to plan ahead, check out mindoextreme for an idea of the activities offered and price range.
Canyoning, or barranquismo, is another adventure sport offered in Mindo where you explore a canyon up close and personally, using a harness to rappel down steep walls, jumping, walking, and swimming to get to your destination. We did most of our adventure sports in Baños so we didn’t have a chance to check these out in Mindo – but if they’re anything like in Baños, we highly recommend these activities for thrill-seekers and nature lovers alike.
Related: Looking for whitewater rafting? We went in Tena and had an amazing time!
Learn about the chocolate-making process from bean to bar
Ecuador has some of the best chocolate in the world, hands down, and only recently is it starting to get the international recognition it deserves. Mindo is the location of a few artisanal chocolate factories that will walk you through the process from bean to bar and let you taste test every step of the way. The two main companies that provide this service in Mindo are Yumbos and El Quetzal. We did the tour at El Quetzal and really enjoyed it. You can walk there from town and pay $10 for a tour which usually starts on the hour. The fee included so much chocolate we thought it was definitely worth it, not to mention the fact that everything we tried was delicious.
We got an explanation of the chocolate making process from beginning to end, as well as a tour of their property where they grow ingredients to add to the chocolate on site, such as lemongrass and coffee. You’ll be able to taste chocolate in all stages of production, including eating the pulp of the cacao fruit! What can vegans eat at a Mindo chocolate tour? Most of the chocolate produced in Ecuador is dark chocolate with no milk added. Vegans can eat everything provided at the El Quetzal chocolate tour except for the brownies (we gave ours to other tour members, but you might also be able to mention to them ahead of time that you won’t be eating the brownie).
*Note: another “top” suggested activity in Mindo is a butterfly garden – this seemed distinctly NOT vegan friendly to us so we did not visit this attraction*
Where to eat and buy vegan in Mindo
Mindo is a tiny town and COVID hit any existing vegan restaurants pretty hard. We stayed in accommodation without a kitchen and were able to make it work by snacking and eating out at a few restaurants with good vegan options, mentioned below. There are stores that will have basics like fruits and vegetables, nuts, oreos, pasta, etc but don’t expect anything fancy. There are also fruit and vegetable trucks that drive down the main street that you can flag down and buy produce from. That’s it for the supermarket options.
Of course, you can buy a wide variety of dark chocolate either at the Yumbos or El Quetzal stores. Mindo is definitely a location we suggest coming to with snacks in your luggage, especially if you are going to be doing a lot of activities away from the town during the day. There are a few places you can eat vegan food in town as well (though unfortunately at this time there are no all vegetarian or vegan restaurants in Mindo). Check out our recommendations:
- Mishqui Quinde Sweet Hummingbird is our #1 recommendation for restaurants in Mindo. The owner and his wife are extremely friendly and understand veganism. They actually told us that they used to be a vegetarian restaurant, but after COVID they needed to start catering to locals as well as foreigners and started serving meat as a result. You can get a tasty burger here, delicious quinoa soup, vegan versions of typical Ecuadorian food from the Esmeraldas region such as encocado, dairy free ice cream, and more. We went to eat there twice on our short trip.
- The Food Studio has buddha bowls that are made from scratch with local produce. We thought the bowls were really tasty, though on the expensive side for Ecuador.
- Bio Mindo has not only fresh juices, but several options that are vegan according to the owner: chaulafan de quinua vegano (like Ecuadorian fried rice but with quinoa), sopa quinua y vegetales, (quinoa and vegetable soup) locro de yuca y de papá (a thick, hearty stew made with yuca and potato), and a vegan burger. Another great opportunity to try some vegan versions of typical Ecuadorian dishes.
We hope you enjoy beautiful Mindo as much as we did! There is so much to do in Mindo, and its proximity to Quito makes it a perfect weekend trip. As always, if you have any questions or need for more information, let us know!