Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands

The smallest country in the rugged Andean highlands, Ecuador is among the most rewarding travel destinations in South America. With its array of vibrant indigenous cultures, well preserved colonial architecture, otherworldly volcanic landscapes and dense rainforest, it packs its perimeters with more points of interest than many countries twice its size.

Touch down in its picture-perfect capital, Quito, and you are no more than a day's drive from a slog through all-swallowing Amazonian jungle, a snow swept ascent of an active volcano, a sociable haggle with indigenous artesanos or a welcome wallow on a tropical beach.

And all that in a nation no bigger than the US state of Nevada.

Squint your eyes at a map of the region and Ecuador looks something like a grinning skull, gazing across the Pacific at its lone 'overseas' holding, the blissfully distant Galápagos Islands. Owned by Ecuador since 1832, the far-flung islands are lauded as one of the world's greatest natural history treasures, their unique diversity of plant and animal life providing a living textbook for ecologists and oglers alike. It'll cost you plenty to get out to see them, but when you weigh that against the immense affordability of mainland adventuring and the rarity of the experience, you'll be hard pressed to let your purse strings tie you down.