Every route we run is built around community tourism centers — and leaves something behind that lasts long after your visit.
We believe the Wanderbus can be a force for good in Ecuador. From day one we chose not to stop only at the country’s famous highlights — Cotopaxi, Quilotoa, Baños, Cuenca — but to build our routes around community tourism centers: tourism businesses owned and run by the communities themselves, not by outside operators.
Months of research and repeat visits before any community tourism center makes it onto an itinerary.
Routes and timetables adjusted so every visit is equitable and engaging — for travelers and hosts alike.
Long-term training and investment, not one-off donations.
Because it’s community-owned, every dollar spent there — and every story told about it — stays local instead of going to an outside operator.
The families behind these community tourism centers face real barriers to healthcare, education and infrastructure — and often struggle to promise steady visitor numbers on their own. Unlike a one-off tour bus that never comes back, our 30-passenger bus runs the same routes again and again, bringing constant, predictable income to the centers, stores and restaurants we visit.
A 30-seat bus on a fixed route brings consistent income — not a single lucky group.
Long-term relationships mean the families and businesses we visit can count on us.
We help train hosts in food & beverage handling and guiding — skills that outlast our visits.
These are six of the community tourism centers we currently partner with across Ecuador. Each is owned and run by the community itself — not a concession or a private operator — so every visit works for hosts and travelers alike.
Chimborazo Province
Around 60 families living off cattle farming inside Sangay National Park’s páramo. Since 2019, Wanderbus visits have created stable income for three families — while helping preserve their Andean lake scenery and culinary heritage.
Manabí Province · Wetland
A 1,700-hectare wetland recognized by the Ramsar Convention, home to 164 bird species and the direct support for over 100 fishing families. Travelers share a traditional plantain-based tonga lunch, prepared by the local community.
Montecristi, Manabí
A community built around the art of cabuya weaving — hats, bags, jackets and more. A family workshop has kept the craft alive for 20 years, and now welcomes Wanderbus travelers to see it made firsthand.
Napo Province · Kichwa Community
A Kichwa community 7 km from Archidona, home to the “Pueblo del Cacao y Chocolate” project. Travelers walk through the cacao chakras, learn to make ancestral chocolate by hand, and hike to petroglyphs and streams before enjoying traditional Amazonian dance, music and gastronomy.
Chimborazo Province · Puruhá Community
Descendants of the legendary “Hieleros del Chimborazo” — the ice harvesters who once carried glacier ice down the mountain by mule — around 45 Puruhá families in La Moya turned their heritage into community tourism. Travelers walk the hieleros’ old trail and visit the “Urkukunapak Wasi” mountain museum and handicrafts room, at 3,255 meters above sea level.
Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas
Home to around 3,000 Tsáchila people on Ecuador’s coastal foothills, famous nationwide for their ancestral medicine and their tradition of dyeing their hair red with achiote. Their community-run tourism shares knowledge passed down through generations, rooted in deep respect for nature.
Every pass includes transport, an English-speaking local guide and every activity on the itinerary — several of them stopping at the very communities above.
From the Andes to the adventure capital, with stops in Cotopaxi National Park and Quilotoa Lake.
The best way to see Cotopaxi, the Amazon, a cacao farm and Papallacta hot springs — and loop back to Quito.
Zig-zag the southern Andes, ride the legendary Devil’s Nose Train, and pass through Ozogoche Alto’s páramo lakes.
National parks, indigenous culture, Inca ruins and colonial Cuenca on the safest route to the coast.
An epic route from high mountain peaks down to the surf capital of Montañita.
See ALL of Ecuador — including La Segua wetland and the cabuya weavers of El Chorrillo.
We recently began the process of becoming a certified B Corporation — joining a global movement of companies across 60+ countries meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance.
Read about our B Corp journeyEvery seat you book helps keep these communities on the map — and on our routes.
Explore our passesNo rush, no pressure — just tell us a bit about your trip and one of our travel specialists will follow up.