Expat Community > Ecuador

zootenval
Joined 2010
Posts: 148

Driving on the coast

14 years ago

Buenos Dias:

Long time reader of this forum, virgin poster. Great, useful, unfiltered info about Ecuador.

We are visiting Ecuador in December 2010/January 2011. This is our first recon mission to check out the coast, from Salinas to Cojimies. We plan to fly Quito to Manta, which will be our jump off point. We pla to rent a car via Avis and travel south first, to Salinas and stay a couple nights. Then north to Olon area for a couple nights. Then, north to Bahia for a couple nights. Then north to Cojimies for a night or 2. Then back to Manta, staying one night before flying back to Quito, where we will hang out for a couple days.

We are pretty adventurous travellers, but I must ask about road conditions between Salinas and Cojimies, especially north of Bahia.

How are the roads and traffic?
Paved or unpaved?
How easy to get gas or repairs if we have mechanical problems?
4WD vs compact car?

I believe it is less than 200 miles from Salinas to Cojimies, according to the research I have done. That being said, I'm sure those 200 miles are a fair bit different than zipping up the turnpike from Hollywood to Orlando, FL.

I know that there are many buses available, and we are not opposed to bus travel per se. For this visit, though, we think a car would provide the most freedom to explore and stop if we choose.

Thanks in advance for your advice. Any suggestions for lodging along the way would also be apopreciated. Nothing fancy, just basic clean accomodations for a 50 something couple.

Hasta Luego,

Andy Tomlin

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