Baños is another hidden gem of Ecuador without any doubt. Nested in the heart of Andes, at an altitude of 1,800 meters (5,910ft), this beautiful small town is known for its adventure and sports activities.
Being located at the base of the active Tungurahua volcano, the city got its name from the thermal baths which are only one of its great attractions.
Baños sits right in between two national parks: Los Llanganates and Sangay, which make it a paradise for hikers, nature lovers and adventure explorers.
This was one of our favourite destinations in Ecuador. We were glad we discovered it by accident, as it wasn't on our itinerary.
Los Llanganates and Sangay are the world's most diverse biological areas.
Since some of our photos from this trip got lost and what I had left was not doing justice to this beautiful town, I added some photos from Wikimedia to give you an idea how amazing the views were.
Although this place is always filled with tourists, it still has the vibe of a small mountain town where life has a slower pace.
While walking through its streets we found many restaurants, shops and artisans selling their crafts in the artisanal market.
There it seemed like everyone loved the barbecued Guinea pig, locals and tourists, as we have seen these everywhere.
I guess that the Smurfs had a big impact on the locals because we've ran into these little blue statues in couple of places while being in Baños.
I was delighted to stumble upon some beautiful street artworks, as the one above. Unfortunately, this is the only one I can share with you, since the rest of the photos are lost.
The climate was just perfect in Baños: neither too cold or too hot. During the day we were wearing t-shirts and in the night we had the fireplace on in our room.
The multitude of attractions or things that one can do in and around this city listed Baños as one of top three destinations in Ecuador for us.
The Basilica of Our Lady of Holy Water has paintings depicting miracles attributed to the Virgin Mary and it was an important place of worship for the locals.
We loved both the exterior and interior of this basilica, especially the carved doors!
From the city we hiked towards the El Mirador where we stopped for a treat at Cafe del Cielo where we enjoyed a great warm drink with a stunning view.
From there we had the best view over the city. We loved so much that we return to have dinner in there the following there. The view was even nicer during the night!
While hiking on the mountain we ended up in a community garden where the were hundreds of hummingbirds. It was magic!
As we crossed the community garden we were mesmerized by the lush vegetation and multitude of birds and butterflies flying around.
This place certainly felt like heaven. There were so many flowers and the air was filled with their perfumes.
We must have spent at least one hours in there admiring nature's fabulous creation!
On our way back towards the city, it started to drizzle and half an hour later it was pouring cats and dogs. Needless to add that we got all drenched. As we were walking down the mountain, we met with two farmers who were kind enough to invite us to their house to warm up.
They offered us coffee and mate and told us stories about their life as farmers living on an active volcano. We couldn't believe how friendly and warm they were. Their children were so cute and curious about us and they asked us many questions about our country.
This is one of their llamas who was kind enough to spit only a few inches away from me. I guess she wasn't fond of being on camera.
Here are other travel related posts:
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